Carmen joint-boss Hurson never lost faith

CARRICKMORE joint-manager Noel Hurson says his faith in his players never wavered during the frantic closing stages of Saturday’s Senior Championship quarter-final derby win over Loughmacrory.

Momentum seemed to be very much on the side of their resilient opponents, who had scored four points in succession to draw matters level heading into injury time. Were Loughmacrory about to pull off one of a historic upset against their neighbours? It was either that, or extra-time surely.

But that’s not how it panned out. Lorcan McGarrity, showing a maturity beyond his years (he’s only 19) scored a magnificent late free to nudge Carmen back in front. Loughmacrory responded almost immediately through the impressive Pauric Meenagh in the 63rd minute, but there was to be one final act of a breathless encounter at Pomeroy.

Jack McCallan, the Carrickmore goalkeeper, stepped up to take a difficult free and it went sailing through the posts with the last kick of the game, sparking euphoric scenes on the Carrickmore dug-out.

It can’t have been good for the nerves of either set of supporters, but Carmen’s Noel Hurson, who manages the side with Ryan Daly, says he was always confident his side could survive that late Loughmacrory storm.

“To be honest I just trust the lads to do their job. It was very, very tight at the end but I didn’t question the lads in any way, shape or form. Myself and Ryan are on the line and we back the lads the whole way to the end.”

A word for the hero of the hour as well. Jack McCallan has earned the plaudits, and rightly so, for his stunning match-winning free, but Hurson says it didn’t happen by accident, and instead is the fruit of years of hard work from the Carrickmore netminder.

“Jack has got himself in a great place this last couple of years. He’s worked very hard on his game and on his conditioning.
“ Anyone who knows Jack knows the effort he’s put in and he got his reward.”

Opponents Loughmacrory will be crestfallen, but they did themselves proud with a stirring display.

They’ll be back, and Hurson says they knew they were never going to get anything handed to them from one of the coming teams of Tyrone club football.

“Going into this game we certainly didn’t underestimate Loughmacrory in any way. We knew what they’re about, we’d watched them and played them in the league and there wasn’t much in it.

“They’re an up and coming team and they pushed us to the wire. They’ve put in a lot of work in their club and we came into the game just wanting to get into the next round. The boys worked very hard on and off the pitch to make sure that happened.”

Next in line is a senior championship semi-final against Clonoe next weekend.

It’s Carrickmore’s first semi-final since 2019 (on that occasion they were defeated by Errigal Ciaran), and they know they can’t afford to take Clonoe for granted, a team that has no option but to win the championship outright if they’re to avoid a relegation play-off.

“We haven’t looked at Clonoe yet but we’ll sit down and work hard towards that game.

“We’ve watched them down the years and know what they’re about, they’re a championship team, they’ve been there and done that and have some great players.”