Banty’s Corduff side learning as they go along

CORDUFF edged past Shane O’Neill’s by one-point last Saturday evening and manager Seamus McEnaney (pictured) admitted after the game that he didn’t know an awful lot about this weekend’s opponents.

They face Down champions Saval, managed by former Mourne County star Danny Hughes, but ‘Banty’ confirmed it wouldn’t take him long to find out what he needed to know.

“At lunch time tomorrow, I’ll know all I need to know about them,” said the ex-Monaghan manager. “I didn’t know anything about these men (Shane O’Neill’s) until the Wednesday after we won the championship because we were on the beer for a couple of days.

“Saval, I’ll be truthful with you, I haven’t a clue as we speak. But by the time I have the breakfast eaten in the morning, I’ll know everything I need to know about them.

“I know Danny really well. I managed against Danny, and I remember Danny writing an article one time that he would love to see me managing Down. But the problem is now that me and Danny are on different sides of the fence next weekend. If Danny’s team is anything like Danny, then we’re in for some battle.”

Corduff have made a habit of winning close games of late, coming from behind to win in both the league and championship finals.

“The one habit we have, touch wood, we have a habit of winning. The only time you have to be leading is at the end. I think we took the ball into the tackle, and we were a wee bit casual about shifting the ball. I thought we defended tremendously well. I thought we defended from our full-forward line back, I thought our tackling was brilliant.

“We disposed them in our half-forward line three of four times that led to crucial scores. The goal chance that they had was a lucky point for us but apart from that, I thought we should have tagged on three or four points before half time.”

Corduff were much the better team against the Armagh champions but let Shane O’Neill’s came back into what was a bruising, physical encounter, but got over the line in the end which was all that mattered.

“I think it was 50/50, I don’t think we won the physical battle, there was a lot of physicality out there. They were very robust in their tackling; they were strong in the tackle, and we had to stand up to that.

“Yes, there was a lot of cards early on and we would be very disappointed with two or three of our cards.

“ Especially one black card, two black cards, very stupid and we’re going to have to watch that the next day and try to learn from today’s game.

“We won by a point, there only has to be a point in it at the end to win games and the lads are getting fairly good at winning games by a point. I’m absolutely thrilled for them and thrilled for the club.”