RONAN McNabb has had his fill of setbacks during a decade of despair peppered with narrow championship defeats.
A litany of near misses has dogged Dromore since their last Tyrone SFC triumph in 2011.
Early exits year after year by narrow margins of a point or two, with the exception of one heavy loss to neighbours Trillick, have piled on the frustration.
But this season has seen them contrive a winning run, following up a preliminary round victory over Ardboe with an extra-time ousting of defending champions Dungannon.
“The last couple of years, we have been beat by a point, and we know it’s always going to be a real battle, and we have worked on that,” said McNabb
There’s just a kick of a ball to separate winners from losers in most games in the Red Hand series, and former Tyrone defender McNabb doesn’t expect anything to change in tomorrow’s quarter-final against Eglish.
“Any time we play in championship, I suppose it’s the nature of the Tyrone championship, everything goes to the last minute.
“It’s a bit cliché, but we just concentrate on the next game. You can’t look too far forward, because the Tyrone championship, it’s a minefield really, and the day that you think that you’ll come out the right end is the day that you’ll be caught.”
Just promoted from the intermediate grade, Eglish have made progress after a shaky start to the League, and in an impressive first round Championship win over Pomeroy they displayed real quality.
“We’ll just have to get the head down and move on, because Eglish is a strong team, and they’re only getting better, with the players that they have.
“Like every team, we have worked hard and prepared well, and we’re hoping to move on from the next step.”
McNabb was forced out of the clash with Dungannon after 30 minutes after picking up a nasty gash above his left eye, but his replacement, Eoin McCusker, emerged as the star of the show.
The veteran attacker, initially sent in as a blood sub, stayed on the field to the very end, hitting five classy scores, including three vital points in extra-time.
“I could never offer what Eoin McCusker would offer in terms of getting scores.
“He was fantastic and he has been doing it for years, so we expected no different.”
Facing an eight-point deficit after conceding two early goals, Dromore had no option but to ditch the game plan and go all out to get themselves back in contention.
“Obviously we had no choice, because we got off to such a bad start. We just had to chip away at the points, and got a goal before half-time, and just built on that.
“I kinda missed about 15 minutes of it with blurred vision, but it was intense, and it was dramatic, and we were just happy to get over the line, because we knew how good Dungannon were.”
As always, the race for the O’Neill Cup is open and unpredictable, and McNabb feels any one of the eight remaining teams is capable of winning it.
“Obviously everybody left in it has aspirations to win it, but as everybody knows, that’s what makes the Tyrone championship so exciting.”
