By Shaun Casey

WITH the championship just around the corner, Clonduff are hoping to finish their league campaign on a high before the business end of the season really kicks into gear, says their manager Gearoid Adams.

Two games remain in the Division One campaign, before their championship clash with Liatroim, Clonduff take on Loughinisland and Saul with the hope of finishing as high up the table as possible.

League champions Kilcoo can’t be caught, but a top four place is the goal.

“We started off really well, we were five from five and then with a few injuries and a few boys going away we dipped but we played Kilcoo last week and won and went to fourth place,” said Adams.

“If we’d lost then we were in the mix for the bottom four so that’s how tight it is. You have Saul, Ballyholland and Downpatrick, they’re fighting (for survival) but up until last week there were six or seven teams could have been in there.

“The win against Kilcoo took a bit of the pressure off us and it means that we have a bit of time now to try different things and try different players and players that maybe haven’t got as much game time as they might have liked.

“It gives us that time to get a bit of hard work done as well without being worried about being at the other side of the table. Obviously, we want to continue winning too, we’ve been second, third, fourth all year and we want to stay in that top four and finish the league on a high.”

Clonduff will be without midfielder Peter McAvoy for the rest of the season after he tore his ACL against Loughinisland in the first half of the league, but Adams hopes to have a clean bill of health heading into the championship.

“When I went in, I was well aware that a lot of the lads had left before I came in, I think you could actually have a Clonduff team out in Australia at the minute! But in that situation, you have to find new players and there’s players that have done a real good job.

“The likes of Eamon Brown is in America so hopefully we get him back safe and well and we’re looking to get anybody else who is fit back.

“We have a few wee niggles like most squads, but we should be ok heading towards the championship.”