By Niall Gartland

THEY’VE been a whisker away from achieving promotion back to the Intermediate ranks in recent years but Aghaloo manager Paul O’Hagan is the first to acknowledge that there’s no prizes for second place.

This is the Galbally man’s third year as part of the set-up and his first as manager and it’s fair to say they’ve been privy to some near misses.

Aghaloo reached the Junior Championship final in 2022 and fell short against a Stewartstown team that continued on their merry way to an All-Ireland final. No shame in that.

Last year they were bitterly disappointed to lose out in a semi-final clash to eventual champions Fintona, and only a few short months ago they came out on the losing side of a de facto winner-takes-all Division Three clash against Drumquin.

On the plus side, they’ve obviously been knocking on the door and they deservedly find themselves in Sunday’s Junior Championship final against neighbours Killeeshil, a tough one to call but manager ‘Minty’ O’Hagan says this is exactly where they want to be.

“We’ve been there or thereabouts. This is my third year involved and we haven’t been far away. When you look back at the teams that have beaten us, they’ve either won the league or championship or achieved promotion through the play-offs.

“It’s been a similar enough story this year. The only team we’ve been beaten by is Drumquin and they won the league, but we’ve kept going and we’re in the final and that’s exactly where we want to be.”

O’Hagan was coach under Stephen Donnelly in 2022 and 2023 and has stepped into the hot-seat this year, so he’s already developed a good rapport with the team around him.

“I know the boys inside out at this stage and have good people around me who can make things a bit easier when it comes to picking teams and formations and figuring out exactly what you need to do. That’s been a big help, knowing the boys so well at this stage.”

Aghaloo looked in a potential spot of bother against underdogs Glenelly but the players knew they’d more in them and they produced a much more concerted effort in the second half, eventually running out comfortable victors.

O’Hagan says they were determined to avoid another hard-luck story.

“In previous years we haven’t been far away and I think that’s what the boys faced into at half-time. They didn’t want to miss out again. There weren’t many changes made at half-time, the boys just regrouped. We knew we’d created plenty of chances but hadn’t been clinical and that we’d have the breeze in the second half. We knew if we got another 10 per cent out of the boys we’d be able to get up to Glenelly’s level and thankfully that’s how it worked out.”

Aghaloo face a tough task if they’re to get their hands on the Pat Darcy Cup as Killeeshil have followed a similar form-line to themselves. It could be a battle of inches and O’Hagan hopes they’re able to find the edge on the day.

“I’ve plenty of good friends in Killeeshil and I’ve nothing but respect for them, they’re a good team and a good club.

“When they got relegated last year, we knew they’d put on a big push to get promoted and that’s what happened.

“They only lost a couple of games in the league and they still didn’t finish in the top two which is crazy in a way.

“We know it’s going to be a tough task and we’ll do our homework and do our best to get a slight advantage on them. I know Killeeshil people really well so it’ll make for an interesting week.”