By Kieran Lynch

MIDDLETOWN play local rivals Keady this weekend in the Armagh county hurling final, as they look to achieve a third consecutive title.

They come into the final on a high, after an extremely impressive 2-21 to 0-9 win over Derrynoose in the semi-final, and joint-captain Paddy McBride spoke about the mood in the camp following that win.

“A lot of effort went into that game, so when it paid off everybody was happy with the performance. We’re looking forward to the final now and we can’t wait for it to be here.”

For Middletown, this will be their seventh county final in a row, and in such a tremendous run of consistency it pays to have leadership, which McBride believes the team has in abundance.

“There’s a lot of leaders in our team. There’s a lot of experienced players, and there seems to be a new leader every year coming in and pushing the team on, and we feed off that.”

Despite years of success in Armagh, motivation isn’t hard to find for the Middletown players, as new stars have been coming through and pushing the team forward.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve had new players breaking into the team and that’s really pushed it on too and helped build the hunger.”

Due to the nature of senior championship hurling in the county, which is contested exclusively between North Armagh teams, it always brings the element of a local rivalry. McBride believes that the rivalry adds to the experience, but can lead to Middletown’s downfall if they pay too much attention to it.

“The fact we’re all local rivals adds to the buzz of it. All the teams know each other inside out, and I would say we’re all pretty close in terms of the level of hurling. I remember back at the start, when I first came on to the senior team, we probably got caught up in the local rivalry and it probably didn’t serve us too well. It’s very easy to get caught up in the occasion if you let it, so we always try and keep our motivation within ourselves and focus on our own performance.”

With Keady to come on Sunday, there can be no room for getting caught up in the occasion if Middletown are to retain their crown.

“A focus from our management this year has been us doing the simple things and doing them to a high standard. We’re confident in ourselves, but at the same time we know the quality that they have, and it could come down to the last five or ten minutes.”

With a close game expected, these ties can often be decided on individual quality, and Middletown will look to their talisman Dean Gaffney, who scored 2-9 last time out, if they are to claim their third county title in a row.

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