Owen Roes Kelly set for yet another Gortin get-together

IF it’s Championship time then that can only mean one thing- a clash of Owen Roes and Gortin!

Perhaps not a perennial get-together but as Owen Roes captain Stephen Kelly jokes we have all seen this movie before over the past few seasons.

“ The boys at the County Board seem to have the balls heated when they make the draw. I think this will be the fourth meeting between the teams in the Championship in five years.

“ The big one was in 2021 the Championship semi-final which went to penalties and we got across the line. The other few have been nip and tuck as well with only a point or two in it either way.

“ It’s the same when we meet in the league too. So on any given day it is always a tight battle and that is what we are expecting next week as well.”

Of course only an Owen Roes Intermediate Championship triumph in October will ensure that their rivalry with the St Patrick’s carries into 2025. The men from the Glens are already guaranteed promotion after their dramatic league title triumph a fortnight ago, and Kelly admits it is hard not to be jealous of what Gortin have achieved.

“ When you look where they came from last year you have to hand it to them. If you ask them I’m sure they wouldn’t have been touted for the league this year but fair play to them, they have come from a difficult position last year and put in a lot of hard work to get over the line.

“ For ourselves we are probably a bit similar as a club in terms of stature and numbers. So we have to look at them and say why can we not do something similar as well.”

Kelly and Owen Roes of course went close to achieving their long held ambition of bringing Senior football to Glenmornan when reaching the Intermediate decider in 2021 only to come up short against Moortown, while last year their dreams were dashed by Pomeroy at the quarter-final stages.

The experienced defender admits that it would be great to finally get over the line.

“ We have been in Division Two since 2017 and we have had a few near misses in that period. It just hasn’t happened for us so we will just keep plugging away.

“ When we have been beaten we have been beaten by good teams. We lost to Moortown in the 2021 Final and they went on to reach the Ulster Final and it was the same with Pomeroy last year.

“ At half-time we were well placed, a couple of points up. I’d say Pomeroy were shocked that we were in that position. We had built a good platform but we just didn’t come out in the second half and execute.

“ They got a built of momentum and we just couldn’t get out of our own half.

“ They went on to win and sure look what they went on to do. They got to the Ulster Final and more then held their own in Division One this season, beating some big hitters along the way.

>body2text<“ That seems to be the pattern this last few years, we have come up against a team that is keen to push on and establish themselves as a senior team.

“ We have been knocking on the door ourselves too but just haven’t been able to get over the line.”

Steafan Deery’s charges weren’t really in the shake-up for promotion this term but as Kelly points out a few narrow losses along the way stifled their progress in Division Two.

“The League was indifferent to be honest. Normally we are a team that comes out of the blocks fairly sharp and get our points on the board quickly. But this year was the opposite.

“ We had a decent enough year albeit we finished mid-table. By our own regards that wasn’t where we wanted to be.

“ In a lot of the games we were well in them but got beaten by a point or two points. But that is Division Two football for you. Any given day one team can beat another. So we were in the mix in a lot of matches and if things had gone slightly different we could have been well up the table battling with Gortin.

“ Hopefully we turned things around three or four weeks ago during that busy period and found a run of form.

“ We picked up four wins in a row which got ourselves safe. That was the biggest thing coming down the stretch there. All the focus was on ensuring we weren’t going to be in a relegation playoff.”