Knockout hurling begins with Rossa and St John’s

By Michael McMullan

ROSSA manager Christopher McDonnell has billed Saturday evening’s championship showdown with city rivals St John’s as a “boost” for Belfast.

A draw, or better, would be enough for Rossa to make it to the quarter-finals while the ‘Johnnies’ must win on home soil at Corrigan Park to keep their season alive.

Also in their group, champions Cushendall host Dunloy to decide who takes top spot and the direct path into the semi-finals.

“For ourselves and St John’s, it’s knockout hurling,” said McDonnell, in his first year in charge.

“I’m looking to the Belfast derby side of it and I think it’s a boost for Belfast hurling, with two teams going at it and trying to keep themselves in the championship.”

McDonnell feels his side go in as underdogs given their two league defeats at the hands of this weekend’s opponents and having to play them in their own backyard, with manager Michael Johnston having them in excellent form this year.

Both St John’s and Rossa have had to contend with two of the biggest names in the club game in the group too.

Cushendall were a puck of a ball away from the All-Ireland final this year with Dunloy beaten in the decider 12 months earlier by Ballyhale Shamrocks.

McDonnell likes the group stages as it gives teams a chance to build as opposed to the era when one poor performance ensured the season was over in a heartbeat.

“You have three games to try and get it right,” he said. “The Cushendall game was great. There was a good crowd and it was a great day.

“We conceded two early goals but what I liked about it was we never gave up.

“We just kept going, plugging away and in the last five minutes we might have got a draw or something, we just sort of ran out of time.”

Dunloy hit them for two quickfire goals with a ruthless streak that left Rossa chasing from early on.

“Against a team like Dunloy, you’re not coming back so it was very hard to regroup and get going again,” McDonnell added.

“It was frustrating that we didn’t just sort of fight to the finish the way we did against Cushendall.

There’s a lot to learn from. Those two clubs, they’re probably two of the best club teams in Ireland.”

The big picture for Rossa is to close the gap on the top teams who have been winning the Volunteer Cup. They are the barometer. The short term is St John’s, who knocked Rossa out of the football championship last weekend.

“It just comes back to who wants it more, that bit of hunger, that bit of fight,” McDonnell said of this weekend.

“They’ve beat us twice but it’s just really getting the guys in the right headspace and going for it in (what is now) the old-school championship.

“For the sake of Belfast hurling, hopefully there will be a good crowd down, a good day and for a good ding-dong match with both teams and give it their all.”