Eire Ogs hurlers set for Saffron assignment in opener

A QUEST for Ulster hurling glory which has demanded the attentions of Carrickmore Eire Ogs for the past four seasons reaches reaches another important juncture when they play the Antrim champions, Carey Faughs, in this year’s provincial Intermediate competition at Pairc Colmcille on Sunday

It has been a roller-coaster time for Tyrone clubs in the provincial series. Carrickmore lost out to Setanta in last year’s final, while their rivals from Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh were defeated by Antrim’s St John’s in the 2019 showpiece.

Now the Eire Ogs will, of course, be aiming to go one better. But they will have to be on top form to defeat Carey Faughs, who won the Antrim title a fortnight ago and have also been displaying excellent form in capturing the county’s Division Two league title unbeaten.

The Eire Ogs, of course, came from behind to edge out Dungannon in the Benburb Cup decider a few weeks ago. The intervening period has seen them concentrate on training, and they’ll be ready to go against an opponent also rated highly.

Eire Ogs team manager, Sean Pól Begley, is under no illusions about the task facing them, or their determination to make the most of this latest provincial opportunity.

“Winning our fifth county title a few weeks ago was an important milestone for us and obviously every county title is important. It’s a great honour to manage this week, we come from a proud club and we’re now focusing on the Ulster title,” he said.

“The Ulster campaign is very much game by game. We’ve had three or four weeks to prepare for this game, and that challenge has been different from what we faced in Tyrone. We’ll be playing a team that we haven’t really faced competitively.

“It’s a competition that we’re definitely looking forward to. It’s given us an opportunity to go into Ulster and to test ourselves the best teams at Intermediate level. We’d love to get back to the final and maybe move past the provincial series, but that’s a long way down the line.”

Games in the Intermediate Championship can be notoriously tight. Carrickmore narrowly won their way through to the final last year, and that decider against Donegal champions, Setanta, was one that was in the balance right to the finish.

Carey Faughs come into this Sunday’s game at Pairc Colmcille after winning their county title a fortnight ago. They began that game as favourites and confirmed their credentials with a win over Glenarrife. Now, like Carrickmore, they will be aiming to make their mark in Ulster.

But the Eire Ogs have an experienced squad, which is gradually being infused with younger players. Minor star, Aidan Woods excelled in the Tyrone decider, while familiar faces such as Dermot Begley, Justin and Aidan Kelly, Sean Og Grogan, Cormac Munroe and team captain, Bryan McGurk, will be among those spearheading this latest challenge.

“It’s extremely difficult to make a mark in the Ulster Club and this year there’ll be clubs from all nine counties competing. This is a very difficult competition to win,” added Sean Pol Begley.

“Pushing on in the Ulster Club has been a target for us in the past number of years. I’ve no doubt that the hunger is still there for us to do well in the competition. But it’s a massive challenge, and there are literally going to be no easy matches. This is going to be a very tough provincial title-race.”

No Tyrone team has yet to win the Ulser Intermediate title. One thing for certain is that the experience of recent seasons strongly suggests that Carrickmore will offer a very stiff challenge for whoever they meet, beginning with this clash against Carey Faughs.