{"id":18775,"date":"2025-04-14T08:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T08:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/18775\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T08:42:16","slug":"excitement-building-in-co-tyrone-town-where-three-sports-clubs-prepare-for-three-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/18775\/","title":{"rendered":"Excitement building in Co Tyrone town where three sports clubs prepare for three finals"},"content":{"rendered":"

One trophy has already been secured after Dungannon Ladies claimed the Irish Hockey Challenge Cup at the weekend \u2014 and three more could be set to follow.<\/p>\n

On May 3, Dungannon Swifts FC take on Cliftonville in the Irish Cup final \u2014the same day and time as Dungannon RFC take on Ballynahinch RFC in the Ulster Senior Cup final at Kingspan Stadium.<\/p>\n

The following week, on May 10, the hockey team will be aiming to retain the Ulster Senior Cup against Randalstown at Stormont.<\/p>\n

The three clubs are situated just a few minutes\u2019 walk from each other \u2014 on the same side of the same road \u2014 and there are strong bonds between players and supporters.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Ryan Abernethy (Dungannon Rugby Club), Lucy Redmond (Dungannon Ladies’ Hockey Club) and Dean Curry (Dungannon Swifts). Photo: Dungannon Swifts FC<\/p>\n

Nicola Cardwell, the chair of Dungannon Hockey Club, said excitement is building in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a small town. Everyone knows each other. We are all interlinked. We are always crossing paths with each other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter, myself and a few others are intending to go to the Swifts\u2019 final. A few people will go to the rugby. They are both at the same time, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have extended the invitation to the other clubs as well, to see if they could come to ours [final].\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Dungannon Ladies, coached by Norman Purdy, won the Irish Hockey Challenge Cup after beating Instonians 2-1.<\/p>\n

In less than a month, they will be going for cup glory once more, against Randalstown, aiming to cap the club\u2019s 50th anniversary year in style.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is particularly poignant for us this year because of the anniversary,\u201d Nicola explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe girls have done very well. They are also in a play-off situation to go up from Senior One to the Premier League, which is the top level of hockey in Ulster. It has been a great season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adrian<\/p>\n

Adrian Whittle (Dungannon Swifts vice chair), Nicola Cardwell (Dungannon Ladies Hockey chair) and Jonny Gillespie (Dungannon RFC coach). Photo: Dungannon Swifts FC<\/p>\n

The hockey club actually began life training at Stangmore Park, the home of Dungannon Swifts, and have used both the football and rugby club\u2019s facilities for their events. Captain Lucy Redmond is a footballer herself and a big Swifts fan.<\/p>\n

At the Swifts, head coach Rodney McAree has just been crowned the NI Football League\u2019s Manager of the Year.<\/p>\n

He has guided his hometown club to fifth in the Sports Direct Premiership \u2014 and they are aiming to lift the Irish Cup for the first time next month, when they come up against Cliftonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic for the town to see the football, rugby and hockey clubs doing so well,\u201d Rodney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a good buzz about the town, across all the clubs, and everyone is striving for the same thing. Hopefully we can bring a bit of silverware back to the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hockey team had a great success on Saturday and have another massive final next month. So hopefully there are a few more trophies heading this way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is also our friend James Slater [ex-Swifts player], who has done a fantastic job with Dungannon Clarkes, the GAA side. The various clubs\u2019 success has really lifted the mood around the town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby coach Jonny Gillespie said it is unusual to have three clubs from the same town going for sporting glory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club would be connected to the other clubs more through friends and family,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally there are two or so clubs in a town going to semi-finals, but three in finals is quite rare. It\u2019s amazing to see the hockey, rugby and football teams all have successful seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to the Senior Cup final on May 3 against Ballynahinch. They are a league above us, so we\u2019ll have to play really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited. We\u2019ve had a really good season and this is a nice way to finish it off. We\u2019ve got to knuckle down and be the best possible version of ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we absolutely wish the other clubs all the best as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One trophy has already been secured after Dungannon Ladies claimed the Irish Hockey Challenge Cup at the weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[12422,12421,1144,1210,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-18775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-club-rugby","9":"tag-dungannon-swifts","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-tyrone-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114335432385169336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}