PETER Og McCartan has developed an excellent habit of being the right man in the right place for his club Errigal Ciaran in their last two games.
His notoriously inconsistent shooting earned him the nickname ‘one from three’ among his team-mates but McCartan had the last laugh with ice-cool scores against Kilcoo in the Ulster final and Dr Crokes in last Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry’s Dr Crokes.
Sport is so often a great leveller and last weekend’s hero can be the next week’s villain but, like so many others in Enda McGinley’s side, McCartan has shown a big-game mentality that has helped to Errigal come through a series of nip-and-tuck battles and reach Sunday’s All-Ireland final against Dublin’s Cuala at Croke Park.
“I don’t know how it went over, but it did, and I’m just thankful it did,” said McCartan of his last-gasp injury-time score which salvaged extra-time for his club in Newbridge last Saturday.
“I had a bit of space and I took the shot on and it went over. The extra-time was a massive challenge for us and the bodies are sore now but it’s great, a great win.
“We went to the end and fair play to all the lads, it took a lot out of everybody and we’re all sore now.”
Seven years in the Errigal senior team now, McCartan was a Sigerson Cup winner with University of Ulster last year and has represented Tyrone at senior level. There is experience and a hard edge to this Errigal side that, alongside the flair of the Canavan brothers Darragh and Ruairi gives them every chance of capping a superb season with the Andy Merrigan Cup, the ultimate prize in club football, on Sunday.
“Getting to the All-Ireland final is a massive achievement for us and we have a great challenge ahead now,” said the laid-back wing-back who said he would do his best to rest and “take her easy” in the build-up to the final.
“It’s mad. The Tyrone championship is so tough to win and you don’t know any year if you’re going to get that chance to have a go at Ulster.
“Thankfully we got there and we’ve kept winning. It mightn’t have looked good at times but we’ve been winning and we’re happy to be looking forward to an All-Ireland final now.
“Any final you play in is massive and this is the biggest of them all so the club will be buzzing for it.”
McCartan’s team-mate Ben McDonnell has also been a consistent performer for Errigal throughout this campaign and he was on target during extra-time to help the Tyrone side over the line against their dogged Kerry opponents.
“We’ll owe Peter Óg a few pints when this is all over,” he said.
“He has dug us out once again. I think we all joked after the Ulster final that we wouldn’t trust him to do it again, but he has. I was certainly thankful anyway because I’d missed the one before it.”
He added: “That’s our 10th championship game now. I think nine of them have been by two or three points - they’ve all gone right down to the wire. Cargin (eight points) was the only exception.
“That probably has stood to us in terms of not panicking and us backing each other and trusting each other to get over the line.
“The games come thick and fast in the Championship and we are used to it. The county final was delayed and that meant we only had a seven-day turnaround to the Ulster preliminary round. This week, we’ll be focused on recovery and resting up.”
