McGrath sees Derg as a danger for Sigersons

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

STRABANE captain Oran McGrath has warned that it would be foolhardy of anyone to dismiss the threat that Castlederg could pose to their Championship hopes in Saturday afternoon’s Junior first round showdown at Greencastle.

St Eugene’s failed to win a single game all season in Division 3A, finishing bottom of the table with a 100 per cent losing record from their fourteen matches, but the Sigersons skipper stresses that such stats don’t present an accurate picture of the Derg’s capabilities.

“Castlederg might be a bit disappointed with their league but we seen in our two games with them that they have quality all over the pitch. They have a couple of forwards who are a real scoring threat so it’s not going to be an easy task.

“In the Championship you can’t afford to read too much into league form anyway because this is a different ball game altogether. We expect to be meeting a strong Castlederg team.”

The Sigersons were much more consistent than their upcoming opponents in Division 3A and ended up in third spot behind pacesetters Cookstown and Clogher. That pairing are tipped in most quarters to be the frontrunners to land the Pat Darcy Cup but McGrath sees no reason why Strabane also shouldn’t be in the reckoning.

“We were maybe unfortunate in different stages with injuries and boys away but we have had a two or three week break to get boys back in. If we perform to the level we think we are capable of we can give anybody a game.”

The Sigersons lifted some early season silverware in both the Ulster League and McGarrity Cup, while the recent Championship success of the Reserves has also given everyone a boost according to Oran.

“The Reserves in the league this year probably didn’t give it as good a go as they would have wanted but the boys rallied well for the Championship. They managed to get over the line against Tattyreagh in the final which was great.

“Seeing them win such a tight match shows that when you put the shoulder to the wheel you can get success and that hopefully is a good example for the seniors too. That should provide all teams at the club with inspiration.”

However the Championship unfolds for Strabane, the Sigersons captain admits that any success for the North Tyrone locality as a whole would be welcome and he lauded the recent launch of the Pilot Programme by the County Board to develop Gaelic Games in the region.

“Across all North Tyrone clubs there is a lot of good young players and I feel they do end up lost because they are not getting the chance to play at a higher level or have the opportunity to make the step up.

“The main aim at our club at the minute is to try and develop boys and get to a level where we are going to be competing for trophies and be successful. If clubs in our part of the county can get that implemented now and develop then hopefully we can build back up to where we all want to be.”

And having lost out in last year’s Junior semi-final to Killeeshil, McGrath said the side are desperate to go one step further.

“There was a good buzz about training coming into the Killeeshil match but it was a disappointing display. We just never really got going.

“We have sort of been using that as a bit of motivation this year. Whenever it comes to big moments in big games we can’t let it get on top of us. We definitely want to right that wrong because we didn’t perform like we could.”