Franklin not concerned with favourites tag

By Shaun Casey

PAST experiences won’t allow An Riocht to let their guard down ahead of their do or die clash with Dromara on Monday evening, according to their joint-manager Kevin Franklin.

The Kingdom go into the encounter as favourites to progress against their Division Three opponents, but they’ve found out before that league placings can be deceiving when it comes to rough and tumble of championship football.

Franklin points to the exact same scenario last season that saw An Riocht advance by the skin of their teeth. “The draw was only made on Monday night so we’re trying to make a few phone calls to get a bit of information on them,” he said of their opponents.

“They are a closeknit team and because of that gap in the leagues, we’ll probably go in as favourites but that doesn’t matter a damn.

“We played Teconnaught last year in the first round of the championship and similarly, they were in Division Three and we were Division Two, but it took us extra time to eventually get over the line.

“Our boys will be well versed in playing a team that’s in a lower league; league standings really don’t come into it during the championship.”

An Riocht smashed home six goals in their comfortable first round victory over Ballymartin but fell to Longstone last Sunday afternoon to send them into round three knowing their entire season is on the line. Franklin, who manages the team alongside Paul Shields, has been pleased with most of their season to date, but disappointed they didn’t see out their promotion push from Division Three, finishing third overall behind champions Rostrevor and Bryansford.

“We had a reasonably good league campaign, and we sat at the top of the table for about three quarters of the season,” Franklin explained.

“In the last third we tapered off and we lost against Rostrevor and Bryansford. We don’t have a big panel of players, but we had nobody away with the county seniors this year, so we had most of our players available for most of the year.

“We don’t have a big pool so a couple of injuries and a wee bit of wear and tear and we just couldn’t see the thing out and get promoted. I suppose third place is probably the worst place to finish because you’ve just missed out.

“We tailed off the second half of the league and it was disappointing considering we were top until the last four or five games but it’s progress and it’s an improvement on where we were last year and the year before.”