“I can’t wait” - Omagh CBS boss Diarmaid McNulty eyeing up Hogan Cup double as as St Pat’s rue missed goal chances

Omagh CBS will enjoy their MacRory Cup victory according to manager Diarmaid McNulty, but his thoughts will soon turn to their Hogan Cup semi-final opponents.

Following their six-point win over St Pat’s Dungannon in Sunday’s decider at the Box-It Athletic Grounds, McNulty was keen to point out that his phone was on aeroplane mode well in advance of the all-Tyrone final.

He quickly learned that his charges will face Connacht champions St Gerald’s Castlebar in the last four as Omagh bid for a MacRory Cup and Hogan Cup double for the second successive year.

“I can’t wait,” stated McNulty.

“We’ll enjoy tonight – the school have a function set up for the boys. It is important to celebrate. I think sometimes in the GAA we don’t celebrate enough, it is move on to the next thing.

“It is important to celebrate tonight. We’ll recover tomorrow and train Wednesday and Friday. “By that point, hopefully I’ll have enough information to start feeding into the boys.

“It is unbelievable. Our first one was 50 years ago. To win it at the 50 and 100 is special. We did talk about that in September, I’ll not lie.

Omagh CBS manager Diarmaid McNulty

“We said we are going to put (Omagh CBS captain) Callum Daly up the steps and asked what were you going to do in order to do that?

“I was so, so proud of them today. The target was on our backs all year, everybody knew we were the champions and everybody was giving their best game against us.

“To answer in such a fantastic way with 10 minutes to go, I’m just so proud of the group.”

Omagh led by five in the early stages of the second half, but 1-1 from Dungannon wing-back Conor Holmes helped St Pat’s draw level before the holders pulled clear again in the closing stages.

Dungannon also spurned two goal chances in the first half, although Ciaran Gourley was typically magnanimous in defeat, adding that Omagh’s win was fully merited.

“I’d say both teams would reflect on that game and say it probably wasn’t one of the best – both teams were nervous in the first half and missed a lot of chances,” said Gourley.

“Omagh opened up a five-point lead in the second half and we had to chase the game a wee bit. Obviously the goal gave us a massive lift but Omagh responded pretty well, and then got a fortuitous goal. Our goal was probably a bit fortuitous too.

“On reflection, looking at the chances they created in the second half, they missed a lot and still scored a lot – they were the better team. We just have to accept that.

“If we had have taken some of those chances, yes, it might have made a difference, but we didn’t – that’s just the way football goes.”

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