Errigal Ciaran make a third venture into the All-Ireland Club series on Sunday when they take on Dr Crokes in the last four in Portlaoise.
As the only club from Tyrone to have won the Ulster Club Championship, Errigal Ciaran’s two previous semi-finals ended in defeat to Nemo Rangers twice in 1994 and 2003.
Enda McGinley won an Ulster Club title in 2002 and described the subsequent sem-final loss to Nemo in February of ’03 as the worst of his playing career.
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Now as Errigal boss, he’ll hope to guide the Dunmoyle men to their first ever All-Ireland club final.
Joe Oguz has already etched his name into the annals of the club’s proud history after scoring the only goal in December’s Ulster Club final win over Kilcoo and he says the current squad are unburdened by the past and are determined to make their own history.
“There are a small group of lads who’ll remember that 2002/2003 team. I was too young and there are a lot of boys on that team who are too young to remember,” said Oguz.
“This is our first taste of success in Ulster and we’ll savour it.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve a great history, but this is a different group of players and we are here to make our own history.
“We can thrive off the history that we’ve had, but we are here to make our own history.
“This means everything. In Errigal we are very lucky to have the history that we have.”
Of the four teams remaining in contention to lift the Andy Merrigan Cup later this month, none are more battle-hardened than the Tyrone kingpins.
Taken to a replay by Clonoe in the Tyrone SFC quarter-finals, McGinley’s side regained the O’Neill Cup with back-to-back one-point wins over Killyclogher and Trillick.
They had two points to spare over St Eunan’s Letterkenny in the Ulster Club preliminary round and also saw off the challenges of Clann Éireann and Kilcoo by the minimum.
Tyrone midfielder Oguz felt the tough battles along the way stood to them as they edged out the Down champions thanks to a last-gasp winner from Peter Óg McCartan at the Box-It Athletic Grounds.
“We learned from the Clann Éireann game, but the Tyrone Championship is such a hard Championship to get through anyway,” stated Oguz.
“We’ve had those games coming down the stretch – Pomeroy, Clonoe twice, Killyclogher. We’ve had it the whole way through this Championship. We don’t get too worried, we know we have another gear we can kick into.
“Every game you are taking a different learning from. You are maybe working on something you didn’t do as well in one game and working on it for the next.
“It is a credit to the lads and the work we’ve put in. We knew Kilcoo would be a great team. They’ve had two Ulsters and an All-Ireland – they are not there for no reason. They are a super team and we knew we just had to match them.
“We knew coming down the stretch if we were close enough in the game, we’d find another gear to get over the line.”
Sunday’s game is under threat with the weather forecast not promising and a pitch inspection is planned the day before the game.
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