Trillick test awaits for eventual derby victors

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

ANOTHER bumper crowd is expected in Omagh for Friday evening’s Senior Championship semi-final replay between Loughmacrory and Carrickmore with both teams vying for a county final spot against Trillick on Sunday week.

O’Neill’s Healy Park will host the latest installment of a pulsating rivalry and if precedent tells us anything – it’s exceedingly likely to be close.

Last Sunday’s blockbuster at Pomeroy ended all square on the scoreboard, very much in keeping with recent results between the big parish rivals over recent years.

Take their five most recent encounters across league and championship – only one of those games, a 2023 Division One match, was decided by more than a point (Loughmacrory won by two that day, so it was still ferociously contested).

As for Trillick, Seanie O’Donnell says it was their “guts” that ultimately won the day in a titanic semi-final against Errigal Ciaran on Sunday evening at Healy Park.

Defending champions Errigal moved into a two-point lead with 45 minutes on the clock but didn’t notch another score for the remainder of the contest as Trillick battled their way to a priceless victory, setting up a county final showdown against the winners of Friday’s replay.

O’Donnell has the height of respect for Errigal Ciaran, who reached last season’s All-Ireland senior final, a first for a Tyrone club, so he was hugely relieved to come out on the right side of the result.

“It took a lot of guts, and a lot of hard work to come out on the right side of it. We were happy enough with most of it, but it wasn’t looking good for us at stages in the second-half. We expected the match to be like that, they’re a deadly outfit so we really had to knuckle down and drive on.

“We’ve always respected Errigal Ciaran and the way they play football, we saw them march through Ulster and the All-Ireland series, and we knew we really hard to up our game as we weren’t happy with how we played in the quarter-final against Pomeroy – and that’s down to Pomeroy as well, they were very, very good so we’re just happy to get to the final.”

Trillick have had mixed fortunes on county final day over the course of what’s been a hugely productive decade. They’ve won three (2015, 2019 and 2023) and lost two (2020 and 2024) and they’re keen on making amends for last year’s loss to Errigal Ciaran.

“I suppose getting to the final is one thing, but we lost last year and whoever loses probably isn’t remembered – it’s about coming out on the right side of it. We need to knuckle down and improve on a lot of stuff, but as I say, it did take a lot of guts to come through [against Errigal Ciaran].”