CONOR Owens knows what it feels like to play on a big occasion having been part of the Tyrone minor squad that played in the All-Ireland final in 2021 but he is hoping that this Sunday he will have a happier ending in the MacRory decider.
It’s a first all-Tyrone final since 2009 and Conor is eagerly looking forward to the clash with Holy Trinity, Cookstown in what has all the makings of a classic encounter.
“We are all looking forward to the final and no doubt a lot of people within the county are looking forward to it as well,” said Conor.
“Holy Trinity are a great team with great experience and great quality and it should be a good battle.
‘‘We know each other well having played with and against some of them and we know that we will have to play well to beat them.
‘‘We have trained well since the semi-final. I suppose there is a lot of distractions in the build-up to the final but we have to put that to the back of our minds and concentrate on the game.
‘‘Whenever that ball is thrown in we just have to go at it. Both sides have been used to winning tight games on their way to the final and Sunday’s should be no different.”
Omagh were certainly the form side in the group stages as they topped their section to earn an automatic slot in the quarter-final but since then they have shown their fighting spirit and qualities to win two close encounters that looked to be going against them.
“In the group stages, I wouldn’t say that we eased our way through, but we weren’t really tested,” he admitted.
“Over Christmas we had a couple of tough challenge matches and there is no doubt they stood to us. We had a real tough quarter-final with St Colman’s and like any first game after Christmas it was always going to be difficult.
“They had the advantage of having beaten their neighbours Abbey CBS in a play-off and that gave them momentum going into it.
‘‘We were two points down with only six or seven minutes left to play but we didn’t panic and trusted one and other and thankfully we got the last four scores of the game.
“Against Carrickmacross we had plenty of possession in the second half and again we didn’t panic as we came from three down to win by one and I would take a similar result in the final.”
That semi against the Monaghan champions looked set to go to extra-time until Owens popped up with a superb injury-time winning point but modestly he heaped praise on their defence for seeing the game out.
“I suppose as soon as I struck it I knew there was a chance that it would go over the bar and thankfully it did,” he said.
“I came onto the ball at pace and caught it well, there was a wee gap there and I managed to get the shot away.
‘‘In fairness to our defence they had one last chance after that to try and force extra-time but the lads defended brilliantly and managed to snuff them out.
‘‘Thankfully we were very disciplined when we turned them over and didn’t give them a chance to win a scoreable free.”
OMAGH’S PATH TO THE FINAL
GROUP STAGES
Omagh CBS 0-15 St Michael’s, Enniskillen 0-7
St Eunan’s, Letterkenny 0-3 Omagh CBS 4-13
Omagh CBS 2-16 St Patrick’s, Cavan 1-6
QUARTER-FINAL
Omagh CBS 0-11 St Colman’s, Newry 0-9
SEMI-FINAL
Omagh CBS 0-11 Patrician, Carrickmacross 0-10
