M&L Contracts Derry Senior Football Championship
COMING from a Championship winning background in Bellaghy, it’s little surprise that Lavey manager Jude Donnelly is in favour of the return of straight knockout football in Derry.
Ten years after it was last employed, the Oak Leaf county decided last winter to revert to the traditional format following consultation with the clubs by the Games Review Committee.
The draw threw up a repeat of last year’s first round clash between Lavey and Slaughtneil, which is set to draw a bumper Owenbeg crowd tomorrow night.
Twelve months ago, Lavey beat the reigning county champions by 3-7 to 1-11. But when October came, it was Slaughtneil who were back on the podium at Celtic Park, with the Erin’s Own hopes having been long extinguished by Ballinderry at the quarter-final stage.
It’s not solely on the basis of last year that Donnelly makes his judgement, and admits that a straight knockout system isn’t ideal for dual clubs.
“I’d rather have the straight knockout, to be honest. It adds a bit more excitement. The two or three games you’re playing at the start [in the back door system], what’s the point? Sure you’re never out.
“The only thing I would say, the bad side is for the dual clubs. This week is really the first week we’ve had our hurlers on our own.
“Before, if you were beaten, you knew had the back door and a couple of weeks hurling free, and it made all the difference. But you’ve only really had one real good week to prepare.
“But I’d still rather straight knockout. We beat Slaughtneil last year but it counted for nothing. It’s a pity, because that game that night was played as if it was straight knockout, both teams wanted to go straight through.”
His dual players will have had just six days to recover physically from their mauling at Slaughtneil’s hands in last weekend’s hurling Championship clash. The Emmet’s won by 6-30 to 0-11.
That game may have robbed Lavey of Dermot O’Neill, who picked up a knock, while they will also be without captain Kevin O’Neill at midfield and defender Sam Dodds through injury.
Last year’s first round win offered hope that they would bridge what is now a 23-year gap since their last county title.
Donnelly is in his fourth year in sole charge but the campaign of 2010, when he was in John Brennan’s backroom team, will cast a shadow over this Lavey generation until they claim a big scalp.
They were four points up on Ballinderry heading into injury time in a semi-final but conceded two late goals, and they haven’t come as close since.
“I was involved back then and it’s been a hangover since. But it’s a different breed now,” says Donnelly.
“There are three or four young boys have come into the panel and there’s no fear in them, and that’s rubbed off on our boys.
”It’s just a different calibre this year. League form, we maybe haven’t looked the greatest, but I just know there’s a big game in them.
“It’s turning up on the night. You have to perform on the big stage.
“I think they know themselves that when the questions have been asked in the big games, they’ve let themselves down.
“Ballinderry have knocked Lavey out of the Championship a lot this last four or five years. I think they need a big performance but if they could get over a game like that, there’s no reason why Lavey couldn’t go on a run.”
