O’Neill’s Derry Senior Football Championship semi-final: Eoghan Rua, Coleraine v St Colm’s, Ballinascreen (tomorrow, 2.45pm, Owenbeg)
THE first item on the agenda at Coleraine training on Thursday evening; forget all about last night. Forget the late drama, forget being the men that beat the men.
It’s a tall order, but somehow manager Sean McGoldrick has to get Wednesday night’s momentous win over Slaughtneil out of the minds of his players as they prepare for tomorrow’s semi-final showdown with Ballinascreen.
Considering the effort that went into downing an Emmet’s side gunning for a fifth Derry title in-a-row, never mind defending the Seamus McFerran Cup that has been in their possession since 2016, that is no easy task.
“That’s the problem,” says McGoldrick.
“We got together last night and we were talking about that - it’s only natural after a game like that with such an epic finish. You’re on a bit of a high and you can’t help but reflect on the good things, that feeling at the end.
“We just have to leave that behind because we’ve achieved nothing. We’re trying to get everybody’s mind turned towards what’s coming on Sunday.
“Apart from a favour to ourselves, we’ve also done a favour to the other three teams left in the championship. Slaughtneil have been the dominant force so, us removing them, to a certain extent we’ve done the hard work and it leaves the thing wide open.
“So while it was a big boost for us, it was probably a big boost as well for the other three teams. But the fact we’ve beaten Slaughtneil means nothing against Ballinascreen.”
Some felt Eoghan Rua had missed the boat when they failed to put Slaughtneil away in the first quarter-final, but they bounced back from an awful start on Wednesday to book their spot in the last four courtesy of Liam McGoldrick’s dramatic late winner.
However, it was Colm McGoldrick’s 43rd minute goal that really lit the spark for Coleraine as it brought them back to within two points.
“I thought we were better than the way we played in the first 20 minutes, and that there was more to us than we showed,” continued McGoldrick.
“That period before half-time when we got four or five points, that gave us the belief that we could still challenge and there was still a possibility of getting back into the game.
“I don’t think the possibility of winning really came to us until we got the goal – it’s very difficult against massed defences to get too many points. I said the same thing in the drawn game where a goal really helped us.
“But once the goal went in, we really started to believe we could win the game because it was a bit of a battle until then. That period before half-time really got us back into the game.”
As a result of their midweek exertions, McGoldrick is sweating on the fitness of midfielder Paul Daly, who had to be replaced at half-time due to an ankle knock.
However, Coleraine could welcome back Declan Mullan, who has been dogged by injuries all season, after his late cameo appearance against Slaughtneil.
Eoghan Rua will start as 2/5 favourites, yet it is Ballinascreen who held the Indian sign over tomorrow’s opponents when three goals saw them beat Coleraine at the quarter-final stage last year
And McGoldrick hopes the hurt from that day can help drive his men on.
“Hopefully that motivates our fellas,” he said.
“But on the other side they’ll have a lot of confidence and self-belief that they can beat us. It’s our hurt against their confidence so we’ll see how it goes.
“In championship, things can happen that are unforeseen. Last year we had a bit of a disaster giving away goals early on in the game and we didn’t react brilliantly to it, it took us a while to get going again, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
