Errigal’s Stevie sets his sights on Cargin challenge

HAVING successfully dipped their toes back into the choppy waters of Ulster Club football, a buoyant Errigal Ciaran will aim to swim a bit further off shore this weekend when they continue their provincial Club assault in Belfast.

The Tyrone champions survived a stern examination of their credentials against St Eunan’s last Saturday in Omagh, before midfielder Ben McDonnell stepped forward as the last gasp action hero, his hat-trick of points in the closing stages helping to steer them home 0-12 to 0-10.

The seemingly perennial Antrim kingpins Cargin are next up in the quarter-finals at Corrigan Park this Sunday lunchtime. It represents another tough ask for Errigal but it’s a challenge that their joint manager Stevie Quinn is relishing.

“ They have played a lot of Ulster Club football over this past few years. I think Glen beat them there by a point recently enough so we will be under no illusions what they will be like up at Corrigan Park. It will be another battle similar to St Eunan’s but we are just happy to have that problem to look forward to.”

Looking back on the preliminary round victory over the Letterkenny based side, Quinn hailed the impact of Errigal’s second half subs Mark Kavanagh and Thomas Canavan, who each registered vital second half points.

“ We finished very strong. St Eunan’s are a serious outfit so we knew what we were coming up against. They have some top quality players and they made it very difficult for us. They had the O’Donnells up front who were a handful and Shaun Patton’s kickouts are always a threat.

“ But I thought we had a good impact off the bench. Mark and Tommy added a lot when they came on and thankfully we were able to finish strongly and get over the line.”

Errigal had started fairly well but Stevie felt Peter Harte’s penalty miss (or more accurately Patton’s stunning spot-kick save) did knock the stuffing out of the side for a spell.

“ The penalty maybe set us back a wee bit as I thought we were playing really well up to then. We lost our way a bit after and they got on top.

“ I thought Aidan McCrory was again excellent when Niall O’Donnell came on and defensively overall the boys put in a good shift. That’s all you can ask, the preliminary round of the Ulster Club is all about getting over the line, whether it was pretty or whatever. It was going to take a lot of hard work so we were just delighted.”

Quinn admitted that the first engagement in any Championship competition was always a tricky assignment and in that regard he said Errigal were pleased to notch up a win and therefore progress into the next round.

“ First rounds are just about winning whatever the competition and you hope to get on a roll after that. Nobody really remembers the first round if you go on and achieve something but it is just about getting over that first hurdle.

“ It was the same in the Tyrone Championship when we met Pomeroy. We just got over that and then looked to build up some momentum in a run of games. It didn’t look too pretty with five minutes to go but big Ben was immense there sticking over a couple of points.”