Trillick captain Richie Donnelly is certain a heavyweight battle will go the distance when his side puts the county title on the line in Friday’s Tyrone SFC semi-final clash with Dungannon.
And he knows that it will take a huge performance to avoid the curse of the champion, which has cast defeat upon the O’Neill Cup holders in each of the past 19 seasons.
Two great modern-day rivals will renew hostilities at O’Neills Healy Park in one of Tyrone football’s big fixtures.
“There’s great history between the teams, great respect,” said Donnelly.
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“We know every time you go out to play Dungannon, it’s going to be ding-dust, and you come off the field nearly crawling.
“That type of battle excites both teams, and both teams will really go at it.”
Donnelly has closely observed Dungannon’s progress to the last four, which featured late winning goals in their last two games.
He’s wary of a resilient team that carries a threat to the very last play and never gives up.
“Dungannon is a serious team, and you saw the character that they have, they never let up.
“So we have our work cut out to get through that fixture, and we have a lot to fix up before we come to that.”
The Trillick midfielder doesn’t accept the notion that the pressure of expectation can weigh more heavily on the defending champions than on those seeking to dethrone them.
“I don’t really buy into that. There’s pressure on every team going into the last four no matter what you have.
“It’s 2024, and as soon as the first of January hit, you’re not county champions any more really, to be honest. You don’t own anything, you’re not entitled to anything, so we’re going into this championship empty-handed, and the only pressure we have is from ourselves to perform.”
Trillick have so far in the series struggled to find the form that saw them win a ninth title in 2003.
Their quarter-final joust with Ardboe never rose to any great heights or excitement, with the holders doing just about enough to get through with two points to spare.
“It was a bit of a damp squib in a way, it was very methodical and slow. It didn’t catch fire at all really, from either team.
“We wouldn’t be very pleased with our performance, we just sort of stumbled through that.
“We gave the ball away a lot, including myself, and that’s something we need to polish for the next day.
“We’re in the hat, and we have an awful lot to work on, especially with a fixture like that coming up.
Ardboe will feel they missed opportunities to get something from the game, but Donnelly insisted the Trillick defence must take credit for a disciplined display.
“They could have punished us a bit better, but we were quite resolute in defence. I thought we were quite solid, we conceded nine scores, which wasn’t bad.
“Any shots they did take, largely were under pressure, but they could have hurt us a few more times, but we’ll look at that now in review.”
