Tried and tested stand in the way of Portglenone

AHEAD of Portglenone’s county final showdown with Cargin on Sunday (Corrigan Park, 3pm), Casements’ manager John McKeever can see both sides of the line.

Firstly, there is a savage hunger within the club to win a senior championship.

St Gall’s closed the door three times on them in the noughties. Once they could see themselves getting a hand on the cup, in 2005. Every second year after it, the gap widened until 20 points separated them in 2009 before Portglenone fizzled out of senior.

There was intermediate silverware at the second attempt and an u-21 title providing a core of the current senior group. Five consecutive semi-final defeats hamstrung them until this year.

Speaking 10 days before the club’s fourth senior final, McKeever is just in the door from coaching the u-12s. The real coaching, he jokes. Portglenone’s underage structures are thriving.

And there’s a bond between young and old. When the u-16s won their championship recently, the entire senior team were there.

McKeever insisted. Senior training was pushed back. The young lads needed to know they mattered

When Portglenone got the semi-final monkey off their back, the underage players of the club were in and around the post-match huddle. They are all in it together.

“That’s all we’ve ever wanted, to win a senior championship,” McKeever insists.

Going into the semi-final, McKeever took the pressure off. It was only a match. What was the worst that could happen?

They’d lose a sixth semi-final in a row like some on the outside felt they might.

McKeever flips it on its head. Getting to semi-finals highlights consistency. The fact everyone was back at the start line this season tells of the resilience in the group.

“The target was not to win a senior championship, but to get back to that semi-final again – that was always the target,” McKeever said of their February target.

Now they’re here, McKeever’s second key point is knowing what stands in the way.

“I have the utmost respect for Cargin,” he said, “they’ve been setting the standards for years.

“We’ve a lot of enthusiasm and Cargin have all that experience. When the two match, you’re going to be in for a great game of football.”

Winning the semi-final was a release.

They can now play without fear and can tap into the hunger of wanting to be the first team in the club’s history to lift Antrim football’s biggest prize.

“They want to be a group of lads to do something that has never been done before,” McKeever said before looking at what is standing in their way.

“We’ll need a huge performance to stop Cargin – we’re fully aware of that. We know we’ll be massive underdogs and we respect that. Cargin deserve that (favourites) tag because they’ve been brilliant champions over the years.”

McKeever is embracing the buzz but keeping the players far enough away from it. The community can go head over heels into the excitement. The players have 60-plus minutes of business to contend with.