Lavey focus on All-Ireland champions Glen in quarter-finals

By Michael McMullan

LAVEY face the task of downing All-Ireland champions Glen in Saturday’s Derry SFC quarter-final.

Following narrow defeats to Newbridge and Magherafelt, Lavey picked up three wins to get their season back on track in the group stages.

If their championship campaign has been about progress, their season, as a whole, has been about development.

Killybegs native Brendan Maguire came on board as manager. His involvement with Faughanvale in recent seasons gave Lavey the inside track on a promotion chase they combined with a rebuild.

Six of the Downey clan had already transferred to St Brigid’s in Belfast.

Since their championship defeat to Glen last season, they lost another five.

Peter Rafferty and brothers Shane and Eamon McGill have gone overseas. Jack Scullion has embarked on an American football career and Dara McGurk is on the way back from an ACL injury.

“We’re trying to develop players here,” Maguire said of their first season in charge.

Kevin O’Neill is their elder statesman. Declan Hughes and Aidan Toner would be the middle men. A handful of their team are 20-year-olds. Teenager Marc McGurk was handed a debut with over 30 players seeing action across the league.

“Lavey have the age profile there to actually push on in the years to come,” Maguire added.

In the days after losing to Magherafelt, a dig into their performances told them they were getting enough right. Persistence needed to be their magic word.

Had Ryan Mulholland not had a goal chance denied by goalkeeper Karl Campbell, they could’ve been on the other side of a narrow defeat. There was a valid late penalty claim.

“You still can take nothing away from Magherafelt, they’re a quality team,” Maguire added.

“When we sat down and chatted, most of the things that we were doing were very positive.”

Lavey just needed the bounce of a ball and points on the board if they were to navigate themselves out of the group.

That’s why their win over Ballinascreen was so important.

“It probably wasn’t really a knockout game, but, in our eyes, it was,” Maguire admitted.

Losing three games on the trot and it’s hard to make a case for deserving a quarter-final spot.

Lavey pulled away against Loup with a ruthless eight-minute 3-2 scoring burst before finishing off Steelstown with two stoppage time goals.

Maguire hopes the tight corners will help Lavey on days like Saturday when Glen put their Derry, Ulster and All-Ireland titles on the line.

Had they picked up anything from their first two games, Lavey could’ve finished higher up the ladder and avoided Glen.

“This is our reward now,” Maguire adds. “We’re getting a crack at the All-Ireland champions.

“Everybody knows how good they are. There are not many weaknesses because they are the All-Ireland champions. We’re just going to put our best foot forward here.”

Maguire sees it as a “massive experience” and hails the Lavey underage production line that will elevate double All-Ireland minor winner James Sargent into the senior grade next season.

“There are green shoots here,” he pointed out. “Slowly but surely, over the next couple of years, we’ll be building a team to challenge for this cup.

“We’re going to put our best foot forward, step by step and you just never know, we could get over the line.”