Final countdown – Junior Cup Final 2023

WE’RE all set for one of the most eagerly anticipated Tyrone Junior Championship finals in years as Drumragh and Fintona hone their preparations for their big day at O’Neill’s Healy Park this Sunday.

Needless to say it’s a massive day for both clubs, who just happen to be neighbours (friendly of course!), as they go in search of an elusive Junior Championship final.

Fintona won their one and only Junior title in 1975 while you have to go back to 1999 for Drumragh’s last successful championship tilt.

But, in saying that, Drumragh can call upon the experience of playing in a Junior showdown only three years ago, and while they lost out to Kildress, one of their key men, Shane Cleary, believes they’re in a better position this time around.

“This is the best Drumragh squad I’ve ever played in which is a credit to all the coaches who have brought the youth through,”he said.

“I wouldn’t like to be Colm Bradley picking the team at the moment, he must have a real selection headache. We have a lot of our injured players back so we’re in a good place and we’ll give it a good rattle.”

Cleary continued: “Unfortunately finals haven’t come around too often for us but this is our second in four years and hopefully we come out on the right side of it.

“We’ve a few lads who were too young to play in 2020, and other lads who were in their first year on the team, so they’ve had the benefit of three more years experience under their belts.”

It’s hard to predict a winner as both teams have been in flying form heading into the final and have similar strengths.

Fintona finished strongly with a dramatic victory over Aghaloo in their semi-final, and Cleary has a fair idea of what to expect from the Pearses.

“My mum’s from Fintona, it’s only over the road, so I keep an eye on them. Their youth teams are all in Division One, they’ll be looking to get out of Division Three just like ourselves.

“They’ve been flying fit this year. Archie [Martin Greene] came in and got them organised, they’re where they want to be and we’re where we want to be so it makes for a good final.”

Drumragh produced a tremendous display against Cookstown in the semi-final, winning out by six points against a team that hadn’t previously lost a single game all year. Will they follow it up with another great performance in the final? Time will only tell.

“It was a good display from us apart from a blip at the start of the second half.

“They got a goal and that gave them a bit of life. In years gone by we wouldn’t have had the experience and could have fallen apart but thankfully we got it together again.”