Brady: 'We just love our football and we’re always ready to go'

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Arva’s voyage continues. The Cavan intermediate champions came away from Páirc Esler in Newry with a comfortable win in the end against a strong foe in Down’s Drumgath and while they didn’t have it all their own way, a high conversion rate, particulaly in the first half, was crucial, according to team captain Ciaran Brady.

“Drumgath were serious opposition and we knew that coming up today. They had a comprehensive victory in their final and they probably like to play fast, free-flowing football and that showed in the first 10 minutes, they could have had five points on the scoreboard so it was frantic enough,2 Brady said after the game.

“They were a real counter-attacking team, if we weren’t getting shots off at the other end of the field, they were getting turnovers and they were hurting us on the counter-attack so we probably regrouped towards the end of the first half. We got a bit of a flow, we got control on their kick-outs a little bit and slowly, step by step, we worked ourselves into it.

“It’s one thing in our training sessions that the boys work on a lot, Finbar, Stephen and Richie, we work on our shots, we work on our shot selection and we were patient, we went down the wings, we went back across to the middle to the percentage zones. I looked at the board at half-time and our scoring percentage was 83pc so it was good stuff, in fairness to the lads.

“It kills a team really and you know when you’re on the other end of that, if a team is getting shots off and you see them dropping over the crossbar, bit by bit, slowly, the opposition’s heads are going to drop and they might think it’s not their day. Thankfully today it wasn’t Drumgath’s day, it was Arva’s.”

With Conal Sheridan out injured, Arva were not at full strength but their other forwards more than made up for the absence of their placekicker and target man with a solid display.

“I long for the day we can get Peter Morris, Kevin Bouchier and Conal Sheridan on the field all at once! Unfortunately we didn’t (have Sheridan) but we have exceptional forwards all around there, Barry Donnelly, Johnny McCabe, Tristan Hofmann, their work ethic is exceptional and they’re such honest, honest lads. There is no ego in this team.

“So often you find our forwards – and we play no defensive football, it’s all front foot – but you find them just chasing and harrying back and nobody is looking down at their ankles while the play is going on. It’s such an honest, workmanlike performance, every time we go out for Arva.

“If you do that, you give yourself every chance in any game.”

There is a school of thought suggesting that Arva, who haven’t had an off-season in two years due to their own success, may be starting to show signs of tiredness but their last two results – by a combined 15 points – suggest that’s not the case and Brady was quick to dismiss it, too.

“People are saying we’re on the road a long time but I wouldn’t read into that – you look at any of the top teams and they’re on the road a long time and there’s none of this peaking craic. Every weekend, you have to be ready to go again and we just love our football and we’re always ready to go. Some days we might look a bit lacklustre but some games are different – some teams are more defensive against you, it can be a slower process to break a team down.

“Every game is different and we keep showing up to training, keep training hard and getting the results on the field.”

Arva had a month off before this game but continued to train hard, with the celebrations after the county final banished, Brady intimated, by a tough session five days later.

“That first Friday night back at training after the county final, Finbar fairly took that rust out of us the way we trained and that again is credit to the lads, there’s just such a hunger within that team. There are no egos, everyone is so honest and I hope it translates up to the stand because when you’re down there on the field, you can really see it from everyone. So it’s a credit to the lads and long may it continue.”

Next up is a formidable Magheracloone side.

“We’ll just have to dust ourselves down, see where the bodies are at on Tuesday, go again, have a look at them and hopefully put our best foot forward for two weeks’ time.”