By Barry O’Donnell
AN intense schedule of four Championship tussles on four successive weekends began to take its toll on Edendork in the closing stages of their latest outing, forward Patrick McLernon admits.
St Malachy’s staved off a late rally from St Brigid’s at a jam-packed O’Neill Park last Sunday evening, eventually accounting for the Antrim champions by a point to progress into the semi-finals of the Ulster Senior Club series.
The first time Tyrone winners will now face footballing royalty in the form of Crossmaglen Rangers on Sunday week as their dream season continues and McLernon agrees it will be a contest to relish.
“They have been the kingpins of club football in Ulster and winning All-Irelands too down the years so we can’t wait for it.
“We seen last night (vs Gowna) they were very good in the second half when they fought back and like us managed to slog it out. We have the two weeks off now to prepare which is good for us at this stage to get everyone recovered.”
Edendork were raging hot favourites going into the meeting with St Brigid’s but wing-forward McLernon felt they were always going to pose his side with a huge challenge, as they sought to build on their maiden Antrim senior title breakthrough.
“It was a great game. We knew that St Brigid’s were going to be a big test for us. We watched their games in Antrim against Dunloy and Rossas in the final when they breezed past both of them. So we expected it to go right down to the wire and that is what happened.”
And Patrick acknowledged that the mini-break which Edendork are afforded now comes at just the right time, with their resources stretched and players battling to overcome various knocks and niggles as a consequence of their rigorous run of games of late.
“The last 10 minutes were really energy sapping. The tough run of games began to tell a bit with just the week between all the matches.
“In saying that we have built up momentum and that again helped us get over the line. We knew that even if we didn’t play well it was all about the win. At this stage of the season it is all about the result, not pretty football, so we got the win and it’s onto the next one now.”