Two-in-a-row a target but not all-consuming
WINNING back-to-back titles is by no means consuming John Kermode’s every thought ahead of Sunday’s final, but he’s not denying that it’s a major target for Newtown Blues.
He’s won three senior crowns since 2006, but Louth’s most successful club haven’t retained their title since 2001 and the midfielder admits that alone would make a win on Sunday extra sweet.
‘There is a difference, three Joe Wards now but I suppose the goal is to get two in a row. The last time the club did it was ‘00-’01 and it’s a goal we set at the start of the year, so hopefully we achieve it.
’21 Joe Wards and many of them back-to-back so to be thought of as in the same calibre as those players it’s something that we have to do.
‘But having said that it’s not really on our minds, we always just go out and try to win and that’s all we’ve been doing all season, trying to carry on and win every game as they come.’
With just one defeat from 17 league and championship outings this terms it’s hard to argue with that approach and it makes the Blues hot favourites for Joe Ward glory.
In fact it has been a very different season to 2017 when the Blues came from virtually nowhere to win Joe Ward.
‘There was a bit of a transition at the start of last year. A lot of players were coming back from injuries and we lost a lot of games. I think we turned the corner around June, just coming up to the championship we won a league game and then the championship started and we haven’t really looked back since. We won every game to win the championship and to stay up in the league, which we needed to do, and this year it’s just carried on.’
For Naomh Mairtin it’s a first ever final appearance, but John doesn’t think that will have a big bearing on the game.
‘I don’t think there’ll be too much pressure on them. They might let it get to them but at the end of the day it’s just another game. Each individual is different and each team is different. The way we look at it is it’s just another game and that’s really it.
‘In the second-half of the league final we were on the back foot and only for we built up a lead in the first-half they would have had us on the ropes. So we know it’s going to be a tough game and we know if they bring that performance from the second-half of the Cardinal O’Donnell final that we’ll be up against it.
‘They’ve a lot of experience and county men, Sam Mulroy and the ‘keeper Craig [Lynch]. We’ll have to keep an eye on JP and Conor Whelan, who’s been shooting the lights out. But I think it’s more as a team that they’re dangerous more so than as individuals, so we’ll be looking at how they set up and they’re very well organised. I think that’s their main strength.
‘But we don’t really focus on the opposition, we just worry about ourselves, We’ve been on a run so It’s just about getting our heads right, getting in the zone and laying a platform to impose our game on teams and that’s what we want to do on Sunday.’
In that regard, the Blues possibly haven’t been as flamboyant as they would like, racking up just three goals en route to the decider.
‘That’s something we’ve been looking at and I’ve been harping on about, is the end product. We’re creating a lot of chances and it’s just the execution.
‘Maybe it’s from getting a bit ahead and complacency sets in. But as you say we do squeeze the life out of teams and we know what the right ball is and we take our scores when we have to.
‘Everyone is on about our attacking, but our defence is so under-rated with the likes of Emmet [Carolan], Fergal [Donohoe], Cormac [Reynolds], we’re only conceding five or six scores a game, even in the county final. That’s the key to this game.’
He may be ‘the wrong side of 30’ but Kermode isn’t afraid to admit that the Blues could be on the cusp of something big, but only if they truly want it.
‘The main thing is if you really want it. Could it be a golden era? There are a lot of lads there who’ve just turned 20 so it could be, but we’re just focusing on this week, not what happens in a few years.’