CAVAN minor captain Paddy Meade believes that the Breffni county possess the attacking talent than can propel them to a first Ulster title since 2011.
John Brady’s side will arrive in Clones as stiff underdogs against Derry on Sunday, but 3-14 against Monaghan and 0-15 against Down en-route to the decider suggests to Meade that they have the firepower to spring a surprise.
“Once you kick the ball in you can trust them,” the Kingscourt Stars defender said of the side’s attack.
“They win their own ball and once they have it you just know they’re not going to give it away.
“That’s the main thing about this team, we all really trust each other.
“We’re built on that, and it’s a huge thing to bring into the game.”
That win over the Mourne county, when they overturned a four-point half-time deficit to emerge as two-point victors, has been the pivotal moment in the team’s season, according to Meade.
“The Down game was a big moment for us, we were prepping a lot for that match,” he said.
“We knew they were a very good side and to get over them was such a morale boost for us all.
“Personally, and for the whole team, it really helped a lot and has given us a lot of confidence.
“We started off a bit nervy and maybe that was down to the pre-match build up or whatever.
“We started to come into it then and once we came out strong in the second half, we always knew we could tip them.
“Come the end of the game we were just delighted to topple them.”
Toppling Damian McErlain’s Oakleafers looks set to be a much tougher assignment though, especially as some of the Derry players have the experience of being involved to last year’s final loss to Donegal.
Meade has said that they are not treating it as a final per se, more a regular championship match that just needs winning.
“The build up to it has been good, we’re going well. You can see that in training that things are in a good place at the moment.
“It’s just another day for us and we’re looking forward to it.
“It’s a nice occasion to be involved in, of course, but we’ve taken everything game by game all year and that’s the way we’ll be treating this one too.”
This will be the first meeting of the two counties this season as they avoided each other in the Ulster League and play-offs.
As a result, Meade’s knowledge of his opponents is through second-hand accounts only, but he is well aware of the fanfare surrounding Derry.
“Derry are a very good team, they are probably favourites.
“We’ll just do what we have been doing all along though under John, we’ll take it as it comes.
“It’s just another game for us, we’ll not be treating it as a special match.
“We don’t want to get too worked up or put too much pressure on ourselves.”
The player is enjoying the extended run this year having seen his championship limited to just one game last season as Armagh left Kingspan Breffni with a five-point win in their quarter-final clash.
Meade and Knockbride man Philip Rogers are the only two players remaining from the backline that struggled against the Orchard county, and the former is hoping that lessons have been learned ahead of the final.
“We have just been trying to improve in every game.
“There have been a lot of things there that we’ve seen we can work on, and hopefully the improvements are there against Derry.”
