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There’s something special about the rivalry that energises the communities of Coalisland and Clonoe, and it’s been simmering since the draw for the Tyrone SFC paired the two neighbouring clubs several weeks ago. Connor McAliskey has seen it all before, but he’s no less excited about his opportunity to play in another derby face-off next week. “It’s not just Clonoe and Coalisland people looking forward to it, but the whole of Tyrone and maybe most of Ulster,” said the former Tyrone attacker. “It’s a big profile game, a local derby between two teams that are at a very even keel at the moment. “So it looks like it’s teed up to be a good game.” It’s just two years since the last championship meeting of the clubs, and on that occasion it was McAliskey’s Clonoe who held on for a narrow win after allowing a big lead to slip away. “It’s going to be a derby game, and whatever happened in the past isn’t going to matter on the day when we arrive at Edendork. “That night showed exactly how Clone-Coalisland games go, there’s not much in it. “We had pulled away a fair bit, but Coalisland got the goal and dragged themselves back into it, and it ended up with just a point in it. Read more: Tyrone All-Star goalkeeper Niall Morgan finds himself in unfamiliar role with club Edendork Gavin Devlin: Tyrone’s mistreatment of Mickey Harte altered the way I see the jersey Diarmaid McNulty named as new Tyrone minor football manager “We felt we had opened up enough of a lead to see it out, but that’s what you’re going to get in a local derby, and I don’t think we’re going to get anything different.” Both clubs suffered a despairing end to that 2024 season, losing their senior status. It was particularly painful for the O’Rahilly’s, who had set the senior championship on fire, taking eventual Tyrone and Ulster champions Errigal Ciaran to a replay. “We got back in to senior football a couple of years ago, and then the relegation, and we felt that it was important to get a bit more consistency into our performances. “That year we were beaten by Errigal Ciaran after a replay in the championship, and it showed that we could compete. “But in Division One, you don’t get any breaks, you have to be performing each week, and it came back to cost us, that we didn’t find that consistency. “That’s something that we’re still working for this year, and we have got a good run of games some good victories, and got the points built up in the league. “But throughout games, we’re still finding that scattered performance level.” Clonoe and Coalisland have rich championship traditions, winning the O’Neill Cup on a combined total of 18 occasions. McAliskey is excited about the return of the O’Rahilly’s and the Fianna to Tyrone’s elite competition. “Everybody wants to play championship football, it comes down to that, and when you hear the draw, you’re ticking down the weeks, and it’s about priming and being ready, and finding that bit extra to get over the line, it spices it up that wee bit more.” He’s now 34, but with an eye for the posts as sharp as ever, he has been racking up the scores in the Division One league this year. “The scores are going well, and there’s a lot of young fellows stepping up in Clonoe, and it’s good to see the youth coming through.” And Clonoe’s talisman is hoping this won’t be the last big derby battle he fights. “It’s one of those things that you’ve been doing that long, that you don’t know what you’d do without it. “But with the double game weekends, for someone of my age, I’m finding it a wee bit more difficult, with the new rules, to keep up with it, but you just want to keep playing as long as you can. “You can watch for a long time after you retire.”