McCabe remains cautious

Omagh manager Carl McCabe feels that his side’s impressive opening day league victory over Dromore will have little bearing come the Championship clash between the two sides.

St Enda’s chiselled out a 1-8 to 0-9 in opposition territory at the weekend to get their Division One campaign off to an encouraging start, Ronan O’Neill the star of the show weighing in with a goal and five points.

It was a tempestuous affair at times, with four players sent off, including three from the visiting Omagh side.

With a more meaningful clash looming on the horizon in the middle of August, when the teams lock horns in a much anticipated O’Neill Cup opener, Omagh will be satisfied to have taken the spoils in the ‘warm up’. Yet with several key personnel in both line-ups having sat out the weekend meeting, Carl McCabe wasn’t getting too carried away at 
the outcome

“ I would imagine not (bearing on Championship). By accident or design a few key men were missing from both sides.

“We were both in the same boat. We played what we had to work with and that’s all we could have done. We asked for a performance.

“There is areas for improvement but the boys enjoyed themselves and we can’t ask for more than that. The Championship match will be a whole different kettle of fish.”

While the game on Sunday at Gardrum Park had its controversial moments, amid several flashpoints, McCabe admitted with a grin that it was good to be discussing the ‘nuts and bolts’ of Tyrone club football again after months in lockdown.

“It’s a truncated season. It is a cliché but it’s good to be back out playing competitive football again.

“Tyrone club football is a tough environment and there was nothing different there, just two enthusiastic teams mad keen to get playing football, with the sub-plot of a Championship fixture in four weeks time. But it’s just good to be playing football after all that has happened.”

FULL STORY IN THURSDAY’S ULSTER HERALD OR SUBSCRIBE TO ACCESS A DIGITAL COPY