Plenty to play for in last weeks of Tyrone ACL

OVER a dozen Tyrone clubs face an exciting end to the All-County League season as the race for promotion, league titles or to avoid the dreaded relegation trap gathers pace.

Just three rounds matches remain to be completed in the Senior and Intermediate ranks as action resumed in earnest last weekend following the climax of the championships.

Top billing goes to the tussle for the Division One title where Carrickmore are currently in pole position, with Moy hot on their heels. Aghyaran or Greencastle are in contention for the Division Two title, with only a point separating them at the minute.

But it’s the relegation battle which could yet generate the greatest drama. Four teams are due to face the drop from Divisions One and Two, and there’s a lot at stake as the competitions reach their finale over the coming weeks.

Edendork, Pomeroy and Galbally are in the greatest danger of dropping back to Division Two, and there’s no room for complacency either for Derrylaughan, Eglish and even the defeated county finalists, Coalisland.

The situation is equally tight in Division Two where eight teams are in the danger zone. Augher, Strabane, Aghaloo and Stewartstown currently hold those four bottom positions. But there is no room for comfort either for Tattyreagh, Beragh, Killeeshil and Gortin.

No such worries, though, for the St Colmcille’s who recorded an important victory over their parish rivals, Loughmacrory, on Sunday. Their 0-12 to 0-5 win before a bumper attendance at Pairc Naomh Colmcille extended their lead at the top of the table, as Moy slipped up in losing to Errigal Ciaran.

Top scorer in that game was Ciaran Daly and he is in no doubt about Carmen’s desire to win the league, especially after the disappointment of their narrow championship quarter final loss to Coalisland a few weeks ago.

“We were pleased with the win, because it was a good tough game and it was good to come through in the final minutes. Our fitness probably showed well at the end because we’ve been training very hard all this year,” he said.

“The team took a week off after the Coalisland game to reflect on what was a very disappointing result. We sat down on the Tuesday night after that and decided to push on. In fairness, every player has been putting in the effort since that.

“Hopefully, there’ll be a league medal at the end of this which would be massive for the team and the players.”

It’s over a decade now since the St Colmcille’s who lead both the senior championship and all-county league roll of honours, last emerged victorious in Division One.

Now, though, with a young team built on the underage success of recent years and with the presence of Conor Gormley, Mark Donnelly, Martin Penrose and Barry Daly to add experience, there’s a determination to keep progressing.

Up next for them is a game this coming weekend against an Edendork team with just one point on the table. They then continue with a clash against Clonoe and then a derby meeting with Errigal Ciaran in the final round.

That’s an intriguing run-in. As Ciaran Daly explains, they are also certainly relishing the end of season action despite it being November.

“It’s not a bad complaint to be still playing at this time of year when you could already be doing pre-season training,” he added.

“Anytime you’re playing football is great and these lads want to be playing every week and as long as we can do that we’re happy.

“There’s three matches left now and they’re definitely big games. It’s one game at a time, trying to keep everyone fit and healthy and hopefully we can push on.

“There was a lot of talk before our game in Sunday that Loughmacrory were coming looking for a first win over us. Our game against them was put off at the end of the year, so this game was definitely being built up.

“It’s good to have got the win, we got back to training on Tuesday night and will hopefully push on now.”