By Niall Gartland

KINGSCOURT have qualified for their third semi-final in three years, but they had to use all their wit and cunning to get past a defensively-minded Lavey team in their quarter-final clash.

Lavey deployed a double sweeper and the sides were tied at 0-6 apiece at the short whistle, but Kingscourt upped the ante in the second-half and progressed to a last four clash against Gowna on a scoreline of 0-13 to 0-8.

Kingscourt manager Finbar O’Reilly says that they knew it wasn’t going to an open game of football, and they prepared accordingly.

“We studied some of their previous games and they were leaving two guys up and the rest were sitting back in a heavy structure.

“They’re a counter-attacking team and it suits them with the type of players they have. They’re a tough resilient bunch.

“They put five goals against Castlerahan in the first game, hitting them on the break, so we knew that was coming and prepared for it.

“It’s still difficult. You can be beaten easily against those type of teams if you concede a goal, so I thought we managed things quite well in the second-half and we got over the line.”

This is O’Reilly’s first year in charge of Kingscourt. They lost last year’s final after a replay, but deemed to be fourth in the pecking order by the bookies as we reach the business end of this year’s championship. In saying that, they tend to come alive in the semi-final stages of the championship and they’re progressing well.

Reflecting on their good start to the championship, where they won their opening two group stage games, O’Reilly said: “The first game is always vital in the championship, especially with Cavan’s group stage system. We played out next door neighbours Shercock and it was a tight game.

“Getting that win was crucial as it gave us a bit of confidence, and we were introducing lads who came back from injury, so things came together at the right time. But we’ve been building slowly, we haven’t set the world alight. We still find outselves in a semi-final so it’s so far, so good.”

They have this week to prepare for their semi-final clash against Gowna, an up and coming team who have already bagged the Division One title. They have a fiercely proud tradition, and are bidding to end a gap of 19 years without a senior championship title.

O’Reilly said: “I think we all know Gowna have been strong at underage level the last couple of years and they’ve a vast number of young players coming througuh at once. They’ve already been knocking on the door as they’ve been in a couple of recent semi-finals. They’re adding quality players to their team. They’re a formidable outfit. They’re probably favourites for the title, and are favourites for this game, so that’s what we’re faced with.”