Survival at stake for County hurlers

ONE more big performance is being demanded from the Tyrone hurlers as they prepare for a crunch Christy Ring clash against Wicklow in the final round of the competition this weekend.

It’s an important one for the Red Hand hurlers who know that a win against their Leinster opponents will secure their status in the Christy Ring for 2024. The teams met in the National League earlier this year when Tyrone won at Dungannon, and the hope is that the Red Hands can repeat that performance when the teams renew acquaintances at Carrickmore on Saturday at 1pm.

Stephen McGarry and the players will also hope to quickly erase the memory of their loss to Kildare on Saturday past. That 2-32 to 0-11 defeat was one of their worst for decades, but there were still some positives against a team just relegated from the second tier Joe McDonagh Cup.

After that difficult afternoon of hurling, the team manager knows that a response will be required when they meet Wicklow.

“Kildare are probably the best team that we’ve played in four years, and we knew they were going to be a good team,” he said.

“But they just got their scores too easy, and we stepped a yard off them and they punished us, they were very, very good.

“When you come up short, you can live with that, but there’s no point in hiding our disappointment, because we are disappointed with the manner of the overall performance.

“But Kildare are probably just a step ahead of us, along with Derry, and that’s the levels that we try and get to, and the only way we’re going to get to that level is by hard work.”

Games against Wicklow have been rare enough over the years, so the significance of this one cannot be under-estimated. The two teams are level on points on the table, with Sligo still to record a win. Suffice to say that a victory would be very welcome indeed for the Tyrone hurlers on this occasion.

“The Wicklow game could be absolutely critical in terms of our retention of our Christy Ring status, which has always been the goal,” added Stephen McGarry.

“We have talked about performing week in, week out, and this has taken away a bit from the credit we built up in Sligo.

“But the players will bounce back, they’re a resilient bunch. We’ll go in to the Wicklow game and Wicklow won’t fear us and we won’t fear Wicklow. It will probably be a more even contest.”

Hopes will be high that there will be a strong turnout of supporters as what has been a hectic season for Tyrone reaches its climax.

After a year which has seen them reach the National League Division 2B final and win promotion to Division Two of the National League for 2025, the prospect of securing their Christy Ring status this weekend is the big one driving both Stephen McGarry and the players on as they finalise their preparations this week.