Owen Roes remaining grounded despite toppling league champs

OWEN Roes manager Stefan Deery insists that his squad will remain grounded despite dashing Gortin’s double dreams in the first round of the Tyrone Intermediate Championship.

The Glenmornan crew pulled off the shock of the round in taking out the newly-crowned Division Two champions last time out, the 2-9 to 0-14 scoreline doing scant justice to the victors overall dominance at sun-splashed Ballinamullan.

While the weather is unlikely to be as benign this Saturday afternoon at Plunkett Park for their quarter-final clash with Derrylaughan, on the pitch the action should be red hot.

Owen Roes laid out their credentials for all would be contenders to see by toppling Gortin but Stefan Deery is adhering to that old saying- one swallow doesn’t make a summer.

” This group got to a final in 2021 and were beaten in a quarter-final last year. That is the aspirations we set for ourselves, to get to the backend of the Championship.

” Yes we beat Gortin who won the league but we ourselves haven’t won any silverware yet. It was just the first round and puts us in the same position we were last year. We need to go another three steps.

”  In Championship football there is always a shock or two and people might not be talking about us but we are confident in our ability.

” You seen in us beating Gortin and the likes of Cookstown pushing Aghyaran close. There is no reason why we can’t compete with any team in this Division.”

Owen Roes next opponents Derrylaughan were able to hold Clogher relatively comfortably at arms length in the first round, before prevailing in a high-scoring clash.

Tomas Carney shot the lights out for the Kevin Barrys that evening up front, while in Brian Kennedy they have a player who Deery rates as highly as anyone around that centre field engine room.

“ They have probably got the biggest midfielder in the country and we have obviously lost our most influential midfielder (the injured Tony Devine) so that is going to be a huge challenge for us if that is the case.

“ But we went up to Derrylaughan and beat them last year. While they have strengths I feel we have strengths as well that can hurt them. It won’t be a one sided game either way. Similar to Gortin if we get our match ups right and our gameplan right then we can go in confident.”

Such self- belief in the Owen Roes fold will be soaring in the aftermath of that triumph over Gortin last time out, an outcome which didn’t surprise their manager.

“ There never really is more than a kick of the ball between the two teams when they meet. That was proved again, it has always been the way. We had a few boys missing when we met them in the league and I think if they had been available it would have been a different game.

“ They proved vitally important as we seen. Cathal (McShane) is also a huge addition to the team when he comes back in, having been involved in the Tyrone set-up.

“This group of boys are capable of beating anyone in this Division, give the quality they have but it is about producing it. That is the tricky question for us.”