Champions Sleacht Néill fully aware of next challenge

SLEACHT Néill are fully aware of the Kevin Lynch’s challenge as they continue their defence of the Fr Collins Cup in Derry this weekend.

It’s a cup they’ve held since 2013 and they go into this weekend’s game as Ulster champions but the focus is always the same. Next team, next challenge.

“It’s a very, very important game,” said selector Padraig Dougan, also referring to losing to Kevin Lynch’s during the league.

“That’ll give them a bit of motivation that, they’ll feel they’re not a million miles away from Sleacht Néill.

“They seem to have a fairly settled team there, looking from the outside in.

“They’ve a new management and a new manager brings a bit of a lift to all clubs when it happens. We have to be ready for that.”

The Emmet’s were winners over Kilrea on Saturday but the week-on-week nature is something they’ve the experience of dealing with from the years of juggling title bids on two fronts.

“The full focus, for all the players, will switch to Kevin Lynch’s, but in the background of course we’ve been working away since the Na Magha game.

“We’ve been planning and looking at Kevin Lynch’s the same way as we did for every team we played last year, we’ve just taken the exact same attitude.

“We’re under no illusions to what Kevin Lynch’s bring every year. They’ll bring a will to win, they’ll bring a determination, they’ll bring a hunger and a desire.”

That’s what Sleacht Néill must match first of all. The mentality is always the same. They were hot favourites against Na Magha but fielded as strong a team as possible.

“We a good range of scores around the pitch,” Dougan said. “We were a wee bit slow to start but we possibly expected that.

“We didn’t get a lot of hurling in July with the break and no league games.

“We had men playing their first game in a while, so maybe a wee bit of rustiness to start off with.”

The other side of the coin is the balance of players. All five subs were used with a football game coming down the tracks.

“We’re very heavily dual at senior level and it’s trying to manage minutes for players involved,” Dougan, who continues to work under manager Paul McCormack, pointed out.

“We’re always conscious now we’re going in week in, week out in Derry hurling, Derry football and we have to try and manage workload as well.”

Shane McGuigan was missing but there was a return for Chrissy McKaigue who opted to focus on football last season. Éanna Ó Caiside was also back in the fold after a spell in Australia.

It was the strongest team of the season. The league was rotational and gave players a chance to put their hand up while the county players were unavailable.

“We’re certainly blessed in a way that the panel is big enough at the minute,” Dougan said.

“The week leading into the Na Magha match we were able to get a really good 15-on-15 in training.

“That was really where we figured out our starting 15. It wouldn’t have been based really a lot on league form we didn’t have access to everyone.

“All clubs are the same that are feeding county teams, it’s just that’s the nature of it.

“We did have the opportunity for an in-house 15-on-15. Last year, that was how we often picked the team going into championship matches so that theme will probably carry through this year as well.”