Anyone can beat anyone

MICK NEARY knows how important Andy O’Brien will be for his St. Patrick’s side as they look to bridge the gap on what he views as the big three - Glenealy, Bray Emmets and Carnew.

The scoring machine can down any side on his day with the right support but does Neary believe he has enough quality throughout his side to go all the way?

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think they could. We were very disappointed last year. I think the competition will be different this year and we have to improve a lot too to compete with the top three or four. If we get ourselves right, we’re in the mix.”

Neary was left frustrated by the loss of his goalkeeper and he believes it cost them but he is optimistic for the future with things looking solid between the posts for his side.

“We were very happy last year. We went straight to the semi-final last year.

‘There were a couple of little things - we lost our goalkeeper last year for the last couple of matches which was a big loss because he was having a brilliant year. That proved very costly to us in the last few minutes of the match against Bray. We’d hope to have a goalkeeper back at some date.”

The Kilcoole man cannot wait to get stuck into this year’s competition and try to mastermind a way to infiltrate the trio of Glenealy, Bray and Carnew.

“The championship is great. It’s a six-team draw and it’ll be very competitive because anyone can beat anyone in the competition.

“I think Glenealy and Bray and Carnew - Carnew have stepped it up a lot this year - I think the three of them will be very strong and the next three, it’ll be interesting to see how they play. Glenealy were obviously worthy winners last year and Bray will have been very disappointed to relinquish their title but they’ve a new manager in and that’ll put a huge emphasis on their preparation.

“Mikey Lee transferred away from Bray and over the last number of years, it’s been the same few players who were capable of winning or losing you a championship and he’ll be a loss for them but they have Christy Moorehouse back fit this year after injury so that’ll be a plus for them.

“Glenealy will be very anxious to win it and they’ll be strong.

‘Carnew will be very hard to beat too.” While Bray have lost Lee, Pat’s will be delighted to have Andy O’Brien tormenting defences yet again this year and Neary knows how vital the attacker is to his cause.

“He is a very strong player and he had an exceptional year last year. The scores he got were brilliant. I’d hope that come September, he’ll be back to that form when we really need it.”