Ladies boss O’Kane doesn’t view Sunday as a ‘free hit’

DESPITE already attaining their number one objective in gaining promotion, Tyrone Ladies senior manager Sean O’Kane still doesn’t view Sunday’s National League Final with Kildare at Croke Park as a ‘free hit’.

After an excellent campaign, in which they went unbeaten through the course of all seven games, the Red Hands will be mixing it in Division One next year once again.

This weekend’s encounter with an experienced Lilywhites outfit will give them a taste of what to expect in 2025, but Sean O’Kane maintains that his side will head to Croker aiming to seal some early season silverware.

“People might call next Sunday a free hit because we are already promoted but it would be good to bring the trophy home.

“The reality is that we are up next year which will be a big task to compete when it comes around but for now we will try and do our best next week and enjoy the day as well. It’s 24 years since we have been in a League Final.

“We have only five players in this squad who have Croke Park experience. Contrast that with the Kildare set-up. They won the All-Ireland Intermediate title last year and won the National League Final last year so they are no strangers to it.

“But it will be a great experience for our younger girls to get playing at Croke Park.

“There is also two or three of the management team never been involved in a game before there either so there is a lot of pluses. We will try and set up as best we can on the day.”

The Strabane native has enjoyed multiple stints as county senior boss, and stepped into the breach again midway through a turbulent 2022. There has been steady progress since then but this year the shoots of recovery are clearly evident.

Sean cites the emergence of a batch of exciting youth allied to the involvement of some astute and highly-respected coaches as some of the key reasons for the turnaround

“It’s surprising in so many ways, but a nice surprise. We have brought so many good young players through this year and they have stepped up to the mark so far. Hopefully they can take it another step now at Croke Park next Sunday.

“ Everybody has bought in to what we are trying to do. Barry Grimes has come back on board and he no doubt is also a major asset.

“Fergal Quinn, from Moortown, has also done a lot of the defensive work which we have benefited from, and we have other fantastic people involved behind the scenes.

“So we have a fairly good combination between players who are willing to learn and work hard and a management team who are trying to push them on. On top of that I would also have to mention our principal sponsors McAleer and Rushe and other sponsors of the team as well. Their support has been brilliant.”

O’Kane feels that the springboard for any senior success in a county is to have solid foundations in place at youth level and he believed that was now the case in Tyrone

“Being involved in schools football for so long I knew the talent we had coming down the line and there is still more to come.

“If you have players coming through regularly at Minor or under-16 and under-14 level and blossoming then at 19 or 20 years of age hopefully they are ready to take the step up with the seniors. That is a big help to any team.

“We are a big county with a big youth structure so we need to be pushing on because other counties are doing it.

“The likes of Armagh and Donegal are building again through good youth structures. Thankfully we also have good young players now coming through the ranks.”

Tyrone drew with Kildare when the sides met at Beragh towards the back end of the league, a result which should fuel the Red Hands with additional belief heading into this Sunday’s rematch at Croke Park. That said O’Kane knows it will be a big ask to get past them.

“They will go in as raging hot favourites given what they did last year.

“They are playing in the Senior Championship this year whereas we are in the Intermediate Championship.

“They rested some of their bigger players that day in Beragh but both teams have momentum and are unbeaten. I think they are on a massive run of something like 27 games unbeaten which is very impressive but at the end of the day that run has to come to an end some time. Could we be the team to do it? We will certainly give it a big shout.

“ If we are good enough we will take the trophy home and if we don’t we will still have had a really good league season.

“ It’s a big day for the County and a big day for ladies football. We are really looking forward to it.”