St. Michael’s will be bidding to make it through to the last eight of the MacRory Cup when they take on St. Patrick’s Dungannon on Monday in Derrylin, but Manager Peter Teague believes his side face a very stern test with Dungannon having two experienced figures involved with the squad.

“I expect a very tough challenge from Dungannon who have several players who have been or are currently involved with Tyrone Under-17 and Under-20 squads.

“Ciaran Gourley has plenty of experience of this stage of the competition and he knows what it takes to win these knock-out games.

“Also having Collie Holmes involved now, and with me personally knowing what he brings to the table through his involvement with Tyrone Seniors, I expect nothing but a difficult task,” he said.

St. Michael’s do have home advantage for the contest, but Teague feels that doesn’t really stand for much in schools’ football.

“At MacRory cup level I don’t think home advantage is that big of factor.

“Obviously it is nice to have the shorter travel to play the game, and Derrylin’s pitch is a credit to their club, but boys at this level are well used to playing at grounds all over Ulster, and I’m sure it won’t phase the Academy players too much.”

The Enniskillen school qualified for the play-off stages after finishing second in their group and Teague believes that they have shown good progress over the course of the competition, to date.

“I feel the improvement in the team from the start of the competition has been fantastic. We had a tough opener against a high-quality Omagh side in Healy Park back in November, and credit to the boys, they took their learning from that game and the improvements were clear to be seen in our next two games against Cavan and Letterkenny,” he added.

However, he will be without some key men for Monday’s encounter.

“Unfortunately, we have yet to be able to play a game with our full squad available for selection, and next week’s knock-out game will be no different.

“Our Captain, Lughaidh Donnelly, has had another setback and will unlikely feature, which is a massive blow.

“Liam MacEnri has been ruled out for the season and there have been two or three other key players who certainly won’t be able to start next Monday.

“But, in fairness to the boys, we have been able to show how much depth we have and any of the boys who have stepped in have done a great job, and I would trust any of them if called upon,” he stated.

He is under no illusions though that it is going to take a massive display if St. Michael’s are to advance to the quarter-finals of this year’s competition, but he says that they are relishing the challenge.

“It’s going to take a massive performance from us, no doubt about it. Dungannon finished third in the toughest MacRory group, bar none, finishing level on points with Magherafelt and Holy Trinity – two of the competition’s favourites, and only finishing third on score difference.

“So, we are under no illusions how difficult this game is going to be, but the boys have put in a serious amount of work since September and over the Christmas holidays, and we are looking forward to the challenge,” he said.