Smith: 'Templeport will fear nobody'

JFC final build-up

Templeport will be going into the Junior Championship final with no fear, said manager Martin Smith.

"I thought it was very impressive the way Denn went after Shannon Gaels, who really had no answer to them, so I’m very impressed. But we're not fearing Denn - we're fearing nobody,” stated the Laragh clubman.

“People would have said we were the underdogs coming into the game against Knockbride today. Within our own group we knew we weren't. We were confident in our own ability to take them on and get a result and it'll be the same against Denn. We'll not fear them whatsoever."

Templeport have shown steady improvement in the last couple of years, Martin agreed.

"I went down to Templeport two years ago and I said it to the lads then on the first Sunday morning that I went down to training that I had seen something special and that they hadn't been hitting the heights before.

“I knew there was quality down there and I knew there were a lot of quality players in the team. It was about believing in themselves and over two years we made a semi-final last year and this year to get to a county final, it is progress.

“But there are quality footballers down there and they're very easily managed and trained because when you have good players, they adapt to training and systems pretty well. It makes our job a hell of a lot easier. We're just delighted to get there. Semi-finals, I suppose, are harder won than finals at times so it's just great to get to a county final."

The St Aidan’s have a few injury worries ahead of the final but they are used to dealing with adversity by now, having been without important players at various times. Chief among their injury concerns is forward Liam Galligan, who went off midway through the first half of the win over Knockbride.

"Yeah, he's been very good for us all season but we have to remember that we were without Eoin Doonan as well - that's two key forwards out of a starting team that a lot of other teams would miss and we did miss them but we were galvanised and brought on Conor Galligan.

“He did very well when he came on with two quick scores and settled into the game. As I've said before, there is that quality in Templeport and maybe around Cavan and the surrounding areas they maybe don't realise that, being from the west, maybe people think there's nothing down there but I'll tell you there's lots of quality footballers down there and whilst we missed him it didn't affect us that much.

“We kicked on and got a few scores  and in the end he probably wasn't that big of a miss, if you can understand. We kept to our game plan and kept going and were lucky to see it through.

"Liam looks a little bit of a doubt at the moment. We'll have to get him assessed tomorrow and see what the story is. He had a bit of the same sort of injury earlier on in the year and we thought it was 100pc but he's done the same sort of thing again. We'll assess him but it doesn't look good at the moment."

"Benjamin got a bit of a knock on the head but he should be okay and I think with everybody else it's just a matter of recovery and working on a few things and looking forward to Denn next week."

Templeport have considerable experience in their ranks which the manager believes should stand to them.

"We have experience in Sean Dolan and Oran Duffy, who I thought was excellent tonight, Benjamin Kelly, a county footballer, Dillon Raythorne, Donal Maguire especially, so we have that little bit of experience which probably did help us but we knew what Knnockbride would bring after last year.

“We knew they would be hungry to replicate what they did last year and get over that Killinkere hurdle and get to a county final. We knew what they'd bring and we had our work done on them and are delighted to get across the line."

Having won this title five years ago, most of the Templeport players should know what the big day is likely to throw at them, said Smith.

"It is important. I say to them that there's a poster of the 2015 team up in Templeport and that I want that to be taken down and I want the team of 2020 to go up on the wall. They have a bit of experience at county final level, they know what it is to win, and they just showed there today against a very, very good Knockbride team that when the pressure comes on that they can deal with it.

“I've no doubt that Denn will offer us the same obstacle next week but we'll be ready for them."