‘We are underdogs going into this but we’ll give it best shot’
COOLERA/Strandhilll are one of the teams that have really impressed so far in this year’s Championship and after defeating St Mary’s convincingly, John McPartland’s men are now taking on reigning champions Tourlestrane.
Sunday’s semi final clash in Connolly Park is a highly anticipated one both teams with a great blend of youth and experience bolstering their sides.
Tourlestrane, who won back to back titles last year are also the Division 1 champions for 2018 and Coolera/Strandhill manager John McPartland knows the strong test his team are facing.
“We are set and ready to go one hundred percent. The last time the club was in the semi final was back in 2011 so it is a good while ago.”
John said they know they will be up against a strong Tourlestrane side who are aiming for three in a row.
“At the start of the year after we got promoted to Division 1, staying there was our aim and when we were safe then we started concentrating on the Championship.”
The seasiders were in Group 2 which they topped with 2 wins from 2.
“St Molaise Gaels and Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point were our opponents in the group stage and they are 2 tough teams.
“In the St Molaise Gaels game we struggled a bit in the first half and then in the Drumcliffe/Rosses Point game we pulled away in the second half.”
He said at the start of the year the biggest thing was staying senior, now Coolera/Strandhill have not only emerged top of their group but also defeated 2015 champions St Mary’s in the quarter finals.
“We got to the quarter final and now we are at the next step. We did alright in the St Mary’s game, I think it was a good team performance overall.
“I suppose St Mary’s had an off day
TOURLESTRANE ARE A SERIOUS TEAM. THEY HAVE SUCH A BIG PANEL AND HAVE SERIOUS SUBS THAT COME ON.
but we got the goals at the right time,” John said.
“It will be a different team on Sunday with Tourlestrane.
“I’ve been following them a good while and they are a serious team.
“They have such a big panel, it’s massive and they have serious subs that come on.
“Tourlestrane too will have one eye on Connacht as well.
“They are also going for three-in-a-row too and they are a serious side.
“They have players with so much experience,” he added.
Coolera/Strandhill too have players with a lot of calibre. “We have experience there but when you look at it maybe 4 or 5 players on our team if even that have a medal from ‘05 (last Senior Championship win).
“When you compare that to Tourlestrane everyone has 6 or 7!” John laughed. Despite that Coolera/Strandhill are by no means letting the underdogs tag get to them. “This is about a semi final and seeing who is going to win it. We are the underdogs but we will go into it and hope everything goes to plan,” John said.
They have one or 2 slight injuries to Aaron O’Boyle, one of the goalscorers in the quarter final and Barry Doyle, but the manager said they hopefully should be okay on Sunday.
Coolera/Strandhill too have blooded a lot of young players over the last year or 2 which are boosting the strength of the squad.
“We have the likes of Aaron O’Boyle, Shay Doherty, Shane McCallion and Sean Murphy all come in which has been great. We have good experience there too, Niall Murphy, Keelan Cawley and Barry O’Mahony to name a few. “Everyone is raring to go, we have had 3 weeks to prepare and we will see what happens,” John added.