Brady looks ahead to game of fine margins

By Michael McMullan

KEVIN Brady doesn’t envisage anything different from the last two showdowns in Sunday’s county final.

The Newbridge team he joint manages with Gary Hetherington won the title two years ago. One late swing of Ciaran Brooks’ boot ended Glen’s run as All-Ireland champions.

Last year, they could only watch on as Magherafelt’s late two-point free drifted wide and they held on to retain the John McLaughlin Cup.

It’s Magherafelt on the opposite corner this time again and Brady says the pattern of the game will be decided by the middle third.

He feels it is going down to the wire with possession the golden ticket both camps will crave.

“If Magherafelt can get their hands on the ball, they’ll do damage,” he said. “If Newbridge get plenty of the ball, they’ll do damage, so it’s just really who can get their hands on the most ball.”

Speaking before training last week, Brady was processing their semi-final win over Glen before setting their sights on the Rossa challenge coming down the tracks.

“We are glad to be back there, that’s is the main thing,” he said of a third final in their three years at the helm.

“We’re just really, really happy to be able to be in that position again. We didn’t ever really talk about the three-in-a-row until just before the semi-final.

“We were just saying it would be really nice to get to the final and to give ourselves that opportunity, so we’ve done that.”

It wasn’t looking likely in their quarter-final with Bellaghy. The Tones were ahead as the clock ticked towards full time only for Sean Young’s goal to turn the tables.

“It’s sort of a fickle thing because everybody thought we didn’t play that well against Bellaghy,” Brady said.

“Then everybody’s saying how well you played against Glen and I think obviously the truth has to be somewhere in between.”

Tough encounter

Brady is expecting a tough encounter this weekend and points to the Magherafelt spread of scorers as something to factor in.

“Practically their whole team, they all can score and they’re all not afraid to shoot,” he said.

“It’s not necessarily that they’re relying on one or two individuals. They can all pop up with points, so there are a lot of fires to put out.

“We just have to get our team selection right and get whatever match-ups that there’s going to be.”

With their county players being away during the season, it gave Newbridge the chance to get minutes into other members of their squad.

They lost last year at the hands of Dungiven in the championship opener before going through the back door to lift a 12th title.

They had to come late to see off Kilrea and needed the late push to overcome Bellaghy on the way to a comfortable semi-final win over Glen.

“We’ve come out the right side of it thankfully the last two years,” Brady concluded.

“In finals, the majority of the time they tend to be close affairs, no matter what the form guide is.

“Magherafelt have been one of the favourites to win it this year again. They’re playing well so I’m sure it’ll be another close one. I just hope that we come out the right side of it again.”