Plunkett pleased with Coalisland character in derby

EXPERIENCED Coalisland midfielder Plunkett Kane hopes that Friday night’s morale boosting derby victory over Clonoe will act as a springboard for a positive run-in to their league campaign.

An early goal from Paul Corr proved the key score as the Fianna edged out their biggest rivals 1-11 to 0-13 in a contest which had big repercussions at the bottom end of the Division One table.

Coalisland diced with danger last year when they had to come through the playoffs to avoid relegation out of the top flight and Kane is keen to avoid a repeat scenario in 2024.

“Everything is going to be hitting you thick and fast now after the break,” he said.

“The Championship is still well down the line. Our priority is to get points in these remaining league games to make ourselves safe.

“ We were in the relegation playoffs last year and we definitely don’t want that this year. On any given day in Tyrone any team can beat another so we are hoping now to accumulate enough points to avoid that relegation battle this time around.”

There was little to choose between the sides at Fr Campbell Park with the hosts just squeezing home right at the finish.  Plunkett Kane was pleased with the character shown and signalled out the contribution of two of their Tyrone contingent-Michael McKernan and Niall Devlin- who really stood up in terms of leadership and drive down the home stretch.

“Whenever you are missing the likes of Paudie (Hampsey) and Tiernan Quinn it’s tough and there was another few men still on holiday too. That makes it hard but thankfully Michael and Niall are super players and super athletes. You could see when they came back into the team they were fit and raring to go. Those two boys really finished strong for us tonight.”

While Coalisland have now given themselves a bit of breathing space down around the drop zone, Plunkett warned that there could be no room for any complacency.

“Whenever you play in derby games it is always going to be nip and tuck. We are both down near the bottom, Clonoe had four points and we had three points coming into the match. That made it a massive game. So because of that we were happy to get the two points and move on.

“We still have to look behind us in the table. We are still only on five points. It was good to get the win but we have to build on it when we go out next week against Pomeroy. But hopefully this is a stepping stone and when we get a few men back we can push on.”