Bank of Ireland Paddy McLarnon Cup Final (U21 Club Football Tournament
Gaoth Dobhair (Donegal) v Erin’s Own, Lavey (Derry)
(Sunday, Creggan, 2pm)
THE Paddy McLarnon Cup will come to its conclusion tomorrow afternoon with Derry champions Lavey coming up against the Donegal juggernaut that is Gaoth Dobhair.
Both sides have impressed on their way to the decider and a mouth-watering prospect lays ahead between two excellent sides.
Lavey have been underdogs in both their outings so far. Galbally and Cavan champions Southern Gaels were favourites to progress so being the underdog will be of no major concern to Seamus Downey’s side.
Team captain Brendan Laverty has been pivotal in his side’s run to the final and he believes they have grown in stature as the competition has progressed.
“I think we’ve got stronger as the tournament has progressed,'' he said.
“At the start of the year we wanted to get a run in the Derry championship and I suppose we never had any major aspirations of reaching Ulster. We’re in unknown territory as far as that’s concerned but we’ve given ourselves a great opportunity now and we’re keen to go out and compete.
“We’re a young team and we’re probably a year ahead of ourselves if we’re honest. We only lose a couple of players for next year and I suppose that’s why we haven’t put too much pressure on ourselves during this competition.''
Laverty admitted that Gaoth Dobhair will start favourites: “and rightly so''.
“They have a really strong team with a couple of Donegal panellists in their squad. They have the majority of last year’s team available and they pushed Glen all the way in the semi-final but we’re happy with our position and preparations.
“This is exactly where we want to be.''
Laverty added that it's a great honour for him personally to be leading his team out on the pitch.
“It means a lot to me because football has been my life so far,'' he declared.
“We’ve grown up hearing stories of the great Lavey teams of the past and to be coached by those men up through the age groups has been brilliant.
“We idolised those guys when we were growing up and now we want to emulate their achievements. A win on Sunday will go some way in doing that.”
Gaoth Dobhair were more workman-like in their semi-final performance against Carryduff after impressing against Rossa and Donaghmoyne but team captain Niall Friel told us they had their demons to exorcise from 12 months previous: “It was our main aim at the start of the year. We wanted to reach this tournament again and make amends for that defeat last year.''
