Poc Fada Success For Tyrone

Following a heavy downpour of rain a small band of hurlers and camogs took to the hills just outside Omagh on Tuesday evening where they competed for the Ulster title for the longest puck of a sliotar.
County champions from across the Province including Tyrone’s Conor Grogan, Jordan O’Reilly, Ciara Donnelly and Eimear Colton battled the elements and set off to compete in very wet underfoot conditions at the height of the lands of Gerry O’Kane at Pigeon Top.
Competition took place in Senior and Under 16 categories and after two hours of hard and long pucking the competitors turned the final corner to tackle the last hill.
Dominic McEnhill from Antrim triumphed in the Under 16 category. Following a consistent round of striking, he had a score of 28 pucks with five shots to spare over nearest competitor Ciaran Watson from Down.  Omagh’s O’Reilly was just off the pace but turned in a great display.  A special mention must be made of Armagh’s Oisin Hughes who despite bowing out of the event after losing two sliotars in the boggy conditions displayed excellent sportsmanship through completing the course acting as a ‘spotter’ for the Cavan competitor Eoghan McGrath.
Dominic has local connections too, his Grandfather also called Dominic is a native of Omagh and played for the local St Enda’s club, he is a nephew of 1930s Tyrone footballer Dominic McCrossan and despite residing in Belfast for fifty years still has strong local links.
In the senior hurling event, following several years of knocking at the door, Karol Keating, from County Down showed tremendous character to win home by the narrowest of margins over Derry’s Ruairi Convery.  The winning score of 23 pucks was an exceptional performance over such tricky conditions. Conor came a very creditable joint 4^th on his debut in the final. The Hurling awards were presented by Ulster GAA Treasurer and former Tyrone Chairman Ciaran McLaughlin who had earlier walked the course as a spotter!
Ciara Donnelly from the Eglish club took the senior camogie Poc Fada title for Tyrone with Eimear Colton narrowly missing out on a Tyrone double as she came second in the Under 16.
Ulster GAA would like to thank County Tyrone for hosting the event and in particular the Drumragh Sarsfields club who provided their facilities and refreshments after the event. The Ulster finals were organised with the support of the Tyrone hurling development committee headed by Peter Kerr.