Junior clubs all set for league start

ACTION in All-County League Division Three offers both challenges and opportunities for the clubs hoping that a good start will prove to be half the battle in their bid to win promotion to Intermediate ranks when the 2023 season ends.

Recent years have seen the level of competitiveness in the Junior ranks soar even higher. Now, there’s any one of a number of clubs all entering this year’s first round of matches over the coming days with high hopes of making their mark as the season progresses.

Stewartstown’s success in winning the Ulster title and reaching the All-Ireland Final has once again highlighted the strengths of Tyrone football at Junior level. It means that the frontrunners in Division Three will be fancying their chances of emulating the Harps.

For the moment, though, the focus is on achieving that good start. But when the dust settles, it’s likely that teams including Aghaloo, Fintona, Cookstown and Eskra will be among the early-leaders, and that there’ll be regular shocks to maintain the momentum.

Aghaloo reached the Junior Final in 2022, losing out to Stewartstown. But their captain Daniel McCrudden says that they have been working hard torwards the 2023 season and building on the progress that saw them challenge strongly without reaching the ultimate reward last year.

“We pushed hard all of last year, and only had two defeats in the league and then one in the championship final,” stated the defender.

“It was probably hard to take that final loss to Stewartstown, but we were probably just beaten by the better team on the day. But we’ll work hard again this year, it’s back to the drawing board and hopefully we can go that one-step further in 2023.

“Stephen Donnelly is still our manager and there’s a great management team behind us. Obviously we mightn’t have the same big numbers that other clubs will have, but there’s still plenty of players there and we’re all pushing for places.”

Joining Stephen Donnelly in the management team are Paul O’Hagan and Brian McAnenly. It’s the same as last year on the sideline, leaving them with a good level of experience as they aim to win promotion back to the Intermediate ranks.

Recent months have seen them back in training, and with a number of challenge matches against quality opposition already having taken place, Aghaloo are ready to start of on the right foot and secure a winning start.

But their clash against fellow promotion challengers, Fintona, is sure to be a clinker. It’s a home game for the Pearses, and this is one that even on day one of the season could have a major impact on how things go in the season generally for both clubs.

“We didn’t play in the Ulster league this year, but just concentrated on putting in the hard work this year,” McCrudden added.

“The later start to the league now in May is hard to know about. Some like an early start by a couple of weeks but we don’t mind.

“We’ve got Fintona away in this first game and it’s a big test so early on. But then if we can get through that game then it shows that we’re on the right track.

“Division Three is so competitive that teams need to get those early wins because if you don’t it’s very easy to slip out of the promotion race. Last year, we only lost two games and lost out. This year we’ll just look after one game at a time and see where that takes us.

“There’s a good degree of optimism within the squad. But looking at the other teams, it’s definitely no simple task to try and make that mark.”