Denn’s little bit extra inspires run to Intermediate Championship final

By Niall Gartland

DENN may be backboned by members of the team that won the Ulster Junior Championship title in 2021, but it was the addition of something a little bit extra that has propelled the team to Sunday’s Cavan Intermediate Championship final against Butlersbridge.

The club won a historic Division One Minor Championship title in August and a number of those players are already making a serious impression at the adult grade. Coincidentally, Butlersbridge were their opponents that day.

Manager Brian Donohoe believes it’s a key factor in their subsequent surge to Sunday’s county final, where they will bid to win their fourth Intermediate Championship in the history of the club.

I think the big plus for Denn this year was winning a Division 1 minor championship, and five or six of that squad coming into our panel and challenging strongly. They have been a great addition because they have pace and they have exuberance.

“So the age profile is good. That was a young team that won Ulster five years ago, and now we’re bolstered by the current minors, so we’re looking forward to the battle ahead on Sunday. The club is well run and, on the footballing end, it’s going pretty good.”

Denn achieved promotion from Division Three this year though the league final against Cornafean didn’t quite to according to plan. Donohoe wasn’t too worried, however, as they were depleted that day.

“We’d a good win over Cornafean in the quarter-finals a few weeks back. We’d lost to them in the Division Three final, although the caveat was that we had a lot of players on holiday. I knew from March-April that we’d be down seven or eight strong players in the last week of June, but the league fulfilled its purpose. We got out of the gap comfortably and, thankfully, got up a grade.”

As for his assessement of Butlersbridge, Donohoe expects a hard-fought battle this Sunday, regardless of who makes it to the winning podium.

“Look, I think Butlersbridge are coming in strong and they’ll need to be curtailed. They’re pacy, they have good forwards and they have a couple of minors that usually come into the play in the second half. We expect a very strong opponent, and I think it’ll be a very tight battle.”