IT’S “not soccer we’re playing” says Corduff manager Seamus McEnaney who denies that the Monaghan champions – who meet Tyrone’s Galbally in Saturday’s Ulster Intermediate Championship final – are over-reliant on the physical aspects of the game.
McEnaney will be suspended from the touchline after he was one of the six (three from either club) red-carded during a bad-tempered quarter-final against Down’s Saval. Since then his team produced a grandstand finish to see off Cavan champions Castlerahan.
“Gaelic football is a physical game and it’s supposed to be a physical game,” said McEnaney.
“We can play skilfully, or we can play physically… I don’t think there’s been any more cards flashed (in Corduff’s games) than there has been at any Ulster senior or intermediate game, there’s very little difference.
“Whatever way it comes is fine with us. The Ulster Club Championship is a place for playing football and it’s the time of year for playing physical football and that’s part of the game.
“We’ve a preference for playing the game as best as we possibly can and limiting the amount of cards we get. We went through the Monaghan championship and we got one red card and seven games. It’s a physical game – it’s not soccer we’re playing – and we feel as a club that we have a lot of very good players.”
Galbally were Ulster finalists in 2019 but lost out narrowly to Magheracloone – the side Corduff beat in this year’s Monaghan final. However, McEnaney insists that the Tyrone representatives are favourites, not just for Ulster, but for the All-Ireland too.
“Galbally are a seasoned senior team in Tyrone and they are hot favourites to win the Ulster championship and the All-Ireland,” he said.
“It’s a huge task for us to be competitive at the weekend. They scored freely right through the Tyrone championship. I’ve watched them closely and their scoring power is phenomenal – they were in the Ulster club final three years’ ago and they have an awful lot of additions to that team and their firepower gives them a completely different aspect.
“We know the task that’s ahead of us but we’re proud of where we come from and privileged to be in the position we’re in. We’re Corduff people from a very small parish and we’ll give it our best shot on the day.”
