Ruairi hopes Aghaloo continue to hit top gear

AGHALOO attacker Ruairi McGlone doesn’t believe that the team is undercooked going into their Junior Championship semi-final with Glenelly this Friday night, though acknowledging that the St Joseph’s represent a significant step-up from their previous opposition.

The O’Neills have racked up eight goals in dismantling Eskra and Brocagh in the earlier rounds of the competition, with the outcome effectively sealed long before the final whistle.

Now it’s Glenelly who stand between Aghaloo and a second appearance in the Pat Darcy Cup decider in three seasons (they came up short against Stewartstown in the 2022 final).

McGlone chipped in with four points in the rout of Brocagh last time out (3-18 to 0-4) on an afternoon when the likes of Tiarnan Donnelly and Niall McElroy really went to town.

McGlone accepts that another turkey shoot is highly unlikely against the men from the Plum this weekend at Healy Park.

“ Glenelly will be a real battle no doubt about it and a real step up from what we have faced so far. Maybe we haven’t been tested as much as we would have liked. We probably got the rub of the green in the league games against them. They were definitely the better team on the day. We just got two lucky goals.”

Both Aghaloo and Glenelly have the safety net of the league promotion play-offs to fall back upon should the Championship not go as planned, and McGlone agrees that losing out narrowly on the Division Three title to Drumquin, having lost just one game, was a tough pill to swallow.

“ Maybe it is still in the back of our heads and has given us a bit of motivation. Yes we lost just the one match but that is the nature of the Division. There is no point moaning about it. If results had of went differently for us we could have come out on the wrong end of a few more games, there was only a toss of the coin in a few of them.

“ But full credit to Drumquin. In the game that really mattered they were by far the better team and taught us a few lessons. There was no point feeling sorry for ourselves. We are still going and the season is still alive for us so everything is at stake now against Glenelly.”

Looking at Friday’s opposition, Ruairi feels that the emerging young talent at their disposal marks Glenelly out as one of the front runners for honours at Junior level.

“ They have the Tyrone Under-20 keeper (Conor McAneny )between the posts and a few forwards to be fearful of.

“ Every year that we have played Glenelly it has been a battle to the end. I can’t remember any game against Glenelly where it has been one-sided either way. But we will look forward to it.”

And while Aghaloo couldn’t read too much into their quarter-final cruise against Brocagh, McGlone was pleased that they maintained their intensity and focus all the way through for the most part.

“ That was the main thing. When you are playing games like that it’s always hard to keep the boys going 100 per cent for the full sixty minutes. But in fairness against Brocagh we managed to go from the first whistle to the last whistle and maintain that standard the whole way through.

“ Aghaloo ourselves have been on the receiving end of many a hammering and it can be tough. In fairness to Brocagh they kept going and have a good man over them in Peter Armour. Full credit to them they gave it their all but we were just better in the end.”