Kyle keen for a Strabane Championship boost

WHILE it’s hard to beat the anticipation and excitement surrounding a derby match, Strabane’s Kyle Morrison admits that the fact there is so many of them in Division Three is probably an indictment of the struggles of North Tyrone football right now.

The Sigersons have avoided one of their neighbours in the opening round of the Junior Championship, as they get braced to tackle Donaghmore IIIs this Monday evening in Fintona.

It wasn’t that long ago that Strabane were going head to head with St Patrick’s first team higher up the food chain, before their recent slide into the lower tier.

Looking ahead to their tilt at the Pat Darcy Cup experienced Sigersons defender Kyle Morrison admits that a protracted Championship run would represent a timely boost for the club right now.

“ Unfortunately North Tyrone football is struggling at the minute. I’d be lying if I said anything different. I know in the town the soccer team is successful at the minute and while you love to see local sports teams do well, they are competing at a level where they are paying their players, and that makes it difficult for lads to concentrate fully on GAA.

“ Me being selfish I want everybody playing Gaelic Football but I understand the issues and I know other local clubs in the area are in the same boat. I’d rather see all of us fighting to get into Intermediate football rather than all these derbies taking place at Junior level.”

There is cause for optimism however. Kyle was part of the Holy Cross management team which embarked on that superb Ulster Schools run to reach the Markey Cup Final, and he hopes journeys like that can be replicated more regularly.

“ Sigersons had about six or so involved in that team. They are still quite young. Obviously it was disappointing to lose the final narrowly to St Malachy’s. It was a very entertaining game though maybe not for me on the sideline.

“ We have two lads who have stepped in from that panel to play senior football this year and got that experience-Ronan McLaughlin and Conall Flanagan- so it has been positive in that way. And there will be others hopefully in the next year or two who will come through as well.

“ For them to get a taste of it in reaching an Ulster Final and the experience of what it takes to get there hopefully it whets their appetite to do the same for the club at senior level.”

Having narrowly missed out on the promotion playoffs in Division Three everything is on the line now for Strabane this weekend, as they hunt a straight return to Intermediate level. Morrison felt that it was probably unrealistic to have expected them to challenge for the league title.

“ When we set out at the start of the year we give ourselves the target of making a playoff position. The last time we were down we lost one game and lost out on the league so realistically when you look at that league you nearly have to go through it unbeaten.

“ We knew with a younger squad and with a few lads retired, and big Ruairi Gormley off to America, we were understrength and probably wouldn’t push for a league title this year.

“ We felt we could push for a playoff position but we fell just short of that in the end up. It’s been a bit of an inconsistent season.

“ We have been generating momentum, winning three or four games on the bounce, but then losing a couple on the bounce. We have suffered quite a bit with injuries this year, with two or three key players out for four or five games at a time.

“ I think when you look at it we finished just short of where we expected to. We have been inconsistent and that is slightly disappointing because you don’t want to be losing games but looking at it realistically this is a building year for us.

“ I knew when we came down this time we weren’t going to spring back up easily. When you look at Junior football you have Aghaloo, Drumquin, Killeeshil, Tattyreagh. They are all quality sides.

“ They have the same faces that we have been playing against this last number of years so it shows they have kept everybody together and been building towards winning leagues and competing for Championships. I haven’t been shocked at the standard because I know there is some real quality footballers in those top teams.”