Belnaleck are back in a third Junior Championship final in a row and Kane Connor is hoping that it is third time lucky for the Art McMurroughs. 
Defeats to Coa and Newtownbutler in the last two finals have been hard to take for Belnaleck, especially the loss to Newtown last year in a game they seemed to be in control of, but Connor believes that they have taken on board the lessons from those two games.
“We are hoping to go one better this year after a couple of defeats in the final in the last two years. Those were tough to take but it’s our third final in a row and I would like to think that we have learnt from those two defeats and that will stand to us on Friday night. If we get into the position we were in last year we hopefully won’t let it slip this time around,” he said.
Connor believes that Belnaleck have improved as the championship has progressed and he is aiming for a further improvement at Brewster Park on Friday night.
“We were poor against Brookeboro and maybe fortunate enough to win the game but we improved immensely against Aghadrumsee despite missing a few players and we are going into the final confident although we know it is going to take a big performance,” he added.
Belnaleck will hope to be at full strength for the final and Connor feels that both themselves and Coa are able to put it up to most teams when they have their full teams out.
“I suppose it is a bit of a numbers game for both us and Coa. The two teams are the same in that when we have everybody out we are very good sides but when you are missing one or two we maybe don’t have that depth in the squad. Both teams though will be at full strength on Friday night and I think it will be a tight game,” he said.
Coa’s scoring threat is something that Belnaleck are wary of and Connor knows that they have to get pressure out the field on the likes of Eoin Donnelly to stop the ball going into their attack.
“Coa have a lot of quality in their forward line and it is dealing with that is something that we have been working on in training. Not only that but they get good ball into their attack so we have been looking at ways of stopping the ball higher up the pitch and if we can do that it will be a big benefit for us,” he added.
And Connor believes that the two teams will serve up an entertaining contest at Brewster Park.
“I think it will be a good game. There is quality on both sides and hopefully it will be entertaining for everybody who goes to spectate,” stated Connor.