Gortin boss delighted with their great start to the season

GORTIN found Derrylaughan too hot to handle in both league and championship last year, so their joint-manager Nigel McCarron was delighted that they put that to bed in Friday evening’s Division Two meeting of the in-form sides.

McCarron is in his first year in charge of his home club and says he leads a team of equals alongside Kevin McCullagh, Barry McCrory, Leo Meenan and former Tyrone footballer Mark Donnelly.

After a disappointing 2023 season, Gortin were keen to reassert themselves and sit at the summit of Division Two ahead of a particularly hectic spell of matches with the Intermediate Championship coming into view.

Speaking after Friday’s 1-9 to 0-11 win over Derrylaughan, McCarron praised the aptitude of his players.

“We’re over the moon with how things are going. We started training early on and put in a lot of hard work and that’s showing. We’ve 24 lads pulling in the one direction and that’s half the battle. Every single man is doing their job and we’ve been mightily impressed with their efforts.”

Gortin looked poised for a relatively comfortable victory with a quarter of an hour remaining against the men from the Loughshore, moving into a 1-9 to 0-7 lead.

But the Kevin Barrys are a dogged, determined outfit and they threw caution to the wind in the closing stages, and would’ve snatched a draw only a last-gasp Tomas Carney free from way out the pitch fell short of the target.

McCarron commented: “We always knew Derrylaughan were going to fight to the very end. We’ve been there many times before with them and they never give up, so we’re very happy to have got over the line.

“Weather conditions were tough but it was a fairly open game of football.

“They beat us twice last year, in both league and championship, so it was a scalp we were looking for and we’re glad to have got it.”

Gortin have some talented youngsters coming through the ranks and All-Ireland U20 winners Liam Og Mossey and Odhran Brolly were to fore of their efforts up front as they hit a third-quarter purple patch that helped win the game in the end up.

McCarron said: “We’ve a few young lads coming through and they’re on the right end of the pitch to get scores and that’s what it’s all about – if you’ve a couple of lads to put the ball over the bar then you’ll never be far away.”