Slaughtneil boss wary of Newbridge

Christopher Bradley was one of Slaughteil’s better performers against Lavey

SLAUGHTNEIL are expecting a tricky game against Newbridge in Sunday’s Senior Championship quarter-final (6pm).

Co manager John Joe Kearney has watched the Sean O’Leary’s twice in the past few weeks and was impressed with what he saw, particularly two weeks ago.

“They played very well against Claudy,” Kearney said.

“The ‘Bridge are a good side. We will be expecting a good game of football. They are a well organised team. They were a lot better in the championship than the team we saw playing in the league. But they were short a few (players) for matches in the league.”

Kearney pointed out that the presence of Michael Bateson is important for Newbridge. The midfielder is an intimidating presence at the centre, but he’ll have to be at his best to challenge Patsy Bradley and Padraig Cassidy.

“He (Bateson) give them a great ball winning ability at the middle. He has good ball distribution as well. He is a very good player.

“I was also impressed with their full forward (Peter McGrogan) he was very impressive and he will need to be watched.”

Slaughtneil beat Lavey 0-15 to 0-12 in their round one match, in a close fought battle. A good number of players had to step up to the mark to see off the Erin’s Own side, like Christopher Bradley and Shane McGuigan.

“The first game is always going to be difficult. It’s always going to be that sort of game. Nobody wants to make any mistakes. The just want to get themselves over the line.

“We always knew that it was going to be difficult. Lavey had beaten us in the Championship last year, and in the league this year.”

Mickey Moran and Kearney will have a full squad to select from this weekend, with no injuries to report. Their dual players were involved in championship hurling last weekend, they beat Swatragh to reach the final for the fourth year running. Kearney said that there were no injuries to report after that match.

Newbridge only have one injury, goalkeeper Michael O’Neill is injured and will not start, which means Stephen Bateson will again start between the posts.

See today’s edition of Gaelic Life (in store or online here) for previews of all of this weekend’s Derry Championship matches