Injury-plagued season ends in disappointment for Tyrone Ladies

SEAN O’Kane is set to take time out to consider his future after Tyrone Ladies ten point loss to Kildare last Sunday in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship.

The Red Hands can have few complaints as they failed to get going over the hour at Hawksfield with the Lilywhites always in command. Indeed only for the heroics of Sinead McVey in nets the gap could have been a lot wider. Manager O’Kane came into the role ahead of the final National League game in 2022 and guided Tyrone to an Intermediate Ulster crown last year. This year they consolidated their Division Two status but lost their provincial title to Antrim.

The Strabane native’s preparations all season have been hampered by what he described as the worst injury run he has ever experienced in a long managerial career.

Veteran campaigner Emma Hegarty worked hard throughout the contest but admitted that it had been a frustrating afternoon.

“Any day you lose and your season ends is disappointing. It’s worse when you know if we had have performed we could still be there.

“We have made progress with some of the new girls coming in but injuries and other things didn’t go our way and unfortunately hindered our progression in the Championship,” added the Donaghmore player who also had a spell on the treatment table.

Meabh Mallon made a comeback from long term injury at the weekend but as many as ten players have been missing- the likes of Slaine McCarroll, Niamh Hughes, and Emma and Orla Mulgrew among them.

O’Kane added three minors to his set up through the latter part of the season. It was an opportunity to get them involved and at times Tyrone did play some good football although next season could be very much about transition with many of the older players set to contemplate their own inter county careers.

As the Tyrone ladies season came to a crunching halt at the weekend thoughts in the County will now focus on the club season and the Championships.

After a stop start nature the All -County League is set for a busy period during the rest of the summer as teams reset again with an eye on the Championship.

Hegarty pointed out that county team mates will soon lock horns once back donning their club colours.

“Club games will come thick and fast now and I’m sure that will be our focus. There will be plenty of us now meeting as rivals on the field.”

After this brief holiday break there will be back to back matcheswith Fixtures Chairman Paddy O’Brien aiming to get the Club Championships up and running at the start of September.

Meanwhile at underage level in Tyrone the Minor Grade One League and Championship finals are set to be intriguing affairs. Omagh St Enda’s meet Kildress in a repeat of previous underage finals from the past couple of seasons. Unfortunately Edendork were unable to field against the Tones in the Championship semi-final while Omagh proved too strong for Moortown as they ran out 5-10 to 3-8 winners on the Loughshore.

In the Grade Two Championship Aodh Ruadh are set to meet Glenelly in Sunday’s final. The St Joseph’s had a narrow win against Clonoe while Dungannon had an eight point success over Loughmacrory.

Pomeroy will meet Killeeshil in the Minor Grade Three Championship Final after they beat Castlederg and Aghyaran respectively in their last four games.