When Omagh won a breakthrough Tyrone SFC title in 2014, Joe McMahon felt the club had entered a golden era.
A talented side went all the way to the Ulster final, beating Crossmaglen and St Eunan’s before losing out by a single point to Slaughtneil in the decider.
It was generally accepted that this new force of county and provincial football would be back, but they failed to retain the O’Neill Cup, and faltered again a year later, missing out on a place in the decider in both of those seasons.
However, the St Enda’s are back in a county final, refreshed and confident they can find the measure of Errigal Ciaran on Sunday week.
“You always aspire to get into the final, it’s what you set out to do at the start of the year, to win the championship,” said McMahon.
“Unfortunately we had two tough draws, as you always do in the Tyrone Championship, in Dromore and Clonoe.
“We feel last year we left it behind us, and we had a point to prove, but there’s nothing won yet, it was just a semi-final, and we have another tough battle ahead of us. But there’s plenty of work to be done.”
Omagh had to dig deep for their 1-11 to 1-10 semi-final win over 2015 champions Trillick last weekend, coming from behind with a Ronan O’Neill goal, before McMahon drilled over a winning ’45.
“That’s the type of player Ronan is. When he’s in those situations, he has a cool, calm head, and he picks his spot, and he had to do that, because the ‘keeper was quick on top of him.
“We settled into the game after that, and it was a good tight finish for us, and we were happy to hold out.
“It’s always great to be in a county final, but you can be sure you have to work for it, and we certainly had to do that.
“Trillick got off to a great start, put a few scores on the board, and it took us a while to settle into the game.
“It’s been disappointing from that point of view, and we knew that we had to come back at them. We did that towards the end of the first half, and possibly could have got a goal towards the end of the first half. But we’re happy to get through that battle, and into another final.”
