Wedding bells weaken Erne Gaels’ hand

By Mark McGoldrick

ERNE Gaels’ manager Declan Bonner recognises they’ll be facing “an uphill task” against Kilcoo on Saturday, with a number of their key players set to miss the game at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds.

On Friday, Belleek forward Tommy McCaffrey will marry his fiancée Eva Greene in Italy and he’ll be unavailable for selection for the Ulster Senior Club Championship semi-final against the Magpies.

Bonner confirmed that Erne Gaels tried to get the fixture changed, although they were unsuccessful in their efforts.

“We’re going to be missing a number of key players for this weekend. It makes it even more of an uphill task,” the recently-appointed Fermanagh boss said.

“We did try everything we could to see if we could get the game changed another 24 hours to allow some of the guys to come back.

“It’s unfortunate for the lads that are away but these things happen and unfortunately the wedding is away from home.”

While he recognises the unavailable players will be a big loss to Erne Gaels, Bonner is calling on his other players to grab the opportunity.

“It is what it is. Somebody will get an opportunity to come in and those lads, they’ve trained hard all year too.”

Erne Gaels face a huge challenge in the Athletic Grounds when they take on Kilcoo, who are the favourites for the provincial competition, as well as being heavily tipped for the All-Ireland title.

The Down kingpins won an unprecedented tenth county championship title in a row and they disposed of Tyrone winners Loughmacrory in the Ulster Club quarter-final two weeks ago.

Bonner is calling on his players to relish the underdog tag ahead of the provincial date.

“We need to bring it to a different level now against Kilcoo,” explained the Erne Gaels’ boss.

“It’s uncharted territory for us to be there. There’s a lot bigger clubs around who would love to be in our situation. We’re really looking forward to it. The lads trained last week after the Kingscourt game. It’s going to be a massive challenge and the lads are looking forward to it.”

Erne Gaels, who won back-to-back Fermanagh titles, showed plenty of character and experience to overpower Kingscourt in extra-time in Breffni Park in Cavan a fortnight ago.

Bonner feels that his squad is in a good place, as they prepare to take on the Down champions.

“Since I’ve come in over in the last two years, it’s been brilliant,” the Belleek manager said.

“These guys have gone to the well on many occasions and when it looked like games were lost, even the last day against Kingscourt, it looked like there was only going to be one winner. But our lads dug deep and showed great character throughout the squad