Spillane upbeat on Killarney’s FAI Cup chances

THE manager of the Celtic side Brian Spillane says they are really looking forward to the game and he is hopeful they will win it.

“We lost two Kerry league games since we beat Ballynanty, but that could be a blessing in disguise and bring the lads done to earth again. We took our eye off the ball for a bit and paid the price but it will be a different story in this game as there is too much at stake.

“We have done a good bit of background work on Janesboro have watched them playing and we know their strengths and weaknesses. We know we have to put the shackles on their striker Shane Clarke who can win a game on his own if given the freedom to do it.

“Gary Keane will be a huge loss for us but we are bringing back Padraig O’Connor from the USA and Robert Watson from the UK for the game. We are fully prepared for what Janesboro will throw at us and if we play up to scratch we should be good enough to win the game.

“A great atmosphere is building up on the training pitch in the run up to the game and every player has great self belief. Our preparation for the game could not be any better and each and every player knows exactly what is expected of them.

“The main thing is that we must do ourselves justice on the day and if we come up short we can hold our hands up and accept the result. Teams seldom get a chance to play a quarter-final of a national competition in their home pitch and it is now up to us to make that advantage count on Satruday evening.

“We are expecting a huge crowd for the game and that should help us get the result we seek.”

The captain of the Celtic side John McDonagh says they are really looking forward to the game and is quietly confident that they can win.

“This is probably the biggest game in our club’s history and we will give it our all. We know it is going to be tough as Janesboro are a good side and wont be easy to beat. We have had a bad spell in our last three games, but that will count for nothing on Saturday evening. There is a great buzz around the town and at our training sessions and the lads cant wait for the game to come.”

He says that Gary Keane will be a huge loss but Brendan Falvey will be back again after recovering from an arm fracture sustained in the Newmarket Celtic game and other plans are in place to have other players available for the game.

“We have won some huge games to get this far in the competition so we want to keep the momentum going and move on a step further. We should have huge support for the game and that could give us that extra bit of adrenalin which hopefully will get us over the winning post on Saturday evening.”