Dean glad Omagh Reserves got their reward

OMAGH St Enda’s dug deep in the second-half to dethrone their rivals Killyclogher in last Sunday’s Senior Reserve Championship final, and Dean O’Neill was glad that his team played to their potential on the big day.

O’Neill, who manages the team alongside Owen Devine and backroom team members Michael Flanagan, Conor McMahon, and John Collins, always envisioned a mammoth battle against the Killyclogher lads and that’s exactly how it panned out.

Omagh trailed at one point in the second-half but held their nerve and finished strongly to carve out a deserved 2-17 to 1-14 victory at Loughmacrory.

“It was a battle right until the very end and we just knew it would be”, said Dean, a former St Enda’s footballer.

“Killyclogher are champions from last year so it was a big task for our lads, but they did the right things at the right time and I’m just delighted for them.

“We had an extra man in the second-half and that can be difficult sometimes, you can sometimes go too defensive, and Killyclogher threw everything at us.

“But our boys responded so well and the bench made a massive impact. Sometimes players can be overawed in a final but we weren’t like that, our boys played to their potential so I’m thrilled for them.”

Many of the players on both sides are important senior players, so Dean was also mindful that the celebrations couldn’t go on for too long ahead of an important run of fixtures in the All County Leagues.

“Killyclogher and ourselves are similar, we have seven or eight senior players who didn’t play championship last year. We need to pick up points in the league, so it’s back to the grindstone and that’s just the way our boys like it.”