Farrell: Rostrevor ready to Rock

By Shaun Casey

WHEN Rostrevor take the field at Burren on Saturday afternoon, it’ll be exactly three weeks since they defeated An Riocht in the intermediate decider by the minimum of margins.

Having got their hands on the trophy for the first time since 2017, the management team gave the players a full week off before turning their focus towards the Ulster Championship.

Drew Grant nailed the goal for his side and finished with 1-1 while man of the match Conor Rocks contributed 0-4 of their 1-15 tally.

Their opponents, Tyrone representatives Rock, have played twice since Rostrevor’s last outing, with their final against Pomeroy going to a replay, which the St Patrick’s men eventual won by seven points.

“After the championship final, everybody was on a high and the celebrations went on for a day or two and we decided to give the boys a week off,” said Rostrevor coach Martin Farrell.

“They just needed that time to go away and clear their heads and do what they needed to do. The following Sunday we got back together in Kilbroney Park to blow off the cobwebs and get our head focused again.

“There were great celebrations and nice to have that week’s break. It’s been going well so far and hopefully we’re all focused on what’s coming up this week.”

Rock were the surprise package that emerged from the Red Hand County, but Farrell and the Rostrevor manager team, headed by Tom Franklin, won’t be taking them lightly.

“From watching the two finals, you can see the pedigree that Rock have, they definitely didn’t win the championship by fluke,” Farrell explained.

“The second game, the intensity and the physicality they brought, they have strength and depth as well and they’re not here by fluke, they deserve to be here.”

Rostrevor last competed on the provincial stage back in 2017, when they went all the way to the Ulster final, only to lose out by a point to a Moy side that went on to win the All-Ireland.

“We got a red card that day early in the second half, James Rice, who will be playing next weekend, got a second yellow card and then the Moy won in the end,” Farrell recalled.

“It’s not too often that we got into Ulster. That was 2017 and before that it was 1998 when we won the Senior Championship, so it doesn’t come around that often.”

The likes of Conor Doyle, 40-year-old Shaun Parr, Piaras Kane and James Donaghy are all still lining out for the St Bronagh’s men almost a decade on.

“Hopefully the younger lads in the squad can buy into their experience because we aren’t in the competition all that often.

“Them boys, any experience they have or anything they can give us, hopefully we’ll be able to feed into any wee nuggets they can give us.

“Obviously we have the likes of Hugh Pat (McGeary) there with all that inter-county experience and some of the younger lads can lean on him as well at times like this.”