Clarke: 'Derry disrespect was stupid'

Paul Fitzpatrick

Cavan supporters partied like it was 1997 on Saturday night, and with good reason – the pulsating win over Derry was, in the eyes of most observers, the county's most significant in championship football for 16 long years.

And if Cavan were short of motivation before the game, then former Derry players didn't help their county with demeaning comments on social media, a point which Breffni captain Alan Clarke made on the Celtic Park pitch moments after the long whistle.

“They showed a little bit of disrespect during the week but it was all about us, not about them,” said the Kingscourt Stars man.

“It was a bit motivtational and it was a bit stupid on their behalf, I would put it down more to the latter, stupid. Any game can be swung any way depending on the team. Derry haven't exactly set the world alight and we knew that coming up here, that we were in a good position. We didn't really get any priase for beating Fermanagh but they are still a serious good outfit and we have beat them twice.

“So we knew we were in good enough shape coming in here.”

Clarke paid tribute to the spirit shown by his troops.

“The players that came on, we said it before the game, if you get this jersey, you're not a team player unless you actually think you're going to play. And you saw what happened, it was unblievable.

“In extra time, there were two or three blocks and Michael Argue turned over two or three balls in the end. It showed guts and hearts from young, inexperienced players. They're mad hungry, which is great.

“We started off to win a league and we didn't win that, we started to win an Ulster final and we didn't win it. There are three competitions and this is the next one, and we're going to keep going.

Coming to Celtic Park and beat them is unbelievable.

“We're at it a long time now, it's four and five nights a week which no-one sees.These days are great but when you're heading opff to training on a wet wintry night, no-one sees you.

“But one thing I can say is, I saw every one of those lads every night, there was no such thing as a lad dodging in in early February saying 'I don't need to do the hard work'. Every man in there did it. There are lads like Marc Leddy who haven't got a game yet and they put in just as much work as every other man, which is a credit to them.”