Return to senior the primary aim for Moy’s Donaghy

MOY’S quest for a first Tyrone Intermediate title since the heady days of 2017 when their Paddy Cullen Cup success provided the platform for a memorable Croke Park triumph reaches its penultimate stage against Greencastle this weekend.

Both clubs have made history as All-Ireland champions, but it’s Moy’s more recent success which perhaps has the greater influence on this 2024 Championship. Many of the players who lined out for them on that occasions back at the beginning of 2018 are still on board, with a sprinkling of new stars, most especially Michael Conroy whose free-taking accuracy made such an impact in their quarter final victory over Rock.

Steve Donaghy is now a steady centre-back for them and is looking forward to another semi-final outing. Obviously, promotion to senior football is the big target for the Moy who, like Greencastle, have enjoyed another top rank football in recent years to whet the appetite for more and sooner rather than later.

“ There are no easy games in the Intermediate Championship as people will know and Greencastle are going to be very tough,” he said.

“ They played unreal in their own quarter final final. I’d say that they will be coming into this game with a great deal of confidence and we’ll have to raise our game to match that.

“ We met them near the start of the league campaign and I think we beat them. But they’ve a lot of quality players who will give us a tough game. It’s going to be no different.”

Moy’s win over Rock in the quarter final came after a very close tussle. While Moy were probably slight favourites entering that clash, only a late winner from Colm Cavanagh sealed their place in the last four.

“ We had a very tight finish against Rock in the quarter final. It was about trying to get their men tagged and limit the damage as much as possible,” added Stevie Donaghy.

“ Getting Michael Conroy, Eunan Deeney and Colm Cavanagh back for us was massive the last time out. Moy isn’t as big a club as people think and to get them back was brilliant. The Rock had beaten us in the league and we knew that we had to be at our best to beat them.”

Now the stage is set and for each of the four teams remaining in the race for the title, the prospect of reaching the final and getting that place back in Division One is massive. It’s certainly one that Moy are relishing.

“We’re in the league play-offs as well. It’s a couple of years ago now since we got relegated against Edendork. We were missing players in that game and we had two cracks last year against Pomeroy and Coalisland. But we need to prove that we’re capable of getting back to Division One by putting in the performances now,” added Donaghy.

Just where that leads in the coming weeks is the big question to be answered as this Intermediate championship reaches its climax.