More needed as championship heats up says Niall Morgan

By Michael McMullan

SLEACHT Néill’s performance in their quarter-final win over Ballinascreen won’t be enough to beat the other contenders in the John McLaughlin Cup race insists coach Niall Morgan.

The Tyrone goalkeeper joined Mark Doran’s management team this season as the Emmet’s bid for a first title since 2020.

Morgan was speaking before the draw paired his side with All-Ireland champions Glen in Sunday’s semi-final (Owenbeg,4pm).

After a lightning start, the Emmet’s were pulled back into a battle with Ballinascreen were within a point with 15 minutes remaining of their 0-13 to 0-9 win.

“That performance won’t be good enough to beat any of the remaining teams so we just have to up our game,” Morgan told Gaelic Life.

“Hopefully we can do that and start with training this week.

After coming from the knock-out environment in Tyrone, Morgan insists you can talk all you like about preparing a team for the switch from the group stages to winner takes all but the heat of battle is the reality check.

“It’s not until the first ball is thrown in and you get the first bit of contact or the first wide and then it’s more difficult,” he said.

“You can’t just switch it on and it felt like with a few of us that we just thought we could just switch it on today (Sunday).

“It didn’t really happen for some, so it’s something we’re going to have to be ready for the next game.”

That next game is a repeat of last year’s semi-final won by Glen on their way to Derry, Ulster and All-Ireland titles.

Sleacht Néill never looked like slipping out of the championship last weekend but Morgan admits how they struggled when Ballinascreen moved from squeezing the game at midfield to dropping bodies back.

“Maybe because we got through in the first couple of attacks, we thought that it was just going to be a bit easier for the rest of the game,” Morgan added.

“Again, it’s something for us to learn before next week that if we get a quick start we have to build on it and push on from there.”

While agreeing it was the ability to kick long-range scores a positive to take from their quarter-final, Morgan was more definitive on what last Sunday was all about.

“The biggest plus point is you’re in the hat,” he firmly stated the takeaway point from Owenbeg.

“That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you win.

“You can build on things and prepare for the next team. Ballinascreen do sit in, we knew they were going to sit in deep and knew we were going to have to get scores from maybe a bit more range or work it right in through.

“Next week (in the semi-finals) you’re going to be faced with a whole different proposition and you’re going to have to get ready for that.

“We’ll see who we do get, and then we’ll have to build from there.”