DERRY camogie manager Ciarán Cunningham is fairly philosophical ahead of this Saturday’s opening group game against Down in the All-Ireland Intermediate championship.
It is a game that could make or break his side and preparations have been far from ideal.
“I suppose it looked straight-forward enough when the programme was set out back in July,'' said Cunningham.
“We would have four weeks between the senior club final and this Saturday.
“There would be enough time there to get some solid preparation in with a couple of challenge games to get the girls playing together again.
“But that isn’t how it turned out.”
The county senior final between Slaughtneil and Swatragh went to a replay and that cut the preparation time by a week. By then the COVID-19 situation had deteriorated in the county and collective training has been almost impossible to organise.
“We have been hit hard. I am just off the phone there to another girl who has to go to get a test done. That makes 12 in total over the past couple of weeks. It isn’t that they are testing positive, just that track and trace are notifying them to get a test done and to isolate.
“It’s almost impossible to pull a team together in these circumstances. At the minute I don’t know who we have for Saturday.”
However the Naomh Eoin Belfast clubman believes you just have to get on with it.
“It is what it is. We are probably no better or no worse than most teams at the moment. It has been a strange year alright.
“One good thing about the whole thing is that players have had time with their clubs and they have been coming off that fairly fit and camogie sharp. But they still have to bond together as a Derry county team and that takes a bit of time.
“We have been meeting in small groups, getting a little work done. It is the best we can do in the circumstances.”
Cunningham, a former Saffron hurler, came in as Derry manager for most of the 2017 season when the Oak Leaf side was still graded in the senior division. They had a decent league run and retained the Ulster title that season, but the landscape has changed significantly in the interim and he points to Down as the team that has driven forward.
“They reached the All-Ireland Intermediate final in 2018 and they have pushed on from that with Clonduff doing well on the club scene. I had a few of their players in UUJ a few years ago and I am not surprised the progress that Down has made.
“They have been able to enter a second team this season and winning the Ulster Intermediate title last Sunday with them will be a big boost with many of those girls now pushing to get into the senior team.”
“We have a big task ahead of us on Saturday; whoever loses will have difficulty making the semi-final. At the moment I am hoping that we have a full complement free of COVID restrictions to see what team we can put out against them. But I believe we have the players in Derry to beat them.”
