Minor Ladies Aiming For Glory

Saturday 20.05.2017

Club

The Tyrone minor squad will attempt to put behind them four years of heartbreak and end a long wait for Ulster silverware when they face Armagh at Lisnaskea on Sunday (4pm). Tyrone failed to qualify for the latter stages of the competition in 2013 but during the intervening years they have lost three finals, two to Cavan and one, last year’s to Sunday’s opponents.

Hugh Donnelly took the reins of this Tyrone panel at the start of the year and has some of the finest minor footballers in the country at his disposal. Yet it could be argued that Donnelly will carry some element of pressure into Sunday’s decider. The core group of this squad have enjoyed success at Under 16 level with back to back Ulster titles but they remain hungry and focused on the task in hand.

Back to back minor titles looked set to signal an era of minor dominance yet as so often happens that was not the case. Tyrone though look to be on the cusp of something special. This is a talent laden squad with lots of experience which could well be the catalyst for future senior success although Sunday’s opponents will have something to say about that.

In last year’s final Armagh came back from six points down to claim the title bagging five goals in the process. It was a tough learning experience for the Red Hand girls and the Orchard side still have plenty of that crop on board.

Tyrone though boast a strong and experienced team themselves. A handful of the starting fifteen have gained experience playing with Gerry Moane’s senior side this term. They proved their worth to the squad becoming key members of the county side as they performed well in division two of the national league.

Maria Canavan and Chloe McCaffrey  carry a major scoring threat for Tyrone alongside the hard working Meave Maxwell while at the back Clodagh Donaghy, Meabh Corrigan and Aimee Daly are quality defenders with the side captained by Aoidbhean McHugh. They will head to Fermanagh in a good place and on the back of two solid performances against Antrim and Cavan.

Armagh faced a winner take all clash in their final round robin tie but there was no doubt about the outcome as they came through that test in style beating Monaghan 5-10 to 1-10. They certainly carry a major threat into this final. However as far as the manager is concerned Donnelly this is where he wants Tyrone to be.

“It’s where we want to be. We set out at the start of the year to reach the final and we find ourselves there, so it is the first part of the plan. We now want to win it. We have the players and we will go into the game knowing that if we take our chances we can secure the win. Armagh have experience. They won last year and have a group of players who can cause us problems but we are well prepared and determined to do a job.”

The Tyrone under 14s begin a busy weekend for the County on Saturday as they head to Magherafelt to face Antrim in the Ulster C decider.