Brady: 'Belief and hard work the key for Lurgan'

Ladies football

Lurgan ladies enter uncharted territory this Sunday (3.30pm, Healy Park, Omagh) when they take on reigning Ulster champions Clann Éireann from Lurgan, Co Armagh in the Ulster Club SFC final.

“The buzz is good, everyone is really looking forward to it. After the semi-final there was a really, really good buzz and we told the girls to go out and enjoy it afterwards because it’s not every day the cub here would get into an Ulster final, or any club in Cavan,” manager Anthony Brady told the Anglo-Celt on Monday.

“We settled down then last week nicely, we had good training and everyone is settled, that’s the main thing, keep our feet on the ground, we know that we have a tough task in hand with Clann Éireann.”

Prior to the county final, which resulted in a one-point win over Crosserlough, Brady described the season as “a slow-burner” and he reiterated those sentiments.

“It has been a slow-burner and even yet, for every game we have been missing at least one starter since the championship semi-final. In hindsight it might have worked out well that we didn’t have everybody earlier in the year and now they’re all coming together at the right time and everyone is gelling a little bit better together. It’s probably about keeping everyone fresh now at this stage.

“We will more or less have a full team. We’re still finalising our panel, we had to send in a team sheet to the Ulster Council for the programme and things like that, we are missing one or two and we will probably have one or two back that were missing for most of the Ulster campaign so far so it balances itself out well. It’s a great squad, it’s a big job trying to pick 30 let alone the starting 15.

“I think we had 42 on the list, we have 37 or 38 training yesterday morning so it’s trying to make sure that everyone is kept happy and is realistic about whether they are going to be on the panel or not.”

An appearance at this stage in the premier ladies football club competition is overdue for a Cavan side. Knockbride were the last team to make the final, winning it in 2003; prior to that, Mullahoran – who play in the intermediate curtain-raiser on Sunday - won the final in 1977 and 1978 and were nominated to represent Ulster in the All-Ireland series from 1979-83 inclusive.

“If you look at Lacken, Crosserlough, ourselves, Killygarry, we are all putting in second teams and putting out two teams on the same day, both playing at the same time. That is giving the younger players that experience of adult football. Some of the players who came through this year mightn’t have been in everyone’s reckoning at the start of the year but having a B team there helped bring them on that little bit more, they get exposed to good football.

“Clann Éireann are Ulster champions, they’re a fairly well-oiled outfit and they have got quality all over the pitch. We will have to adjust some of our plans but our mantra all yar has been that we concentrate on ourselves because we do have the clientele there to implement our own game plan. But like that, you have to adjust slightly and we have a few adjustments to make but not many.”

Asked what message he would be giving his players, Brady stated: “Similar to how we spoke to them before the Termon game. I’d say most people would have had Termon down to beat us but we stick to our own plan, we know that we’re good enough and it’s just to believe in that and believe in how we can play and work hard.

“I think the Termon game really instilled belief that if we work hard… we gave Termon a torrid time and it was because of that work-rate – and it was from one to 15 and the subs that came on. It’s work-rate, moreso than anything else.”

Lurgan are flying the flag for the county as well as their own club and Brady believes the standard is “very high” within Cavan. “That final against Crosserlough helped us raise our standards, they had beaten us three weeks previously in the group stages so our standards had to go up. Crosserlough have been the best team we’ve met so far this year and it says a lot for them as well. They forced us to raise our standards and if you drop them, you’re going to get beaten.

“That’s the standard in Cavan at the minute. Killygarry put us to the pin of our collar in the semi-final as well… There’s a good standard in club football in Cavan.”