Keith hoping for IFC crown number three - touch wood!
McCann backing players to slay championship demons
LIKE his captain fantastic Stuart Reynolds, Keith Woods had intended to hang up his boots after O’Connell’s relegation last autumn, but he wouldn’t see his old teammates and colleagues stuck in their hour of need.
‘I was going to give it up this year and then I went to one of the games and they were missing a few. So I togged out and started training again. It’s 20 years since the first final I played in. Next year might be the last year, who knows!’
A tour in the Lebanon ruled Woods out of the start of the season and after missing the 2012 decider for the same reason, he is determined to be on the winning side on Sunday.
He does have a medal from five years ago, which was his second IFC victory, and now he wants number three.
‘The first was way back in 2001 with the Finbarrs, but I was actually away with the army in the Lerbanon for the 2012 final, so I’m really looking forward to this one.
‘I was away with the army at the start of this year again and when I came back we were second from bottom in the league and no-one was giving us a chance in the championship, so it’s a great position to be in.
‘I wasn’t the only one. Jason Carroll was away, so was Sean Cairns, Emmet Byrne, Robert Quigley. They’re back now too and a few of the injuries have cleared up so fingers crossed we have a clean bill of health on Sunday.’
Looking back on O’Connells campaign, Woods feels the group stage win over his former club was a turning point, and while they haven’t hit the same heights since, they know it’s in them.
‘In the first match against the Finbarrs in Dunleer we played some unbelievable stuff. We didn’t play as well against the Young Irelanders, but we picked it up again for the Kevin’s game.
‘Again we didn’t play as well the next time out against the Finbarrs in the semi-final, but we know we can pick it up again for the Clans now.
‘We were underdogs the first day against the Finbarrs. They MARK McCann knows the sharp sting of defeat as well as anyone in the Clans’ ranks and to run salt in sore wounds the 2012 reversal to O’Connell’s turned out to be his last game as a player.
It was Clans second final defeat in a row so the Clan’s boss can be forgiven for feeling he has unfinished business on Sunday.
The 2012 final was a sad day for me, it was my last game of football. There’s still a few lads still playing: Paul Gore, Nipper [Mark McGeown], Ray McCabe, Paul Crewe, Fitzer [Peter Fitzpatrick] and they keep going to the well every year and it really is a credit to them.
‘Barry O’Connor asked me to come in a few years ago and I really enjoyed it. I’d been with underage teams but I really enjoyed it with the seniors.’
Now in his second season as manager, McCann master-minded a welcome return to Division 1 last term and he’s backing his players to finally were hot favourites based on league form, but we just blew them away. It was the best we’ve played for two or three years.
They have yet to play the Clans this season, but Woods admits that the Clans have been impressive.
‘I was keeping an eye on the league and they have been doing very well. I expected them to give Mattock a good game and it was close to call just like our game. It could just as easily have been Togher and Collon in the final.’
Fort their part, O’Connells took a while to warm to the task in their derby semi-final with the Barrs, but Andy McCann’s sending-off was to prove pivotal.
‘For the first 20 minutes or so we were very poor. After the sending off we came into it, but we didn’t play all that well so a few words were said at half-time. We missed a lot in the second-half and we can play a lot better, but the extra man probably told in the last 10 minutes and we pulled away in the end.’
While the Clans have been operating in Division 1 this term, Woods doesn’t feel it will be a major factor, and if it makes the Dundalk outfit favourites, all the better.
‘I don’t think it makes any difference. We were up in Division 1 for the last few years and they’ve been there this year. But they’ll be the hot favourites and that will suit us down to the ground.’ lay their championship demons to rest this week.
‘They’ve a very good chance of getting over the line. They put a lot of work in to finish last year so strongly and they’ve carried that into this year I think we’ll do it. They’ll work hard and give it their all and leave nothing behind them, that’s for sure.’
McCann feels that league promotion was crucial, but he’s by no means dismissing O’Connell’s chances.
‘Division 1 is a higher grade and it does stand to you, but Intermediate is tough too and we’re not taking O’Connells lightly.’
Clans don’t need any reminders as to how competitive intermediate is. They didn’t make it out of their group in 2016 and lost their opening game this summer, but Mccann has been impressed with how they have bounced back.
‘The Bride’s seem to have an Indian sign over us, it seems to be a mental thing, but the boys got their act together for Na Piarsaigh and delivered a good workmanlike display.
‘Credit to Hunterstown they play good football and they work hard. It came down to the last five or six minutes and we just came through on the right side of it.
‘We needed a lot self belief to get over Mattock in the semi-final. I looked at the watch after 11 minutes, seven points behind, and thought we were in for a tough night. But credit to the lads, they re-grouped, got in at half-time and said what they had to say and listened and went back out and dug deep. They started to knock the ball around and showed a lot of composure.
‘But again, we’re not underestimating O’Connells at all. They have one up on us from when they won it before and they had a good run in Leinster after that with Wayne McKeever over them. They’re there to be bet, but they’ll fancy themselves too. I don’t know that much about them and going into a final you might be better off that way.’
McCann is a relatively young manager, but he has plenty of experience behind him in the shape of Niall O’Donnell and former Louth boss Val Andrews and he feels they make a solid team.
‘There’s a good mix, some level headedness and a bit of madness and I’ve learned a lot from the two boys.’
Next year it will be 20 years since the Clans last won a championship and that was a senior title, but McCann feels the time is right to end the drought.
‘The club is moving forward and looking to the future. There are a lot of kids out training every night of the week, there’s the new pitch there.
‘I played before that senior final in 1998 with Paul Gartland, Paul Gore, Ray McCabe - but that’s a long time to go without winning a championship or even playing senior football.
‘But it’s all about these boys now and I really hope they go and do it.’