BING IT ON!

ST Mary’s may have taken a few people by surprise this season, but John Bingham insists that reaching a county final has come as no shock to the players.

‘It was definitely an aim. There’s three senior finals and we aimed to be in all three at the start of the year. Unfortunately we missed out in the league in the last game, but we got the heads down and concentrated on getting to this.’

Mary’s ended a long wait for silverware by annexing the Paddy Sheelan Cup and while it’s not a trophy any team sets their stall out to win, it was a big boost for the Ardee men.

‘It’s good to get to any final and the Paddy Sheelan is no different. We hadn’t won a senior trophy in a few years so it was a nice taste and we wanted more.’

Looking back on the championship campaign the Louth defender feels Mary’s have grown as it has progressed and learned a lot about themselves in the process.

‘You can’t underestimate any team in Louth. On any given day anyone can beat anyone. We knew with the Gaels it would be tough, they’re quite defensive and any games we’ve played against them in the last few years it has been 50/50 and there’s only a point or two in it.

‘Against the O Raghallaigh’s we were lucky enough to get the early lead and we built on it and didn’t let them back in.

In the quarter-finals against Naomh Mairtin, the Mary’s fell eight points and a man down at one stage, but they still managed to eke out a replay.

‘We looked at ourselves in the second-half of that game and said let’s just go for it, we have nothing to lose. We won the next ball and just kept going. Fair play to the lads they showed a lot of character, especially the younger lads and we were just happy to get another crack at them the next day.

‘We knew how lucky we were. You don’t get too many second chances in the championship, so we gave it a fair whip. It was two hard games, but we got there in the end thankfully.

‘Dreadnots were rightly favourites then in the semi-final. They’ve been to a few finals and they have some top-class players there. But in every game we get the heads down and put the work in and we had a go. Even though the early goals went in, we kept our composure and got the scores going in the second-half. This team doesn’t know when to quit.’

They will have to show all those battling qualities on Sunday to overcome O’Mahony’s and Bingham knows what to expect from last year’s runners-up.

‘It was a real battle in midfield when we played them in Dundalk in the league. They started well and we slowly got on top, but unfortunately a last-minute goal did us in the end. It’s going to be a battle throughout, not just the middle, and hopefully we can win as many of them as possible.

‘We haven’t been up to much in the last few years, but thankfully it’s come right and it came right for them a couple of years ago. They have a good mix of players and the experienced John O’Brien marshalling them. The intermediate win and the run Leinster helped them when they came up to senior.’