We need to be more consistent, says Killygarry's Smith

Cavan panellist fully fit after injury woes

Killygarry attacker Conor Smith has identified consistency as a key area his side will aim to improve on in this year’s Senior Championship.

The Crubany men take on parish rivals Cavan Gaels in an eagerly-anticipated SFC opener. Killygarry won the corresponding fixture two years ago in what was an upset but failed to replicate that form later in the championship.

“Our problem is probably inconsistency, we have good days but it’s about backing that up,” Smith told The Anglo-Celt.

“That year we beat Cavan Gaels, we lost the second and third round as well. Last year, we beat Ramor and Lavey and then didn’t back it up.

“It’s probably going to be an open championship, it’s hard to know where teams are and there is no league form to judge it off. It’s anyone’s but the Gaels will definitely be favourites. But sure we’ll give it a go and see how it goes.”

The former MacRory Cup winner has suffered a number of injury setbacks in recent years but spent the lockdown working on “eliminating the niggles” and is hopeful of a clear run – and the same for his team-mates, too.

“Like myself, we’ve had a few injuries. Mattie [McKenna] probably hasn’t played an awful lot for us, Daragh Kennedy has had a couple of knocks as well. Probably our biggest problem is getting our strongest 16 or 17 players all fit at the same time.

“We have the mix of experience as well. Padraig Cahill is still there, Martin [Reilly] of course, it’s just about blending that with the youth. We have a few young lads, the two Mooneys coming, Oisin Brady, Cian Reilly, they are all progressing.

“Again, keeping our players fit has been a big problem over the last couple of years, if we could get that right this year… I know you can’t do much about it, but you never know, if we could get everyone fit we could go well.”

However, he is certainly not looking past the first round.

“They are going to be a challenge. We played well in the first half [in 2018], we were nine points up but they turned that around. It’s going to be tough, they have added a few back as well with Rob [Maloney-Derham] and Gearoid [McKiernan].”

For a full interview with Conor Smith, see next week’s print issue.