The pressure is off says Naomh Éanna boss McCavana

BATTLING their way back to senior football was the overall ambition for Ciarán McCavana and Naomh Éanna at the start of the season, and they achieved that even before the championship.

McCavana’s side have gone through the entire season unbeaten, and head back to the top tier in style, with league and championship titles under their belts.

Now, marching into an Ulster Championship campaign, it’s all an added benefit of their ultimate goal for here on in. Rock, who defeated Rostrevor last weekend, are their quarter-final opponents.

“We had come down from Division One and I came in as manager and it was a rebuilding job,” McCavana said ahead of Sunday’s showdown with the Tyrone champions.

“Last year, we played four championship games, won two, drew one and we were literally a kick of a ball away from getting to the semi-final.

“This year has gone very well. We had a few boys that came back from Australia, and they gelled well and we went undefeated in Antrim in both the league and the championship.”

On regaining their senior status, McCavana continued, “It was great, but the aim was always to get back to senior football and we achieved that.

“It’s been a lovely time for the club and enjoyable for me and my family. In Ulster, like every team, we’ll go and have a crack at it, but it is bonus territory.

“I saw the Rock and Rostrevor game last week and it was a strong second half from Rock, a strong last 20 minutes. That’s Ulster football and it’s new, it’s new for us to be going down to Dungannon and we’ll just enjoy it with no pressure.”

It’s not Naomh Éanna’s first voyage into the provincial series. They were here back in 2018 when they won the competition and advanced all the way to the All-Ireland final. Unfortunately, their Croke Park dream was ultimate quashed by Kilcummin of Kerry.

McCavana wasn’t involved with the team back then, and the squad has changed a lot in the intervening eight seasons.

“It’s a different team now, there’s five or six boys that have that experience, we’ve got a lot of young players in since then,” McCavana added.

“I wasn’t involved in that journey except for a supporter of the club, but it is a different team so we wouldn’t be looking back on that too much.”

A step-by-step approach is how Naomh Éanna are going to embrace the Ulster Championship. “We’ll be taking each game as it comes and if we win this game, then we’ll move onto the next one and that’s the way I’d be looking at it.

“You’re playing football in November and that’s always a good sign for any club. We’re training under the lights so it’s a nice place to be at this time of the year.

“There’s no pressure on us and Rock will be the favourites going into it and that’s fair enough, we’ll go and put our best foot forward and see where that takes us.”