Robinson: Grange happy with where they are

By Shaun Casey

LAST week’s win over Annaghmore allowed Grange to top their group and advance straight to the Intermediate Championship quarter-finals and boss Eamon Robinson says they are happy with how things are going.

Grange came out on top in all three of their group games, beating St Paul’s, Belleek and Annaghmore and have been one of the in-form teams in the competition throughout the opening couple of weekends.

Armagh goalkeeper Ethan Rafferty has been a towering figure around the middle of the park, accompanied by his younger brother Odhran, while skipper Daire Mallon and Ben Toal are huge threats up front.

“When we saw the group, we knew it was a very tough group but one that we relished,” said Maghery native Robinson. “We want to pit ourselves against the best teams and going in at the start, St Paul’s were probably favourites for the championship.

“We wanted to test ourselves and we did really, really well. We’ve started to get boys back; towards the end of the league, we had players missing but we’re going well and we’re happy with it at the minute.”

No one in the entire competition has scored as much as Grange and their firepower was again on show against neighbours Annaghmore when they rattled off an eye-catching 1-25. In the previous two rounds before that, they nailed 3-22 and 3-18 respectively.

Grange, who last won the Intermediate Championship back in 2019, just missed out on promotion to Division 2A but Robinson insists that his side have learned a lot from their league campaign.

“We’re racking up good scores and we have people that can do that right throughout the team, it’s not just one or two, which is a good thing. If one of them isn’t doing it then somebody else can step up.

“We’ve hit on that since the end of the league, when we were kicking serious wides but no we’re on top of that so far and hopefully that continues.”

The two-point threat from the aforementioned Rafferty brother’s, Mallon and Toal has caused numerous problems for the oppositions defence and Robinson believes they’ve improved on that area of their game since the league.

“In the league we were probably snatching at them, and we’ve worked a lot on them at training since the end of the league,” he added. “We’re being a wee bit more patience now and we seem to be more switched on.”

Jake Toal made his first appearance of the championship campaign, returning after picking up a back injury in the first round of the Senior Hurling Championship, where he lines out for Middletown alongside siblings Sean and Ben.

With Toal back in the mix, Grange look to have a full bill of health to call upon for the last eight. “We have a few niggles but we’re starting to get people coming back at the right time. There’s a big push on in the squad, so everything is going well at the minute.”