Football

Derrygonnelly confident of dethroning Slaughtneil

Slaughtneil's Se McGuigan scored the all-important goal in the Derry Senior Football Championship final. Picture Margaret McLaughlin
Slaughtneil's Se McGuigan scored the all-important goal in the Derry Senior Football Championship final. Picture Margaret McLaughlin Slaughtneil's Se McGuigan scored the all-important goal in the Derry Senior Football Championship final. Picture Margaret McLaughlin

AIB Ulster Senior Club Football Championship preliminary round: Slaughtneil Emmet’s (Derry) v Derrygonnelly Harps (Fermanagh) (Sunday, Owenbeg, 3.30pm)

THESE clubs could have met in 2004. Slaughtneil had won Derry for the first time while Derrygonnelly were Fermanagh champions for the second.

The draw wasn’t kind. Slaughtneil lost to eventual champions Crossmaglen (after a replay) and Derrygonnelly also fell at the first hurdle, coming a cropper against Tyrone’s Carrickmore.

Eleven years on and times have changed, particularly for the Emmet’s who swept all before them last season on their way to the Ulster title and the All-Ireland final.

Since then they’ve gone on to record a treble (football, hurling and camogie) in Derry and last Sunday reached their first ever Ulster hurling final. It’s fair to say they’ll begin the defence of their provincial football crown among the favourites and they’re certainly expected to see off Derrygonnelly and progress to the quarter-finals.

But the Harps – who beat Roslea convincingly in the Erne decider last Sunday – have no intention of playing to the script.

“We’re not going up there to make numbers, we’re fully confident of causing an upset,” warned manager Martin Green.

Why should he say otherwise? Slaughtneil team spokesman John Joe Kearney can remind his players of that 2004 double-header with Crossmaglen (who were expected to win easily) if he spots any complacency in the dressingroom.

“Any team that knocks in 3-16 against Roslea is a fairly decent team,” he said.

“I’m sure Roslea probably went into that final looking for three in-a-row but, from what I heard, Derrygonnelly were the better side.”

On the day they were, but it would be a surprise if the Fermanagh men were able to post anything close to 3-16 tomorrow because in their last five championship games Slaughtneil have conceded a parsimonious 1-34.

“Defensively we’ve been fairly tight,” Kearney acknowledged.

“But you never know what happens in a game of football.”

Apart from cruciate victim Gerald Bradley, Slaughtneil are at full strength although dual player Micheal McGrath did pick up a dead leg in last weekend’s Ulster senior club hurling championship semi-final win over Ballycran.

McGrath is expected to be available though as the club’s footballers try to match what the hurlers have achieved.

“It’s a play-off between the footballers and the hurlers,” said Kearney.

“The hurlers are in an Ulster final and if they are lucky enough to win it, it’ll set the footballers a target – one drives the other on.”

He added: “There’s a bit of a buzz around the club.

“We have got into a way of winning now and that helps too – it gives everybody a bit of confidence. But the Fermanagh champions could be just as good as anybody else and we’re aware of that.

“Last year some might say that a lot of the better sides got knocked out early on and who’s to say that the same won’t happen this year? We’re the defending champions and everybody wants to take our scalp so that’s an incentive for every team that’s playing us. They’ll lift their game a bit to take our scalp so we have all that to deal with.”

Meanwhile, Derrygonnelly collected the scalp of Roslea (the reigning county champions) last weekend and manager Green says they’re “chomping at the bit” for a crack at knocking the Ulster champs off their perch.

Two goals from 17-year-old championship debutant Shane McGullion inspired them to that 3-16 to 3-7 win over the Shamrocks and while Green admits “Slaughtneil will be a tough test” he feels his side is qualified to pass it.

“They’ll be favourites, they have household names like the McKaigues, (Francis) McEldowney, Barry McGuigan and ‘Sammy’ Bradley,” he said.

“We watched them last year and we watched them against Coleraine – they’re a good hard-working team, very dogged with a good team spirit and they keep going week-in, week-out.

“But we’re not going up there to make numbers, we’re fully confident of causing an upset.”

The Fermanagh county final was postponed by a week because of the tragic death of Derrygonnelly club stalwart Damian McGovern. Green, who played in the Ulster campaigns of 1995 and 2004, doesn’t feel that the one-week turnaround will be a factor tomorrow.

“It is difficult but we’re more than happy to be involved in the Ulster club,” he said.

“The guys were back out training on Tuesday night and we had a full turn-out. Everyone is chomping at the bit to give the Ulster club a rattle.

“We’ve participated a couple of times over the last 20 years and we haven’t been successful so we’re putting a big emphasis on it and trying to achieve something. We have an ambitious bunch of players there, guys who have played for the county, Queen’s, Jordanstown… and they all want to do well for the club.”

Derrygonnelly can call on inter-county quality like Ryan Jones and his brother Conall, Michael Jones, Eamon McHugh and Tiarnan Daly.

So can Slaughtneil of course and they have home advantage too. The Emmet’s are a disciplined, patient unit who give absolutely nothing away and that extra of layer of experience and Ulster knowhow should see them through tomorrow.