Consistency has been the key for the M

WHEN a club reaches its first ever county final, there’s a very real danger the occasion might pass everyone by, but Mick Fanning will use every ounce of his vast experience to ensure that doesn’t happen to Naomh Mairtin on Sunday.

‘It’s a great honour to captain your club to any final, particularly our first championship final, but finals are there to be won. It’s good to be there, but our aim is to put in a performance and if we do that we’ll be there or thereabouts.’

The Jock’s captain insists consistency coupled with the arrival of some top-class young talent has been the key to this big breakthrough.

‘Over the last two years we added a bit more consistency to our game. We got to the league final last year and the championship semi-final and did the same again this year, so compared to other years when we were lingering in mid-table, with the odd relegation battle and the odd good championship performance, we’ve been a lot more consistent.

‘It’s all about winning and you have to get that experience through winning. We’re lucky that we have so many good minors coming through that have had success. They’ve come in and maybe been a little spoiled getting to three finals it is now, but it’s great to feed off that.

‘When you have talent coming through it’s a skill in itself to integrate it and even to know when to integrate it. Sometimes they come in straight away, but some don’t and it’s important to get that mix of youth and experience.’

While he recognises Blues’ undoubted quality Fanning genuinely feels that if the Jocks play as well as they can it could go either way.

‘They’re champions and they’ve carried that form into the league where they were very impressive winning the league. In their championship campaign noone has got near to them yet and that’s a hallmark of a very good team. They’re in the final on merit and they are favourites going into the game. It’s up to us produce a performance as good as we can get it and if we do then we’re going to be there or thereabouts on Sunday.

‘Every game is different and we’re not looking into the past. Our motto all year has been one game at a time. Maybe we didn’t do ourselves justice when we met in the first round and being a good side they put us away and held us at arms length the whole way through. Since then though we have improved our performances game after game and hopefully we can keep that form going on Sunday.’

If anything, the Jocks have been the form team and they pose a lethal goal threat, netting 12 compared to the Blues three. At times the Mairtins may have not been tested as much as they would have liked, but they have dealt with all comers impressively.

‘There’s no easy games in the championship, particularly in Louth this year because it was so spread out and it was hard to get a run at it. Thankfully we had a few league games and all you can do is beat what is put in front of you. It was unlucky for the O’Connell’s not having a game for five or six weeks and sitting idle it’s hard to switch it on, but we were happy with the performance and we put up a good score and moved on to the next one.

‘We knew going in against the Pats’ that they had massive experience. Some of them have seven Joe Ward medals, so we knew we’d have to concentrate on getting our performance right and thankfully we put in a decent display. It was far from the finished article and since then we’ve looked back and tried to take the positives from it.’

Mick knows the Blues be a much different proposition, but he’s looking forward to the challenge and enjoying his football.

‘In any game you’re ideally looking for a good start and if you don’t get that you have to stay in the game. We want to concentrate on our strengths and if we can we’ll put ourselves in a good position. If we don’t a good team like the Blues will punish you.

‘I love it and particularly when you’re getting to finals, it was a long number of years even waiting to get to a final.

‘We’re in a very privileged position to represent this club and parish and all the people who’ve gone before in the club’s first final. That comes with a little bit of expectation and hype, but