No sooner had the final whistle blown on Sunday in Ederney than the Lisbellaw focus had turned to this Sunday’s Ulster Club IHC semi-final against Carrickmore in Armagh. (1.45pm).
A dominant second half display took the Fermanagh side past Newry Shamrocks and into the last four but Lisbellaw manager David Teague knows that a sterner test lies ahead at the Athletic Grounds against the Tyrone outfit.
“As soon as the game was over we got our stretches done and the focus shifted straight on to next Sunday,” he said.
“We know Carrickmore, we have played them in the Armagh League down through the years and they know us so there will be no surprises.
“They have shown the quality they have by beating the Antrim champions who are usually the benchmark in this Intermediate competition so we won’t be taking them lightly, that’s for sure.
“We know they have quality all over the field so it is up to us to match that and improve on our last performance.
“It is getting what we have been doing at training right, like we did on Sunday, and if we do that we are confident that we can come out on the right side.”
Lisbellaw were slow out of the blocks against Newry but Teague expected that after a long lay off since their last competitive action.
“We said before the match that it has been so long since our last competitive game in August and to keep patient, it will take us 15 minutes or half an hour to get to speed with the championship.
“Newry were coming off seven games in their championship and only had their final a couple of weeks ago so they would have had the whole momentum going into the game.
“But, we had full confidence in ourselves that when we click that things will start to go our way and thankfully that is what happened,” explained Teague.
And he believes that Sunday’s game will only help bring Lisbellaw on.
“No matter how much training you do, nothing beats match practice.
“We seen that on Sunday, we had been training really well but it took us that first half an hour to get up to speed. We are a better team for having had that game,” he said.
Hitting 3-15, 3-07 of which came in the second half, was a pleasing thing for Teague who was also happy with the number of players who registered scores for his side on Sunday.
“It was a good score and there was a good spread of scorers as well which was pleasing.
“I think we had at least three men who got at least 1-02 and others also chipped in with points.
“We know that when we get going we are a hard team to stop so the task now is to do it for two halves and not just one.”
Another positive for Lisbellaw heading into the semi-final is the strength in depth that they possess in their squad.
“In the second half we made five changes and not included in those five is somebody like Mark Slevin who had a knock and couldn’t come on.
“You have men who will be unhappy in not getting on and in my time this is the most competition for places there has ever been.
“I feel we are in a really good place and with these matches coming at us thick and fast there will be no complaining from us.”
The win over Newry Shamrocks was Lisbellaw’s first win in Ulster in nine years and Teague says that their focus this year has been on breaking that run.
“Our last win in any Ulster Club Championship was nine years ago. This was our first win in nine years and at the start of the year I was trying to bang that drum. This was what we were aiming for all year, the Armagh League is all well and good but this is what we were concentrating on and it is just a massive relief to get the win,” he stated.
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