Blake wants full 60 minutes
LIKE his Lispole counterpart, Ian Blake soldiered on the playing fields not too long ago for Beale before turning his attention to management. The club might have fallen down the pecking order in the County League where they were operating in Division Two 10 years ago before slipping down to Four at present. However this second appearance in a Junior decider in three years does mark a positive turn for the club Blake feels.
“It’s a boost for the club, particularly for some of our new players in giving them experience of this level and it’s good for them to have the experience of a big match in Austin Stack Park like some of our older players would have,” the Beale boss believes.
Their first Club Championship outing was delayed when Ballylongford gave them a walkover in the first Group Match before they defeated Tuosist and came through a match with Duagh that was fiery to say the least with the amount of red cards issued on both sides.
“Our backs were to the wall that night in Duagh but we were delighted with how the lads pulled through despite everything else that happened. To score three goals against the breeze like we did against Ballyduff in the semi-final was another major boost as well in getting here,” Blake said of the previous two games in the campaign.
One bonus for Beale now is that Declan Bambury and Paul Horgan have served their suspensions for the straight reds in the Duagh game.
However injuries to Sean Dee, Shane Joy and Jake O’Connell, along with some concern about James McMahon, does temper their return to this stage, with Blake in agreement with his opposite number in Lispole about having to play a County League game before such a huge match.
“We don’t have the luxury of being able to rest players as a small club and while I like the format (Club Championship) in general I don’t think having this League game in the middle of it helps,” he said. What of Saturday evening?
“As a Division Three side you have to consider Lispole to be the favourites. They came from seven points down and a man down to beat Castlegregory and we know their capability from last year in the League when they beat us. We need to match what we did in one half each against Duagh and Ballyduff and make it into two halves on Saturday if we want to win.”