St Eugene’s skipper relishing Sigersons showdown

JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

By Niall Gartland

“ANYTHING can happen” is the message of Castlederg skipper Ben Harper ahead of their big derby clash against Strabane in the first round of the Junior Championship

The ‘Derg will look to upset the odds this Saturday in a double header at Greencastle and their captain is hopeful they can set aside what was a disappointing league campaign.

St Eugene’s finished bottom of the pack in Division 3A and will play in the bottom-tier Division 3B in 2025, and the unfortunate reality is that they haven’t mustered a single win all season, losing all 14 of their league outings.

They’ve bumped into the Sigersons twice this season already, losing both outings by more than 10 points, so it would be quite the surprise if they make it third time lucky this weekend. But the Championship rarely goes entirely to script across the board, so Harper is hopeful they can give it a real lash.

“Our league fate had been determined for quite a while, so we’ve been really looking forward to the Strabane game for the last number of weeks. Our approach is that if we play with no fear, then anything can happen. Strabane are obviously a good side with really good players, but you know what the Tyrone Club Championships are like – anybody can beat anybody and we’ll give it our best shot.”

Harper, who has played a big part on the management side of things in Castlederg’s recent successes at underage level, is in his second year captaining the side. Even though he’s captain, he certainly doesn’t take a place on the starting team for granted.

“I’ve been on the senior panel for six or seven years at this stage. I started on the fringes of the team, playing reserves football.

“When I got a senior place, I was determined not to give it up. There’s a few of us around my age who came in at the same time and have stuck at it.” Castlederg have had to contend with retirements to key players in recent times but Harper says they didn’t use that as an excuse for their recent relegation.

“There’s no point making excuses, it hasn’t been good enough from us. Some boys are away but we still have a good core of players and it just didn’t work out in the league and hopefully things turn around for us in the Championship.”