Throughout July I covered plenty of exciting sporting events throughout local areas and beyond.

We start with Gaelic Football and while I was heading down to Co Clare for a holiday in Lahinch I attended the All Ireland qualifier fixture between Clare and Mayo at a sun kissed Cusack Park in Ennis. A full house of spectators were treated to an extremely entertaining game which eventually saw the Connacht men progress to the next round of the qualifiers, after a goal each from star siblings Cillan and Diarmuid O’Connor all but ended the Banner county’s heroic display.

From Ennis Park to St Tiernach’s park in Clones, where current Anglo Celt holders Tyrone put in a solid performance to defeat Down and retain the Ulster Championship trophy. One of the highlights of the game came late on, with two excellent goals from Ronan O’Neill, who came off the bench to help ensure victory.

In Ladies GAA the start of the Tyrone Ladies Championships began on the final week of July. Aghyaran St Davogs recorded a comfortable victory over Donaghmore St Patricks at St Patricks Park in Omagh to advance to the semi-finals of the intermediate championship which takes place next month. Likewise, Drumragh ladies defeated Omagh.

From the GAA field to the Tennis courts, and I was recently made aware of the Tyrone Senior Open championships that were hosted at the Omagh Lawn Tennis Club. Throughout the championship I attended several men and women’s singles and doubles matches and was able to stream many action clips live across social media, all of which were viewed by sporting fans across the world. A massive credit goes to Omagh Lawn coach Mark Smyth for organising a successful competition.

In other sports news, Sion Swifts ladies hosted the Crusaders Strikers FC at Darragh Park Castlederg in the Women’s NI Premier League, where the hosts fought back to earn a point thanks to a Julie Anne Herrity goal, which keeps them in a good position for a Top 3 finish in the league.

Finally as I was enjoying my holiday in Clare I came across the An Post De Burren cycle 2017 whooshing past us at high speeds. Coincidentally, there were several local cyclists competing in the event. Even on holiday I was never too far from local sport!

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.