Trillick look forward to another clash with the Clarkes

TRILLICK and Dungannon, it’s becoming something of a trend.

They’re set to cross paths in the Senior Championship semi-finals for the second year running following their respective quarter-final wins last weekend, and it’ll be their fourth championship meeting in all since the turn of the decade.

Here’s another wee stat – it’s set to be Trillick’s seventh semi-final appearance since they achieved promotion a full decade ago in 2014, a testament to all their enduring qualities, but they certainly didn’t have it all their own way as they ground out an extremely hard-earned result against Ardboe at Carrickmore on Sunday.

Dungannon will be cock-a-hoop after their dramatic comeback victory over Loughmacrory on Saturday but when the dust settles it will still be worth considering that they found themselves five points down in the first instance.

So it’s all to play for, and Trillick coach Peter McGinnity had his tongue firmly in cheek when asked for his thoughts on their collision course with the Clarkes.

“I’d say, the Dungannon players will have been hoping that Trillick would win today [against Ardboe] so that they could get a crack at them! And that’s fair enough,” he said.

Trillick came out on top of last year’s semi-final encounter against Dungannon and deservedly so, and they’ll need to produce the same kind of power-packed performance if they’re to repeat the trick. Dungannon won their Championship encounters in 2020 and 2022, so it’ll be fascinating to see who emerges victorious on this occasion.

Asked what exactly Dungannon will bring to the table, McGinnity said: “Score-taking! That’s what Dungannon have.

“They can take scores from the simplest of chances, never miss any frees and they punish you for any mistakes you make,” added the Fermanagh man.