With the summer months coming to an end and the autumn season approaching there was certainly no shortage of sporting events to attend especially within local GAA and Soccer.

We start this blog with GAA with the Tyrone club championships, which got underway in the aftermath of Tyrone’s exit from the All Ireland Football Championship. In the Junior championship Kildress Wolfe Tones met Derrytresk GAC in the first round. Following a draw in the first game the two teams met in a replay four days later under the lights of Stewartstown, where the Tones gained a comfortable victory and progressed to the quarter finals. They would eventually reach the 2019 Junior football final.

Glenelly St Josephs also earned a comfortable victory over neighbours Clan na Gael to progress to the quarter finals, where they were defeated by Rock St Patricks. Rock would continue their run by defeating Eskra Emmets, and went on to play Kildress at Healy Park in the final, where they were officially crowned Tyrone Junior Football Champions for 2019.

In the Intermediate football championship, there were victories for Owen Roes over Stewartstown Harps, Pomeroy over Newtonstewart and Galbally over Strabane. The 2019 Intermediate final was eventually contested by Galbally Pearses and Pomeroy Plunketts.
Following an entertaining final at Healy Park Galbally Pearses pipped Pomeroy to a one-point victory achieving their first taste of championship success in over 61 years.

The Omagh Futsal team that took on Sparta Belfast at the Omagh Leisure Centre

In the Senior football championship, there were victories for Errigal Ciaran who defeated Eglish St Patricks, Omagh St Endas and Carrickmore St Colmcilles to reach the 2019 Senior final where they will now meet Trillick St Mccartans who recorded victories over Dromore St Dympnas, Clonoe O’Rahillys and the 2018 holders Coalisland Na Fianna. The 2019 Tyrone Senior football championship final will as always promise to be an exciting spectacle which will see a different winner lift the O’Neill cup for the 15th consecutive year. Finally, in the Tyrone Senior Hurling championship Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh retained the Benburb cup for the second consecutive season following a two point victory over their rivals Eire Ogs (Carrickmore) in an extremely entertaining game of Hurling at Healy Park.

Moving on to football where in the Bet McLean Legaue cup Ballinamallard United hosted the holders Linfield United at Ferney Park where both sets of fans were treated to a flow of goals and entertaining football throughout the game and into extra time, as David Healy’s Linfield progressed to the next round with a 5-4 victory over the spirited Mallards side. In the Irish Junior cup Omagh Hospitals hosted Greencastle Rovers (Belfast) at the Omagh Leisure Complex where the passionate visitors gained a 3-2 victory to progress to the next round of the competition.

Ciaran O'Doherty and Tommy Nethery in the Boot-room studio.

In other news I was privileged to have been invited on to the Ulster Herald boot-room podcast in September to go through all the local football action alongside the two hosts of the show Tommy Nethery and Paddy Hunter. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tommy and Paddy for the invite and to fully credit their work they cover for local sport in local papers and social media.

Congratulations too to all the teams and individuals who gained success in the last two months! We can look forward to another great blog of local sport ahead.