By Kieran Lynch

BANAGHER hurlers are gearing up for their first-ever men’s Ulster final, and just the second ever provincial decider in the club’s history at any code, when they take on Lisbellaw in the Intermediate Championship on Saturday. Their manager Ryan Lynch spoke with Gaelic Life describing how big of an achievement it is for the Derry side.

“It’s massive,” Lynch confirmed.

“It’s the first ever senior final at Ulster level for the boys. The camogs were in the Ulster Junior final a couple of years ago, so this is only the second ever Ulster final at senior level at any code for club, so it’s absolutely massive.

“It means so much for the players and families around the FeenyPark area. It’s a great rural club, everybody pitches in behind each other.

“It’s our first final, but hopefully not our last, and at this point we just want to get to the game.”

Banagher overcame Armagh senior champions Middletown, who were arguably the favourites to win Ulster, in the semi-final, and Lynch explained how his team never looked ahead to the final before they got here.

“We never looked past Middletown. To be honest, after the game one of the Middletown management came out to congratulate us and actually said ‘the other game is going this way,’ and that had never actually entered my head that day, because we were just focused on Middletown. It was great reward for the lads’ season that game there.

“Regardless of whatever happens on Saturday, to have reached an Ulster final and beaten Middletown is a massive achievement.”

One of the challenging aspects of playing at this time of year is keeping the team fresh over Christmas, but Lynch revealed he was actually glad of the break, as it has allowed his team to recharge before this weekend’s final.

“If you told the lads in the middle of July that they would be training through Christmas week, they would shrug their shoulders and say, ‘I’m not so sure I would want that,’ but given the context of where we are, it’s just about trying to not over train,” he said.

“Before the semi-final, we probably would have wanted the final to be played the same weekend as the senior final (December 19), but the Middletown game was such a huge ask for our players that we basically didn’t train that following week at all, we had that many brusied and battered bodies, so we used the break to try and refresh as best as we could.”

Lynch then previewed the final and admits that Lisbellaw will give his team an extremely difficult challenge, but that his team will be right up for it.

“They’re there on merit. They’re a very good side. We have full respect for them, because this is new to us, while they have been there or thereabouts so many times. They’ve got the experience and will know how to handle the occasion.

“We hope to give them a game, get stuck into them, get at it, and see how it goes; the boys are proud, the club is proud, we can’t ask for much more from them. This is the biggest game of their club careers that they’ll possibly ever play, and we’re absolutely delighted to get at it.”