Derrylaughan eye up a berth in the Intermediate decider

IT’S the big Loughshore derby but much more than mere bragging rights are at stake when Derrylaughan face up to Moortown in Saturday’s Intermediate Championship semi-final at Pomeroy.

Ciaran O’Hagan is a veteran of the Derrylaughan cause and lined out in the full-back line in their solitary Tyrone Intermediate Championship triumph back in 2010.

It’s a lovely memory to have, but there have been a few disappointing days out on the big stage in the meantime – they lost two Intermediate finals on the trot in 2016 and 2017 against strong Pomeroy and Moy teams, and it was a familiar story when they lost out to the Plunketts in a semi-final clash last year in Galbally.

They’re played extremely well in patches en route to Saturday’s last-four date with Moortown, but nor did they have it all their own way in hard-earned victories over Clogher and Owen Roes.

But they do have strength-in-depth and that could prove a major asset if it’s close on the scoreline on the home straight in their bid to reach a first Intermediate final in seven years.

O’Hagan said: “We’re fortunate to have the likes of Fergal McAliskey and Ciaran Gervin, they’ve so much experience.

“Those two boys would be starting on most teams in the county so we’re lucky to have them. Everyone knows it’s a panel game these days and I suppose you saw that in our win over Owen Roes in particular, we finished the game strongly.”

O’Hagan was tasked with marking Tyrone forward Cathal McShane in their quarter-final game against Owen Roes. McShane scored two points from play in a competitive contest and O’Hagan wasn’t surprised by what they brought to the party.

“We played them last year and they taught us a lesson that day down in our place.

“We got a good result against them last year, but they were probably in better form heading into the championship that ourselves, and they got a great win over the league champions [Gortin] in the first-round.

“It was always going to be a 50/50 game and that’s how it panned out, there wasn’t much in it. Cathal was sharp, you could see that he’s at a slightly different level to what you normally see in the Division.

” To be fair he wasn’t on his own, they’ve other threats as well. Tony Devine was injured and he’s a big loss to them but to be fair they gave as good as they got.”

The Kevin Barrys conceded 1-17 in an entertaining first-round victory over Clogher, a worrying enough tally and out of kilter with their usual tightness at the back.

They were much better in that respect against Owen Roes and they’ll need to really be on their game if they’re to curtail the attacking threat of a well-rounded Moortown team that are favourites with the bookies to land the title.

O’Hagan said: “We gave away a lot of frees against Clogher and that was discipline as they take a lot of pride in our tackling and work on it.

“I think our tackling was generally good against Owen Roes, we didn’t leave men isolated, we got three or three around the ball and I think that was an important factor in the victory.”