Kingscourt manager embracing challenges

By Niall Gartland

DEFENDING champions Kingscourt Stars got their Senior Championship campaign up and running with a hard-earned victory over Ramor last Thursday night, and manager Colin Kelly is happy to contend with any potential bumps in the road that arise over the coming weeks.

The ultimate target is to get back to county final day, but the first goal is plotting a path through the group stages and taking their place in the last eight of the competition.

The Stars had a solid if unspectacular Division One campaign, though Kelly is mindful that they had to deal with various challenges along the way, including the absence of county representatives at both senior and underage level.

And on top of that, they still have to plough on without Padraig Faulkner, one of the most recognisable Cavan players of his generation.

Summing it all up, Kelly said: “We had a bigger volume of players involved at county level, between the U21s and seniors, than we had last year. We had different challenges, and then obviously a few lads going to America when their intercounty season was over hasn’t helped. Padraig’s still away as well. He’s still in New York with Cavan. We’re not sure what the timeframe is there.

“So they’re different challenges than we had last year, but they’re good challenges because we’ve fellas in county teams, which means you have quality players. So I kind of embrace those things rather than looking down on them.”

If Kingscourt claim a second successive group stage victory this weekend, they’ll be well on their way on booking their spot in the knock-out rounds. That’s target number one though it won’t be simple and Mullahoran’s confidence will be high after they carved out a five-point victory over Cavan Gaels in their own championship opener.

“Really and truly, it’s about navigating your path to the quarter-final, which is not easy. Your first two rounds are very tough. We’d Ramor last Thursday and did well to come through that one, and now we’ve Mullahoran coming up on Friday night.”

Asked whether the overall dynamic is different as defending champions, Kelly added: “It hasn’t really. We don’t dwell on those things. That’s a distant memory, albeit that it’s etched into the history of the club. It’s long gone in terms of us dwelling on it.

“The goal is, can we get back to that stage again this year? As I say, there are different challenges along the way. We had a couple of retirements, a couple of injuries, a few players in America, more of a county cohort, but ultimately we’ll just knuckle down and see what we can do.”