Errigal and Trillick are not away ahead of the pack says Horisk

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

TALK of a disparity between the supposed top two dogs in the county and the rest has been refuted by Errigal Ciaran coach Paul Horisk.

O’Neill Cup holders Errigal and their rivals from out west Trillick have been the dominant twin forces for several seasons now and are set to locks horns again in the Championship semi-final this Sunday night at Healy Park.

Despite the perennially cut-throat nature of knock-out football in Tyrone, a third successive meeting in the final was looming between the two sides, before they were eventually pitched in against each other at the last four stage in the open draw.

Neither though have enjoyed a routine passage to the penultimate round of the competition and that was especially the case in their respective quarter-finals.

The width of the crossbar prevented Trillick exiting at the hands of Pomeroy, while 24 hours later Errigal just led Omagh by a single point heading into stoppage time, before a goal from sub Shea McDermott sealed the deal.

Paul Horisk felt that the stern resistance both teams encountered that weekend should dispel any notion that both Errigal and Trillick are the clear class of the pack.

“ I don’t agree with that at all. There are a number of teams in the Championship who will all feel they are equal stature to others. We both scraped through to move into the semi-finals and will prepare as best we can for that.

“ Nobody needs reminding that we have one of the best Championships about and there is that jeopardy hanging over every game you play in it. That’s the way we approach these games. We don’t look any further than the immediate task in front of us. You just can’t afford to.”

On the back of their superb demolition of Ardboe in the opening round, many were expecting the star-studded Ulster champions to inflict similar punishment on Omagh, but Horisk is well enough immersed in the competitiveness of the Tyrone Championship to know that life isn’t always that straightforward.

“Omagh had lads with one or two Championship medals. We came into the game knowing we were going to get a tough battle. While everyone else was writing them off we definitely weren’t.

“ It showed in their performance and the match went right down to the wire. Omagh were superb but that was nothing we didn’t expect coming into the match. We were just lucky to come out the right side of it.”

Errigal are braced for their seventh Senior Championship semi-final appearance in a row, a stat which bares out their superb conconsistency over recent years. While it helps having players of the calibre of Peter Harte, Joe Oguz, Cormac Quinn and the dynamic Canavan brothers, Paul Horisk states that more rudimentary traits lie at the heart of their success.

“ It’s good to have players like that in your team. If you look across the Omagh game though it really wasn’t about any of those players, it was about lads making the hard yards, the blocks, the hits and the tackles. That’s where games are won and lost in the Tyrone Championship.

“I think everybody wants to improve after every game. Even if you come out of the battle on the right side you want to get better for the next day out, whether you think you played well or played poorly.”