By Michael McMullan

FRESHNESS is the key word this week for Sleacht Néill football manager Mark Doran.

The Emmet’s face reigning champions Newbridge in Sunday’s Derry Senior Championship semi-final as they chase a first title since 2020.

It will be a ninth weekend of championship in 10 weekends, their only weekend off coming as a result of avoiding the second qualifier round.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s Derry hurling final, Doran highlighted how this weekend’s training programme wouldn’t be set in stone until Monday morning. If the players needed an extra day off, so be it.

Doran concedes to being without Conor Coyle this weekend – and possibly the rest of the season – after an injury picked up in the hurling semi-final win over Swatragh.

“He’s big, he’s young and he was fresh,” Doran said. “He was kicking scores, there’s something about young people coming into a team, they do give you a bit of energy.”

Looking at the bigger picture, Sleacht Néill’s programme with their dual players is based around both managers and conditioning coach Mickey Forest.

There was also the element of praying the phone doesn’t ring with bad news.

“We are just trying to make sure players aren’t flogged,” Doran said. “The players aren’t going to get any fitter or become unfit now.

“It’s about trying to arrive on championship day fresh and that is just the key. If you arrive fresh you have a chance.”

Doran, in his third season at Emmet Park, knows the drill around dual players. Playing both sports is woven into the club fabric.

Sleacht Néill needed three goals, at vital times, to overcome the considerable challenge of Lavey in their quarter-final.

Winning was everything, but after picking through the bones, Doran looked at the key points for improvement. Like all teams, getting hands on the leather from both goalkeepers’ restarts is high up the list.

“The main thing was, even though we won the game, our shot conversion wasn’t where we’d want it to be,” he said, also praising the Sleacht Néill players for making the right decisions in the white heat.

Looking at Sunday’s opponents, Doran highlights Newbridge as the highest scorers in the county and how they annexed the league title despite not having access to their county players.

“They’ve serious, serious pace and the one thing that has really impressed me about them, every one of them are so comfortable on the ball,” he said.

“Mark McGrogan playing corner-back and in my first year, I thought that they actually played him wing half-forward so that shows you how adaptable they are.”

“Unless we can bring the very best performance with us, our season’s going to be over,” he added.

“The performance against Lavey won’t be enough to beat Newbridge, we know we’re going to have to up it.

“Newbridge are county champions and they’ve a lot in the line too. No matter who we got in the last four it was going to be a big, big game.”