Rest, recover, refocus – Brídíní Óga ready to go again

By Shaun Casey

RECOVERY will be key this week for Ulster champions Brídíní Óga, says manager Chris Dornan, as they face a quick turnaround ahead of their All-Ireland Junior Camogie semi-final date with Patrickswell of Limerick.

Dornan’s side overcame British champions Fullen Gaels last weekend, emerging with three points to spare thanks to a pair of goalsfrom Molly Woulahan, both coming inside the opening 20 minutes of the match.

Training won’t be too heavy this week as the Antrim champions focus on recovery to give them the best possible chance of seeing off this weekend’s opponents and booking their slot in an All-Ireland final.

“To be fair to the girls, they do look after themselves.

“This week, we knew there’d be a good chance, if things go the way we want, that we’d be out two weeks in a row,” Dornan explained.

“The girls do their own recovery and then we do a lot of stretching at training. One of the girls that plays county football for us takes a lot of the stretching, and she knows what to do.

“They look after themselves and we have a physio in this week as well to do rubs and stuff like that. She’ll be at training all week to work with the girls and get them loosened up as best she can.”

Not only does the quick turnaround put the players’ bodies under pressure, but it also doesn’t give Dornan and his management team much time to seek out information on their Munster opponents.

“Their last game was on Clubber, so I’ve been fit to catch a bit of that. They’re a good team, but I think no matter what grade or what level, if you get to the All-Ireland semi-final stage, you’re going tobe strong.

“So, it’s more about us getting ourselves right and if we can try to pinpoint a few of their dangers then we should be okay, but we’ll have to play at our maximum.

“They seem very good but it’s hard to see on the TV all the moves and their tactics, but we’ll just have to work on it as best we can and hope our girls play to the best of their ability and that’ll give us a great chance.”

On the excitement within the club, Dornan added: “The girls are in good form, and we have girls on the team who won an Ulster Schools title a week ago.

“While they’re not getting a lot of game-time with us, the school is keeping them ticking over and they’re buying into it, and we keep them going every week.

“Some of the players have been here before and they know what’s at stake.

“This week is just tactically stuff and things we want to improve from last weekend. They’re a good bunch of girls and they’re honest enough and really that’s all you can ask.”