‘We’ve no fear whatsoever’
IT is respect – and not resentment – that Sarah Delahunt feels for the all-conquering Tinahely side.
She admires them and all that they have achieved in the recent past but she has made it her mission to end their streak now.
The St. Patrick’s captain feels that her side are much better prepared this time around having lost out at this stage in 2017. She knows it will be no walk in the park for Pat’s but she is backing her team-mates all the way to rise to the challenge.
“Obviously Tinahely have had a great year but we’ve also had a great year. We’ve no fear whatsoever going into this game and we have the belief in ourselves. We think we can beat them. We all know we can and that’s hoping for on Saturday.
“I honestly don’t think any of the girls have any fear whatsoever. Maybe last year there might have been a little bit of fear going into the final but that was our first one - now we know better. We stood up to them that day and obviously we didn’t get the win but we were close and I don’t think we’ve any reason to fear them whatsoever on Saturday.”
Delahunt enjoys every moment of her role as captain. It’s a trouble-free and fulfilling job in her eyes and she has no shortage of vice-captains on the pitch.
“They’re so easy to lead. If you look around the team that we have, it’s a team of leaders. We have all those young girls that have been brought up winning absolutely everything and I think last year that county final we lost was the first final that a lot of the girls lost. You have girls like that and then you’ve the county girls so we have plenty of leaders on that team. It is an easy job and it’s an enjoyable one as well.”
One advantage that Delahunt feels Pat’s will have over Tinahely will be their runs to the final. While Pat’s were forced to dig deep on many occasions, Delahunty feels Tinahely have breezed through and she hopes that means they’re vulnerable to a sting in the tail when they face their first stern test.
“We can only look at ourselves. They’ve had it easy throughout the championship; they’ve hammered every team they’ve played. We haven’t been doing that and I think we’ll give them something completely different to what that’s been put to them so far this year. They haven’t really had a strong battle this year but they’ll get one against us on Saturday.
“They haven’t had a serious match yet - I’m not saying other teams didn’t try to put it up to them but going by the scorelines, they’ve had it easy so far. We won’t be letting them have it easy.
“I don’t think a lot will need to be said. Robert will say his few words and we won’t need much else after that. We won’t need to say much - we’re fully focussed on this match ever since the semi-final. We want to go out and win.”