Underdogs Rock triumph in Intermediate Championship final replay

No-one expected Rock to win the Intermediate Championship, and that made it all the sweeter, according

to manager Paul Coney.

Even as their form improved as the series progressed, few people saw them as potential champions.

They took Pomeroy to a replay in the county final, but even then, all the expectation was that the

Plunketts would get the job done at the second attempt.

But the men from An Charraig always believed in themselves, and delivered the biggest prize in the club’s

history on a triumphant evening at O’Neill Park.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling. For a small rural club with the numbers that the Rock have, it’s just

dreamland for the lads, a brilliant occasion,” said Coney.

“It suits to be coming under the radar. Nobody expected anything from us really.”

League form offered no indication that Rock would become the team of the championship.

But injuries were a major factor in the team’s struggle for Division Two points, and as key players

returned to fitness, squad strength rose significantly.

“We didn’t have a brilliant league, but in saying that, we have a small squad, and once you lose one or two

to injury, and you get those double weekends, it takes its toll.

“So we were glad to get the league wrapped up, we were glad to get a bit of a break, and then try and

focus on championship.

“We had a really good performance in Cookstown against Kildress, and momentum started building.

“And once you have that momentum, it’s just a matter of fuelling it.

“I think we came under the radar in every game, although last week Pomeroy probably knew what our

threats were, but a lot of people in the county didn’t expect the Rock to turn over Pomeroy.”

Following the drawn game, the Rock management focused in on the issues that had caused problems, and

detailed work was done on the training field and the strategy room on getting things right.

“When we met on Monday night, we said to the players, the occasion is now gone.

“I have to say the first 20, 25 minutes last week was nervy, and you could see it.

“We weren’t particularly happy with our performance last week, especially in the first half, and boys

knew they didn’t do themselves justice.

“We worked on a number of areas that we wanted to enforce tonight, and I think those particular areas, we

definitely addressed them, and we certainly learned a lot from last week.”

The transformation was profound, and nowhere was it expressed more significantly than in the middle

third, where Thomas Mackle, Diarmaid Carroll and Shane Murphy imposed themselves on the battle for

primary possession, and hungry team-mates revelled in the scramble for break ball.

“We weren’t happy at all with our midfield performance last week in terms of clean catches and our break

ball wins, so that was an area that we really focused on.

“We decided to bring Shane out around that area, and he was a big focal point in winning a few balls.

“So I’m really happy that the lads responded to that, and turned that around from last week.”

Rock had built up a six points lead by the third quarter, bit a Pomeroy goal narrowed the gap to two, and

the fans were worried.

But the response was emphatic, in the form of the next four points, all pinged between the posts by the in-

form Liam Nugent, and it was a matter of keeping control from there to the finish.

“You know the way that modern football is – a team will get their spell, and we knew at half-time that

Pomeroy were going to come all guns blazing,” said Coney.

“We weren’t particularly happy with the goal we conceded, but that happens, and we probably weren’t in

a great place at that point.

“But I have to say the lads showed unbelievable resilience and we went up the pitch over the next few

minutes, and nailed on the next three points, so we cancelled that out, which was unbelievable character.”

Nugent and Murphy were in electrifying form, scoring a combined total of 0-17 in a display fo firepower

that the Plunketts just couldn’t match, with Aidan McGarrity and Thomas Mackle also chipping in with

vital scores.

“Shane, Thomas, Aidy and Liam, those are boys that are the core of this team, and they didn’t shy away.

“They stepped up, got the big scores which gave us that bit of a gap, and some of the scores from Shane

and Thomas were brilliant and got us over the line.”

Meanwhile, team captain Aidan McGarrity spoke of the pride he felt in being part of a massive

achievement for his club.

“It’s just unbelievable. Sometimes people are lost for words on occasions like this, but I could talk all day

about how unbelievable this is for our club,” he said.

“The amount of players that we have had that have chased this, and for years it seemed very far away.

“There were years when we were not even in intermediate, and this is still the one we wanted to push for.

“We have achieved this now, and it’s incredible what this is going to do for our club, you see the children

out on the pitch there meeting their heroes, it’s just incredible.”

Next season Rock will play their league football against the county’s top teams for the first time, having

never competed in the top tier at any time in a history that did include a spell in Division 1B prior to

league restructuring.

And they’ll also be part of the famous Tyrone Senior Championship in 2027.

“I couldn’t tell you how many times my da took me to O’Neill Cup matches all over the county, and then

when it was able to drive myself, I was going to them.

“You fully respect those teams, but you’re a bit envious too.

“It’s everybody’s dream to push for this, and we have achieved it, and it’s just incredible that that’s what

lies ahead for us.”

McGarrity admitted that he was relieved to have had a second bite at the cherry following the drawn final

against Pomeroy.

“Pomeroy could have stolen it the last day, and I felt that we were probably lucky to get a draw out of it.

“I felt Pomeroy dominated around the middle and on the breaks.

“You can’t get too bogged down on statistics, but our statistics the last day say it was a game we should

have lost.

“We were really determined to right that wrong, and I think we did.

“The things we talked about doing, we did to them for the most part, and to see that through is especially

satisfying.

“Nobody has any ego in our team. If there’s stuff pointed out that you did wrong, you just have to accept

it.

“It was wee simple things, like the positioning on a break, for there’s so many kick-outs that there’s no

excuse for your positioning not to be good enough.

“So once that was highlighted, and boys could see that, we were able to fix that, and we were lucky we

got a chance to fix it, but fix it we did.”