Stewartstown set sights on another run

STEADY performances throughout the past number of years have firmly established Stewartstown in Division Two of the All-County League.

Now, on the 100th anniversary of their first ever Tyrone Senior Championship success, the famous Harps are targeting a good run at Intermediate level. It’s an aim which they will be confidently of challenging strongly, but they’ll be taking nothing for granted in a first round derby clash against Rock.

Gerard O’Neill is under no illusions about just how tough the Tyrone Championships are, and the huge opportunities which they also present.

“We’re going into this Championship in a hopeful mood. Everybody knows how tough the Tyrone Championships are, and you definitely can’t be expecting to win because that is where you get caught,” he said.

“Division Two has been really tight this year. We played the Rock in the league last week and they didn’t show their full hand. But you have to be hopeful going into that fixture.

“There has been a tight schedule of games in the past few weeks and it’s always good to touch up on the match sharpness. But it probably was a bit too much, especially for the likes of ourselves because we’ve got a small enough panel and it’s about making the most of the chances that come.

“ We’re probably a bit wounded at the moment with the run of fixtures. Our team is going into this championship fairly sharp and another two week block of training is going to benefit us as well. There were times in the past few weeks when you’d have been hoping for another training sessions, but there’s been so many games that we haven’t been able to do that.

“Anytime we play the Rock it’s always tight. We’ve played them regularly down through the years and they’re a strong team with quality forwards. We’ll prepare as best we can and see where that takes us.”

Stewartstown league efforts gradually improved after a disappointing start to the campaign. But they began to pick up points, but some good performances against the top teams have boosted their confidence and left them in bouyant mood entering the knockout series.

“ We got to the All-Ireland final two years ago, and we’ve established ourselves at Intermediate. There’s a few lads back this year, the panel is at full strength now and we’re looking forward to the straight knockout because that’s the way to go and you always try and raise your game for that.