Kinawley manager Mark Monaghan says that injuries are all part of the game as they gear up to take on Antrim champions Aghagallon at Corrigan Park on Sunday in the Ulster Intermediate Championships.
The job of progressing in the competition has been made much more difficult with three starters definitely out of the equation for this game. Ruairi Corrigan and Sean McManus are both missing through injury and they are joined by regular goalkeeper Martin Ward who broke his jaw at training last week.
The loss of Corrigan came during the Intermediate final against Tempo and the county man had scored all of his sides 3-03 when he departed. Losing your best forward is bad enough but to compound matters the loss of Sean McManus is a double blow for the forward line. But Monaghan refused to let the injuries dampen his spirits;
“All is good in the camp and we are training away and looking forward to it. Obviously we have those few injuries and we would rather be having those men available but that’s football sometimes and you have to just get on with it,” he stated..
The Kinawley men will face a tough challenge in the shape of Aghagallon who beat Dunloy by five points in the Antrim final and they also collected the division two league title in the Saffron county so their form this year has been similar to the Brian Borus who have gained promotion to division one in Fermanagh.
Kinawley will be looking to experienced duo Niall Bogue and Shaun Doherty to lead the charge on Sunday. In defence Bogue has been excellent all year and is a real leader of the team while in attacks Doherty leads the line very well and in the absence of Corrigan and McManus will have to assume more of the scoring duties.
Another veteran, Sean Leonard came on for Corrigan in that Intermediate final and he was hugely influential in getting his team over the line against Tempo and should he start on Sunday Kinawley will need a big performance from the midfielder. Paddy McGovern will be another important figure and his breaks from defence could be a key factor in the game.
The Brian Boru’s boss knows that his side have it all to do on Sunday;
“No matter who you play in Ulster it will be a tough game. Aghagallon have been playing well all year and won the Antrim final comfortably and also topped their league as well,” Monaghan said before concluding that his side were well up for the fight this weekend;
“To be fair to the lads they have put winning Fermanagh and getting promoted to one side and they are all focused on Ulster and we are determined to give it a real rattle and see where we are at the final whistle.”