THERE’S a proud tradition in Carrickmore of winning championships, and every man who has played on those successful teams of the forties, sixties, seventies, nineties and into the new millennium has had his name etched in Carmen folklore.
The club tops the roll of honour in Tyrone with 15 titles, but it’s 20 years since the O’Neill Cup has been taken to Pairc Colmcille, and until it returns, the players who currently wear the green and gold will draw no admiring glances in their home town.
“That’s the expectation in Carrickmore, and if you don’t go far in the championship, you aren’t really considered as a player,” said defender Sean Loughran.
“So there is that added pressure to being a player in Carrickmore, for the club has that tradition behind it.
“But you want that pressure. With that pressure comes privilege to try and strive to emulate the boys of the early two thousands, the nineties and the seventies.
“We want to pave our own history, and we want, in 20 or 30 years’ time, boys talking about the team of 2025 and furthermore.”
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Another championship campaign begins next week, and first-round opponents Moortown will feel they are capable of taking a big scalp, according to Loughran.
“We know what we’re going to get from Moortown, they’re a typical loughshore team really, big, strong, and when they want to play football, they can give every team their battle.
“We played them earlier on in the year, and it went right down to the wire and they pipped us by a few points.
“So we fully know what we’re going to get ourselves in to, and if we’re not fully ready for it, we’ll be out.
“We know that Moortown are going to give us everything that we expect, so we have to be ready for that.”
Last season’s captain Loughran has been out of action for the past year due to a cruciate rupture sustained in 2024.
Others have also missed league action this season for a variety of reasons, forcing manager Noel Slane and Ciaran McBride to dip deep into their pool of players.
“We have had some really good performances, but then other performances have been under what we expect.
“But we have had a fair few absentees this year, what with injuries and boys heading away
“With all of that, we were still very much in the mix with a lot of teams, and with having all those absentees, we were able to blood three or four really top performing young lads.
“So with every negative, there’s a big positive to come out of it. Those lads have got eight or nine really strong senior league games, which will only aid them now for the championship.
“The championship is a completely different beast to the league, but with all that experience, those lads have got, they’ll be well equipped now for Moortown.”
The 29-year-old believes Carrickmore can take maximum advantage from the new rules that have transformed the game, particularly through the long-range kicking exploits of the in-form Lorcan McGarrity and a couple of others:
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“Lorcan, since he came back from the county, has been in phenomenal form. His two-point range has saved us in a lot of games.
“In the Loughmacrory game, he kicked three or four brilliant scores, and we also have others who are coming in with big two-pointers, the likes of Rory Donnelly and Tiarnan Loughran as well.
“So when you have two or three men that are confident, and have the capability to do that, you always stand a chance no matter who you play.”
He added: “The championship always takes on a life of its own, but especially now with the new rules, it’s going to bring a completely different sort of excitement.
“We have seen with the county games, a team could be six or seven points down and comes back to win the game.
“So it has an element of surprise and unpredictability, in that you don’t really know what way the game is going to end.
“A couple of two-pointers leaves the game wide open again, so it can make the Tyrone championship go to another level.
“But again, it will be down to whoever wants it most, and it’s going to be a never-say-die attitude that’s going to win it.”
And while he won’t kick a ball this season, Loughran intends to play his part in his team’s challenge for a first Tyrone SFC title since 2004.
“This one has come a bit too early for me. With being captain last year and getting injured so early against Dromore, in the first five minutes, it wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, knowing that you’re going to be out for at least a year.
“But it’s one of those things, you just have to row in behind everybody else.
“You might not be a playing member, but you’re still every bit a part of the panel and you have to try and give that bit of encouragement and advice, and gee the men up for all the games, try and give them whatever knowledge and experience that I have, and hopefully that there will be some nugget of information or advice that they can put to good use.”
