Clean bill of health the difference for Stars, says Clarke

Kingscourt Stars are back where they belong at the business end of the county senior championship and the football-mad east Cavan town is alive with talk that this could be their year. Having flattered to deceive in recent seasons, running up huge totals in league football only to disappoint on the big stage, the Stars have ground their way to the last four stage. The difference this season, according to team captain Alan Clarke, has been a clean bill of health. "Lack of injuries has been the key, no doubt about it," stated Clarke this week. "The year we got relegated, we had half the team injured. Last year we got no-one injured until the second round of the championship and we lost three or four lads before that. This year those boys are just coming back at the right time." Clarke, who captained the side to the Division Two league title in 2009, admits that Kingscourt, under Meathman Dudley Farrell, have finally found a neat blend of youth and experience which has taken them to within 60 minutes of a first county final since 1999. "They're a good bunch," said the county defender. "I think the older boys have stepped up to the plate, maybe they have been sitting back for the last few years and the younger lads think this will happen every year but we're trying to instil that you have to take this chance... it's 11 years now." While Kingscourt have yet to display their best form this summer, they are in the semis on merit and their captain draws on the positives. "I suppose we played better other years and got beaten, that's one way to look at it,2 he said. "Our leagues performances were a lot better, high-scoring and all the rest, but we're starting to grind out wins. We're a lot happier with that than winning by 20 points, it's no use to you." The win over Gowna and the manner of it - the heart it took to withstand a trademark rally from the former kings - should have given Kingscourt a surge of confidence at just the right time. "They [Gowna] would be a championship team, they knew how to play Kingscourt," said "Toasty". "They went out and tried to hit and put them off their game but I think in the second half the boys stood up, everyone stood up. Other years Kingscourt have played a lot better against Gowna and Gowna would have probably kicked the last few scores, so maybe we got that wee bit of luck in that game. Every other year we seemed to be playing out of our skins and Gowna would get a goal or maybe McCabe would come one and rattle the net... So I suppose maybe a bit of luck along with grinding out wins. While a county semi-final is unexplored territory for the vast majority of this Kingscourt side, they are refusing to look past a Ramor United team who have saved their best stuff for the championship. "We rate Ramor very highly," stated Clarke simply. "Out of all the games we played this year in the league, and I think Ramor were going badly when we played them, it was very close and we beat them in a massive high-scoring game. They are a very, very strong team. "They have a lot more medals than a lot of our players in the last few years, Under 21 medals and all the rest so I everyone knows in Kingscourt... After all our good performances, Ramor will still be favourites after hammering us in the last championship match we played. The teams didn't change that much." The battle for possession at midfield, he said, will be crucial - whichever side can keep the supply lines clear will thrive on the oxygen of possession. With the likes of Barry Reilly, Ryan McCormack, Ado Cole and Jack Brady on show in the inside forward lines, it's hard to argue. "I think midfield is going to be a massive battle. They have a very strong midfield, Stephen Monaghan and Anton Reilly. Looking at the Lacken game, it was won in midfield at the end. But we'll hopefully have enough in the tank to get over them. "But," he added, "we're not looking over Ramor."