Reid hoping script has a happy ending
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THEY’VE been slugging it out at the summit of Louth football for well over a decade, but 2016 represented a more daunting challenge than ever before for Mattock Rangers.
A shock relegation rocked the Collon club to the core, but after bouncing back to win the Division 1 League, they immediately set their sights on making an instant return to the senior championship.
‘If anything it’s more important,’ insists Adrian Reid.
‘We had a disappointing year last year getting relegated so our goal from that day was to get promoted back up. Kilkerley were good role models for us to follow and we’re hoping we can emulate what they did.
‘If nothing else winning the O’Donnell Cup win showed the character that’s in this team. A lot of teams after being relegated would have little or no interest in fulfilling the rest of the league never mind competing to win it. It brought a lot of belief to the younger lads coming through that we could get promoted again this year.’
Relegation probably prolonged the careers of a few of Mattock’s older brigade too, but Reid says that came as no surprise.
‘It goes to show the fighting spirit in a lot of those boys. They don’t know when they’re bet and they don’t know when enough is enough. But I’ve seen it in them for years, they want to win every game they play and they want to be here because there’s a great spirit in the squad and everyone wants to be part of it.’
The grade may have changed, but reaching the final has been no easier than it was during Mattock’s glory years with three of their four victories secured by the minimum margin.
‘We had a tough group when you look at it. We had the Bride’s and the Clans and we always knew it was just a matter of getting out of the group and that we’d be in with a shout of doing well after that.
‘It just goes to show you it’s such a tough grade. If you took the best senior team and dropped them into the intermediate grade they wouldn’t run away with it. It’s so evenly matched and so competitive.
‘It hasn’t been any different for us. All we can do is worry about ourselves and whether it’s senior or intermediate the focus is the same. It’s a championship game, so it doesn’t matter who the opposition are.’
And Sunday’s opponents will be as tough as anything Mattock could meet in the senior grade, Reid insists.
‘We’ve seen them a few times this year when they’ve played after us and I went to see the Hunterstown game and they were very impressive. We’re under no illusions as to what we’re up against and they’re going to be a formidable force. We’ll need to be on top of our game and even improve on what we’ve shown so far.
‘We give the opposition the utmost respect and the Joe’s won’t be any different. They have six forwards capable of producing it on their day. Conal O’Hanlon has been excellent playing at full forward and even dropping out to midfield. They have a strong defence too. Overall they’re a very good side but we’re prepared and we know what’s in front of us.’
Reid will be hoping experience counts for something on Sunday and revealed there is a small bit of extra motivation to draw on.
‘It’s another game, but what makes it different is it’s a final and a championship final and we’ve been fortunate enough to play in quite a few of them, especially this team here, we’re still hanging about.
‘We know the preparation that has worked for us in the past so nothing changes and we just go in with that same mindset and hopefully it will be enough.
‘The Joes beat us in 2006 and it still rings very clear when they beat us with a late point. We always felt if we got over that game we would have been confident of winning another championship, but you can’t take it way from the Joes, they deserved it that year. But personally I’ll be looking for a bit of revenge for that one.’