Errigal’s O’Donnell firmly focused on the task at hand

By Niall Gartland

RETAINING the O’Neill Cup has proven a notoriously difficult feat in recent decades but Errigal Ciaran joint-manager Adrian O’Donnell says that they are very much focused on controlling the controllables ahead of Saturday’s semi-final clash with Ardboe.

The reigning champions have made it this far with victories over Killyclogher and Moortown but it would be foolish to look beyond an Ardboe side that won their league encounter not so long ago against Errigal on a scoreline of 0-15 to 0-11.

Many top teams have fallen short in their quest to retain the Tyrone Senior Championship since Carrickmore last claimed the back-to-back in 2004/05, but Adrian O’Donnell says the challenge associated with bucking the trend isn’t particularly pressurising.

“No I don’t think so. I think that our focus from when we’ve been here is to try to be the best we can be in every game we play.

“All we can do is take it training session by training session and get the most out of those sessions that they leave us in the best possible place to play our next opponent whoever that may be.

“We don’t look at it as pressure, whatever happened last year happened last year, that was 2022 and we’re doing all that we can to win as many games and see how far we can go in this year’s championship.”

Adrian O’Donnell and Mark Harte are in their third season in charge of their native club and in all three reasons they have made it to the last four of the championship. Consistency has been a hallmark of their tenure but in the here and now all they are focused in is surmounting their next challenge.

“There has been levels of consistency. There was such a tight turnaround between the win over Killyclogher, we had just over a week to try to get ready for Moortown.

“There’s a two-week gap between the quarter-final and the semi-final and it’s all about trying to make the very best of our time. We’re just delighted to be there and as you say, it’s our third semi-final in a row.”

Errigal were full value for their quarter-final victory over a gritty Moortown team in torrential conditions at Loughmacrory. Second-half goals from Ruairi Canavan and subs Bryan Horisk were the crucial scores en route to a 2-8 to 0-6 victory, and O’Donnell says that getting the result was the all-important thing.

Speaking directly after the game, he said: “That’s it, when you wake up on the morning of a match day and you leave your home, all you want to do is return there having won the game of football that you played in.

“I know I speak on behalf of everybody in the Errigal changing room, we’re just delighted, we came here to win of football, we came here to beat Moortown, it was a gallant effort from them, they asked plenty of questions of us and we’re delighted to be leaving here still in the championship.”