Derrygonnelly are not travelling to Celtic Park this Sunday to make up the numbers according to their manager, Martin Greene;
“There is no point in standing still. You have to try and keep improving and keep moving forward.”
Greene was replying to a question about how he has tried to refocus his side for the challenge of Slaughtneil in the Ulster Club this Sunday.
“It is a step up from winning your own championship and just one step down from county football so we have to be ready for it. We have been playing challenge games against teams from around Ulster; just last week we played Dromore so we want the boys to know that they are well fit to be playing at this level,” the Harps boss stated.
Greene will be preparing for the game without the services of Conall Jones who is travelling in New Zealand and the Derrygonnelly manager accepted that Jones would be a loss but remained optimistic about the response he was going to get from the squad;
“Look, Conall is a big loss and would be for any team but at the same time we have been missing players such as Tiarnan Daly and Eamon McHugh and the team has stepped up and other players have come in and did excellent jobs and we expect the same now on Sunday.”
Greene knows that his side will be underdogs as they travel to 2014 Ulster Club champions Slaughtneil;
“As a club I think they are the standard bearers in Ulster at the moment in both hurling and football and they are favourites to win the football championship too. So we know what we have ahead of us.”
The two clubs met last year at the same stage with the Derry club winning comprehensively but Greene argues that despite the final score there were aspects of the game that will give his team heart;
“We were beat well last year but when looking back at it and the first half in particular it was really about conversion. They converted on 85 percent of shots and we converted on 15 percent from the same number of shots. So we were winning possession and we would take positives from that,” he stated.
Possession will again be key on Sunday and in that regard the battle between Patsy Bradley and Ryan Jones will be vital. Both men are huge driving forces for their teams and if Jones can secure at least parity for his team in the sector it will be up to the Harps attack to make that possession count.
That may be easier said that done against a very physical and tight marking Slaughtneil defence where Chrissy McKaigue is the leader. Derrygonnelly will be looking to Paul Ward to once again prove elusive and create some space to kick the sort of points he did in the county final while Ryan and Garvan Jones in the middle of the field will need to drive forward to contribute to the scoreboard as well.
At the other end the Harps defence will need to be on their guard against an attack that ran up 2-11 in the Derry final. Paul Bradley and Shane McGuigan in particular will need well watched.
The Fermanagh champions know that few outside the club will give them much chance in this game against team of the pedigree of Slaughtneil but Greene is unconcerned with that and insists that his side are travelling with full confidence;
“We know we are underdogs and that’s fine but we are looking to improve and looking to get better and looking to prove ourselves at this stage. So we will go out there and give it everything we have.”