Ardboe captain O’Neill aiming to ‘put out more fires

HAVING ‘put out three big fires’ in the first round against star-studded Edendork, Ardboe captain Michael O’Neill appreciates that they will have to quell the threat of another splattering of household names in the Senior Championship quarter-finals.

The lough shore men registered an emphatic five point victory over the St Malachy’s in the first round, managing to curtail their opponents three county stars- Conn Kilpatrick, Darren McCurry and Niall Morgan- along the way.

Now with Trillick lying in wait in the next round, Ardboe know that more of the same will be required if they are to keep their O’Neill Cup dreams alive.

While a number of young guns caught the eye against Edendork for the Donovan Rossas, it was still the leadership and experience of the likes of Michael O’Neill, David Mulgrew and Shay McGuigan which helped them get across the winning line.

Skipper O’Neill converted the crucial penalty in their 1-12 to 0-10 success, beating his county colleague Morgan between the sticks in the process. He knew that it was going to take a huge shift from his side to get the better of Edendork.

“ We probably made it hard for ourselves at times and our execution was a wee bit off. We created good chances but maybe didn’t put enough over the bar. But Edendork were a serious threat.

There was three really big fires to put out there, you are talking a few of the best forwards and midfielders in Ireland in Conn and Darren, and everyone knows about Niall’s ability too in and out of goals.

“ We knew that it we matched up against some of their top players one on one it would be a very tough night. We knew that collectively everyone would have to put in a big shift, not just the experienced fellas but we were going to need the help of the younger fellas too. But they all stood up to be counted, the likes of Conan Devlin there.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s encounter with the reigning champions, O’Neill stated that a team of the calibre of Trillick had to be respected despite the Reds fairly workmanlike showing in dispatching with bottom of the table Eglish last time out.

“ Eglish came down to us in the league and were missing seven or eight players but they still put it up to us so we knew they could cause any team bother on their day.

“ We are well familiar with Trillick. We went up there in the league and they gave us a really tough time of it. They are the holders and will want to keep their title. But I don’t know any easy challenges in Tyrone. Every team you come up against you have to prepare and do your home work on.”

O’Neill felt that it spokes volumes for Trillick’s strength in depth as well as character and conviction that they were able to secure the county title even without the services of their talisman Matthew Donnelly last season. He jokes that with Mattie back in the helm, Ardboe will be long odds to upset them.

“ You are not giving me any hope. But in all seriousness that’s the beauty of it from Trillick’s perspective. We talk about the importance of the team and the collective and nobody demonstrated that better than Trillick last year, winning the Championship without Mattie.

“ He is an absolute stalwart for the county and yet his club side were able to go all the way without him. So we will have to knuckle down and digest their game to see what we can do about it. It should be a good game. I suppose both clubs have a proud history and tradition so it should be a good one for the neutrals too.”