The man who led Omagh to a first Tyrone Championship title in 26 years is back.
Laurence Strain, who ended the famine by landing the O’Neill Cup with the St Enda’s in 2014, has returned for a second stint as manager at Healy Park.
As he prepares for another crack at the toughest championship of them all, he renews a partnership with several members of the triumphant team of seven years ago.
Quality players such as Ronan O’Neill, Conor Meyler, Conan Grugan, Ciaran McLaughlin and Connor O’Donnell played key roles in a memorable campaign that came close to ending in Ulster Club Championship triumph – a one point provincial final defeat to Slaughtneil.
Fortified by several years of experience and a second O’Neill Cup success in 2017, they are ready to lead the way, but Strain warned against looking to the past for inspiration.
“2014 is a distant memory, and we wouldn’t even be talking about it, simply because there’s a lot of young lads who weren’t there, and it’s nothing to do with them, so it’s got to be about 2021. It can’t be about any other previous year,” he said.
Strain continued to play a key role in the club’s coaching set-up after stepping down as senior manager in 2016.
Constant involvement at various under-age grades means he is in the perfect position to assess emerging talent, and is set to integrate several youngsters into his senior squad.
“Omagh need to be competitive most years, because they do have a fair pick, they do have the under-age.
“But they do need to bring through a bit of youth every year, like every other successful team does.
“Omagh are a good side, they have that bit of youth coming through, which you need.”
With one of the most talented groups in the county, the St Enda’s are among the title front-runners this year, but the famed unpredictability of the Tyrone series is one of its richest assets.
“There’s a load of really good teams, and if you’re going to be competitive with them, you need to have a bit of luck, you need everybody fit and healthy, and you need the breaks on the day.
“It’s really difficult, and for anyone to be successful, they need things to go their way.”
Against a backdrop of continued uncertainty and a ban on collective training, Healy Park lies silent but ready for the return of the welter of non-stop activity to which the famous ground is accustomed.
Until then, it’s a case and wait and see as the GAA weighs up its options.
“I know there’s a lot of things more important that sorting this out, but as soon as we get some kind of word back, whether it’s club first or county first, we’ll get going.
“But it’s very difficult to prepare when you have no idea what to plan for.”
Strain’s return to the Omagh hotseat is regarded by club chairman Conor Sally as a major boost to the hopes of landing a third county title in eight seasons.
“We’re delighted to have him back, but I suppose he has never really been away, because from 2016, when he departed the senior squad, he has been involved with the U14s, and then the U16s, and he was involved with the minors last year. So he has still been heavily involved within the club,” said Sally.
“Hopefully some of those young players he has been working with will push on for a starting place this year.
Sally has closely monitored the positive effect Strain has had on the development of young Omagh players, with a number of under-age successes directly attributable to his involvement.
“We have a minor team sitting in a championship final that hasn’t been played from last year.”
“Our U16s were in a semi-final, and the U14s the year before that were going well, so there are a couple of fairly decent young teams coming through there, and I have no doubt, from watching them over the last five or six years, that there are players who can move up and can get to that next level.
“And that’s always good for a squad. Older players can’t be relaxing when there are younger players nipping at their heels.”
But the St Enda’s chairman warned against the danger of excessive expectation, stressing the fiercely competitive nature of Tyrone club football and the ferocity of the battle for the O’Neill Cup.
“If you look at Down, Armagh or Derry, you see teams winning multiple championships.
“Nobody does that in Tyrone, and if you had a Slaughtneil of a Kilcoo or a Crossmaglen in the Tyrone championship, they wouldn’t be running up three or four or five in a row.
“So winning one championship in Tyrone is a big thing. To get two in four years is massive. Very few teams get to do it.
“And the remnants of that team is still there, so hopefully we can build on that.
“In a county with ten or twelve contenders, another big factor is luck, and you need injuries to go your way, you need players to stay fit, and you need a lot of other things to go your way as well.”
Strain’s assistant back in 2014, his brother-in-law Barry McGinn, is back as well, ready to renew relationships that made for a magical formula.
“Larry is a very popular figure within the club, himself and Barry, and they have also added Keith Burns to the set-up. Keith has been working with them this last couple of years with the Minors.
“He does have some of the team still there from 2014. Those guys went on to win another Championship in 2017.”
Sally envisages a repeat of last year’s festival of summer action in the club championship, with pressure growing on the GAA to reverse the confirmed order of play and shift inter-county competition to the latter part of the season.
“I think that if we have an eight month window – four months for the county and four months for the club – I would think it’s likely, with pitch availability, that county would be played in the last four months of the year.
“So the hope would be that when we get out of this lockdown, and return to some form or normality, that we would have a club season over the summer months.
“I think that would be exciting, I think that you could get a fair number of games played in the long summer evenings.”
And the Omagh chairman expects the split season model to become the norm in the years to come.
“I think the way it will work out will probably benefit everyone. I think you will have players who know that they have defined seasons at both club and county, and managers, coaches and teams the same.
“We don’t know how youth competitions are going to be planned for or how they will work out, but hopefully over the next couple of years we’ll get a more defined season, so people will know exactly what’s going to happen.”
