Ulster Club Junior Football Championship semi-final: Glasdrumman (Down) v Rockcorry (Monaghan) (Sunday, Athletic Grounds, 12.45pm)
GLASDRUMMAN manager Emmet Devlin knows his team cannot afford to dawdle out of the blocks on Sunday as they did against Belfast side Michael Davitt's last time out.
Although the Down champions struck for a goal scored by Raymond Magorrian just after half-time in that contest and recovered well to win by five, they did not score until the 29th minute. It was a mercy they only trailed at half-time by a point. Any repeat will surely see them with too much to do this time around.
After a straightforward passage to a league and championship double in the Mourne county, former Kilcoo player Devlin admitted his charges found it a step up against the Antrim champions.
“Until we got into the fire, we were probably a wee bit naïve about what Ulster was going to throw at us,” said Devlin, now in his second year in charge of Glasdrumman.
“I think we just weren’t prepared for the intensity of the game.”
By contrast, Devlin has noted that the Monaghan champions, who were in senior football just two years ago, tend to start very strongly. He hopes his players can stay with them, in anticipation of what is sure to be a tough encounter against a team who have only conceded four goals in six championship matches.
“Rockcorry are a very fine team, they have a lot of very good individual players and they play the game the way that I like it played,” he said.
“Any neutral who saw them this year would be very pleased with the way that they set up and the way that they play their football. They’re starting games very, very well and that’s something we’re going to have to be very mindful of. I would like, going down the home straight in the last 10 minutes, to be in touch with them and hopefully the boys will respond to that.”
In the quarter-final, Glasdrumman had impressive displays from full-back Frank O'Neill and the Harrison brothers Shane and Connaire. Devlin hopes, though, that his entire team will rise to the challenge and paid tribute to the spirit within the Glasdrumman club.
"I know myself from playing that days like this don’t come round too often," said Devlin.
"What there is in Glasdrumman is a great, great pride in their club and their parish and in local families themselves. It’s just about trying to get the best out of them on any given day. So it’s something we’ve been asking the players all year - to go out and express themselves and to leave it on the field and enjoy doing it.
"Okay, we have maybe a couple of marquee players, if you want to say that. And most teams are like that, but it’s getting the other lads to believe in themselves and believe that they are just as good.
"We will be looking all around the field for everybody to step up and perform and, at the end of the day if the boys go out and play the shirt off their backs on Sunday and we get beaten, the defeat is so much easier to take.
"Nobody will be as proud of them as myself. That’s football - there is only one team going to win on Sunday and, if it’s Rockcorry and they are a better team than us, then good luck to them."
