LOUGHINISLAND boss Jerome Johnston has declared his side are “massive underdogs” heading into Sunday’s Ulster Intermediate football final against Bundoran.
Johnston has also defended Loughinisland from claims they play at a higher level than their intermediate status suggests, saying their more experienced and celebrated players like Dan Gordon are in no way characteristic of the overall nature of the team. And despite winning their three matches in Ulster by an average of eight points, Johnston has moved to downplay expectations against Brian Gavigan’s Bundoran side.
On the challenge awaiting them, he said: “Going by what people I hold in high regard have said to me and when you take into consideration the size and population of Bundoran in comparison to Loughinisland, we’re going into this game as massive underdogs.
“There’s no doubt I’m impressed by Loughinisland and I don’t see many weaknesses but, as I say, Bundoran have a much greater population. Either team will expect to win, but it’ll come down to whichever team performs on the day.”
Loughinisland captured their first ever county intermediate crown with victory against An Ríocht last month, ensuring a return to the senior championship after a one-year hiatus. Yet, the ease with which Johnston’s side have since navigated the Ulster Championship has caused some to snipe that their return to senior football won’t come a moment too soon.
When asked whether such criticism is borne out of jealously, Johnston instead suggested the cynics have one eye on the past: “Maybe people have looked at Loughinisland’s position in the past as a senior team, but as with every club people move on and new people come in," he added.
"What I’ve seen is a relatively new team with the exception of three or four boys, so I don’t know where they're getting that thought process from - but everybody’s entitled to their opinion.”
Johnston, a native of Kilcoo, admits a degree of detachment from the hype as the small village readies itself for a mass exodus to Owenbeg on Sunday: “When you’re involved with a team and you’re not actually from the parish or the village, you don’t really get involved in that side of things," he said.
“But by all accounts, listening to the boys that are with me, there’s a great buzz and it’s a new experience for them, there’s no doubt about that. Whatever day I leave Loughinisland or whatever time Loughinisland decide my time’s up, I hope I can leave this team in a better place than I got it or at least take them on to a different level. Still, there’s no crystal ball and we can’t foresee the future.”
Defensive solidity has been an underappreciated facet of Loughinsland’s run to the final - only two Doohamlet players made the scoresheet in the semi-final, while the talismanic Dan Gordon won his personal duel with teak-tough Monaghan defender Colin Walsh in their 4-7 to 1-7 victory.
“In fairness, the defence has worked well together in the last couple of games because we’ve had a settled defence whereas, during the year, we’d given different players chances, but there’s no doubt our defence has been playing well," Johnston said.
“In Ulster, it’s hard to know what to expect because you haven’t played the team before. You’re weighing up the opposition as well as trying to get your own performance together, so there’s always a settling-in period. Once we got settled, I thought we played some great football, but every day is different.”
Referring to Dan Gordon’s fractious battle with 2013 Allstar Walsh, Johnston claimed the former Down midfielder is well accustomed to such close attention.
“That’s what you expect when you play Monaghan teams, you’re going to get that kind of physicality. Dan Gordon’s been around the block and has played in a lot of physical games in his time and he knows how to handle those situations,” he said.
Johnston reports preparations are going as well as can be expected and is hopeful that Down hurler Gareth ‘Magic’ Johnson will have recovered from injury for Sunday’s match, having picked up a knock in the quarter-final against Edendork three weeks ago.
“Fingers crossed, I am hoping Gareth will be available for selection," the Loughinisland boss said.
"All being well, he gets through training and will be available for us. We felt the match against Doohamlet came a bit too soon, so we held him back for that reason.”
