SEVEN Ulster teams have competed in the Nicky Rackard Cup since its inception in 2005.
Four of those - Armagh, Derry, Donegal and Tyrone - have all added their name to the winning roll of honour, while a fifth county, Cavan, do not currently have a senior inter-county team. That leaves Monaghan and Fermanagh as the two Ulster sides searching for a first Nicky Rackard success and their latest attempt sees the two counties face off in round one at Brewster Park on Saturday.
Farney boss Trevor Hilliard knows all about this competition, having hurled in it for both Monaghan and Louth and he says their ambitions entering the competition will be as high as the likes of Armagh or Mayo.
“Mayo and Armagh are in the division above you,” said Hilliard.
“But on any given day, you don’t know what will happen. We compare ourselves to the likes of Roscommon and we look at them beating Armagh in the final last year and it gives you hope. If we came up against Mayo or Armagh, we would be sure we could give them a good battle. We’re enthusiastic. Our goal at the start of the year was to get back to a National League final and to get to Croke Park and that hasn’t changed.”
To keep that goal on track, they will need a good start. Fermanagh came so close to securing Division 3A hurling for 2017 earlier this month, but lost out to Tyrone after extra-time in a promotion/relegation play-off.
Despite the hurt of that defeat, Hilliard expects the Erne county to be very strong on their own patch: “We’re going to Brewster Park and they are a very tough team down there and we know we have a job to do,” he said.
“They had a good league campaign. They faced Tyrone and Tyrone were lucky to get over the line at the end. We’re just hoping to get the first round over us and be in the draw for the next round.”
Like Fermanagh, Monaghan have had their own heartbreak recently following their 20-point Division 3A final loss to Roscommon, a match where the elements decided to take a swipe at the Farney county.
Only one point separated the sides at the break and Hilliard said his main task since has been trying to lift morale after the second-half collapse: “It was very disappointing to lose,” said the manager.
“Going up there [Ballyshannon] was very disappointing for one thing and then to play against the wind in both halves didn’t help. At half-time, there wasn’t nothing in it after we had played against the wind and then to go out to have to play against a gale force wind in the second-half was hard.
“It took the boys a while to get over it. That’s two years in-a-row now we have lost in the final [Tyrone winning in 2015]. We felt that we had the edge on them at half-time, but then the wind completely changed. But that’s what you get if you bring these games to those places.
“You look at the Division Four football final this weekend, it’s being played in Croke Park. The obvious venue for that game was Tullamore in a double-header with Westmeath and Carlow. Both teams probably would have been happy to go there but, instead, we went to Ballyshannon. The next step was bloody New York.”
Hilliard is confident of having a full squad to select from for Saturday’s first round, but he is monitoring the fitness of three players: “We’re trying to get the boys right to make sure they’re ready for this week coming,” he said.
“Fergal Rafter is carrying an injury, Brian Flanagan is carrying an injury and Conor McKenna has a dead leg. That’s three boys, but we’re hoping they should be fit come Saturday.”
