Managers set out their stall for campaign
DAMIEN REDMOND - AGB
Fortune favours the brave and Damien Redmond hopes that rings true for his fearless young side.
AGB made the last eight in 2017 but the plan now is to eclipse that and make the last four.
Redmond is aware of how finely poised the groups will be - success and failure could be decided by the kick of a ball.
He is hoping that his smattering of veterans amongst the young guns will prove to be a winning formula.
“First and foremost, we want to stay safe in senior. That’s the most important thing. But we want to get better than what we did last year when we got to the quarter-final – a semi-final would be fantastic. We know we’ve a tough group but that’s our aim.
“We’ve lost a few players in these last few weeks to injuries so we’re kind of just getting used to getting lads back on the field injury free. We would be a young panel alright but we do rely a lot on the four or five older players – the likes of Ciaran Hyland, Philip Gleeson, James Tyrell would steady the ship.”
Giving Hyland and co. a reward for their years and years of dedication weighs on Redmond’s mind and it is another reason why he wants to breakthrough to the semi-finals.
They’ve slogged for over a decade to get the club to where they are today and Redmond would love to thank them by granting them a day out on the biggest stage in Wicklow.
“That was our incentive two years ago when we won the intermediate, we wanted to win something for them lads. They’ve been soldiers for 10/15 years with the club and had won nothing so it means a lot to them. Most of the young lads coming through, they haven’t seen the hard work. They’ve just seen success with the minors and the intermediates. They weren’t around for the bad years. We have seen it.”
The experienced lads have seen it all before.
They’ve felt the force of Rathnew, Blessington, Baltinglass et al before but as for their younger counterparts – they don’t care. To them, it’s just a game of football. It’s just another chance to show what they can do and they won’t care who is togging out in the opposite changing room. With the talking almost done, Redmond can’t wait for the ball to be thrown in now.
“They don’t care who is stood in front of them – it’s all about how we play. They don’t care who they’re up against which is a good thing. There’s no fear at all in them.
“The build-up and all is great but getting on the field is the important bit and playing the way we want to. We’ll have no fear.
EMMET O’SULLIVAN - AVONDALE
Avondale are hoping to strike while the iron is hot.
With a semi-final spot in 2017 and some fine league form behind them this campaign, Emmet O’Sullivan wants to use his side’s momentum to go even further but he is under no illusions with regards to how difficult the group will be for his side.
“I think the group we’re in, every match is winnable and every match is losable. You’re looking to go as far as you can. We got to a semi-final last year so we’ll be looking to build on that.
“We’ve a lot of good footballers and we’ve a lot of young talent coming through. You’re looking to build and push on from last year. That’s the measure of a football team. We’ve been in a couple of quarter-finals and then we stepped up from that and got to a semi-final so you’re looking to push it and step up again.”
O’Sullivan’s side won’t be able to afford a slow start as the county champions await them in their first fixture but belief in Avondale - like McGraynors - is not in short supply.
“We’ve Rathnew in the first match and that’s probably a big ask. They’re after beating St. Vincent’s last year but I always find that Rathnew are in the championship every year so if you want to win it, you’ll have to beat them. That’s how you look at it – you want to pit yourselves against the best teams in the county.
“We’re going with a few injuries but we’re ticking along. The championship will be run off in a tight enough space with the two groups and with a bit of momentum and a bit of luck you’ll get a few wins early on and build on that.
“We’re looking at that group thinking that we could beat any team on our day but any team could beat us if we’re not on our day. You could win four of five games in that group and end up struggling.”
Last year’s last four appearance may have come too soon for Avondale but should the opportunity arise again, they’ll be ready this time. And they’ll have Conor McGraynor back to aid their cause.
“It was a big step for us. Looking back, we were probably a little bit in awe of the semi-final and we got caught in the first half but it’s hard just to go there once. You have to keep getting there to get over the line.
“It’s a big boost for us to have Conor back. All the McGraynors (are excellent though), we’ve Conor Byrne, we’ve Saoirse Kearnon who came out of nowhere onto the county team this year – there’s lots of talent there. We just have do our job. Names won’t win championships.”
PADDY O’CONNOR - BLESSINGTON
Paddy O’Connor doesn’t want to be a bridesmaid again this year. Blessington may have made the first final last year for the first time in a long, long time but ultimately it was all for nothing as Rathnew bested them.
In 2018, they want the gold and O’Connor is hoping that the defeat in the 2017 showdown could provide the perfect motivation to go all the way this time around.
“It is the aim at this stage to win Miley after such a long time.
“It probably will spur them on but there’s such big teams around Wicklow with Pat’s, Rathnew and Baltinglass and you’ve seen so many other teams get so close and there’s no guarantee you’ll get back there again. You still have to work hard and get a bit of the rub of the green to get there.”
Not all of Blessington’s ducks appear to be in a row ahead of their opener but injuries or no injuries – they’ll be ready when the time comes.
“Preparations are going well. We got into the league final and like every other club in Wicklow we’ve a couple of guys gone away for the summer. We’ve three or four lads injured as well so it’ll be a test for the panel but I’m not making
OVER the course of the hurling and football championship across all grades we will pick a game from the weekend’s action and take a look back at a previous meeting between the two clubs involved.
We start today with a semi-final meeting from August 16th, 1981 when Blessington and Annacurra faced off.
They had drawn earlier in the championship 0-5 each and their next meeting would also be a low scoring affair, the ten points scored this time were mostly by
any excuses - we’ll have 15 players out on the pitch ready to play against anyone in the county and hopefully they’ll be back later on in the year if we got to the knockout stages as we did last year. We picked up a couple of injuries early on but when it came to the business end, the lads were able to play a part in it which was good.
“This year is quite different. In our group, there’s three very strong teams and if you drop points against some of the other teams (you could be in trouble). Our last two games are against Pat’s and Baltinglass and you could going into those games struggling to even get out of the group whereas last year, we lost two of our games and had to win our last game to even get to the quarter-final and then we beat one of the favourites in Pat’s. That was probably the turning (point) of the year for us. It made things all the sweeter.”
Having reached the final last
year, O’Connor expects Blessington to have a target on their backs but he is relishing the challenge.
“Arklow are in our group again and they beat us in the championship last year. A lot of teams will look at Blessington and think they can turn Blessington - we don’t have the same championship pedigree that Pat’s and Baltinglass would have so a lot of teams will look at us and think they can sneak points off us.
“I can’t wait for it. The league has been good but it was great to get the league final played so once your club goes out of the championship, your year is over instead of trying to train for nothing.”
CASEY O’BRIEN – ST PATRICK’S
Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free. St. Patrick’s are about to go into another championship with their expectant fans hoping that they’ll bring Miley