With the GAA Club championships completed in Tyrone for the 2016 season, I would like to offer my congratulations to the following winners: Rock St Patricks (Junior winners) Pomeroy Plunketts (Intermediate Winners) and Killyclogher St Marys (Senior winners). I wish all teams the very best throughout their Ulster Club Campaigns.
Moving on and throughout the month of October the Fermanagh and Western season settled into full swing. Strule United took on Enniskillen Santos in a Division 1 fixture at Donnelly’s Holm and despite both teams missing key players they still provided an intriguing battle throughout the 90 minutes. The match finished in a 1-1 draw, with Matthew Browne equalising for Strule United to earn a hard fought point, their first of the season as they acclimatise to division one. A week later, Beragh Swifts defeated Irvinestown Wanderers 5-2 thanks to 4 goals from the sensational Stephen Browne. Browne's form has earned him an international call up along with Strathroy Harp’s Darren Teague for the Northern Ireland Regions squad heading to Moldova in November.
Moving on to the Irish Junior Cup and Strathroy Harps hosted Ballybogey FC in a second round encounter. The match proved to be tough going throughout for Seamus Fanthorpe’s side who gave away the lead twice. However, the Harps never gave up, and the rewards came in the final ten minutes of the game as two late goals from Cathal Taggart and Paddy Lynch saw them defeat their North West visitors and progress to the next round of the prestigious competition. We finish soccer by recapping the Mid Ulster derby between Dungannon Swifts and Ballinamallard United at Stagmore Park in the Northern Ireland league cup. The Swifts subjected the sorry Mallards to an embarrassing 6-1 defeat with four goals in the first half from Andrew Mitchell, Stefan Lavery (2), Jamie Glackin (2) and Cormac Burke, seeing Rodney McAree’s side through to the next round.
From the soccer pitch to the green baize, and I had the pleasure of attending the Omagh Dsitrict Snooker Knockout final between The Presidents club and Charlies Bar A. Those in attendance and watching the stream online witnessed an exciting encounter of snooker between the two teams which eventually ended 346-321 in favour of the Presidents club, with a hard fought comeback from reigning champions Charlies A leaving them just short of retaining their title.
Moving on from the green baize tables to the basketball courts, and the Omagh Thunder Basketball season finally got underway with their first fixture against the fancied Ulster Elks in the Basketball Northern Ireland Cup. The Thunder achieved a massive 69-62 victory with handy 3 pointers coming from Padraig Donavon and Oisin Kerlin, which gave Aidan Bradley’s side a great opening win after certain issues within the BBNI had delayed the start of the season. It was great to see the fixture attract such a bumper crowd from the Omagh Community, who turned out in wide numbers to attend the game at the Station Centre.
We finish with the first ever Omagh 5 plus 2 mile fun run and walk organised by Club Omagh which was won by local runner Paul Barbour in an outstanding 50 minutes. The participants, both competitive and non-competitive, were able to enjoy what was a well organised event and also appreciate the fantastic scenery on show.
Congratulations once again too to all the teams and individuals who gained success in the last month! We can look forward to another great month of local sport ahead.