‘Everything has to go right for us’ – Fitzpatrick

JFC final preview

Kevin Óg Carney

It’s not easy to pluck a silver lining from the mother and father of clouds to hit humankind and, specifically, the world of Gaelic games but Drung manager Noel Fitzpatrick is up to the task.

Ahead of his side’s JFC final duel this Saturday (6pm) at Kingspan Breffni with hot favourites Denn, the Dalcassians’ boss has paid tribute to the commitment to the cause shown by his charges during the infamous lockdown:

“It was very, very difficult as a manager to try and organise things but, in fairness, the lads worked hard at looking after their fitness themselves (during lockdown),” the Drung native enthused.

“All the players did their own individual training, going out for runs and doing a bit of gym work where they could and then we had a What’s App group which helped keep everyone in touch while we couldn’t get together, physically, on the training pitch.

“I’d have to say that the players were a credit in keeping up their levels of fitness which meant that when the matches came around, we were able to hit the ground running.”

Fitzpatrick - one of the most consistently impressive club footballers in Cavan when he was in his pomp back in the early nineties – admitted that he was “a bit apprehensive” about taking the reins at the start of the year even though “I always said I’d love to do the job and I was delighted to be asked.”

After a few days chewing over the invitation to occupy the hot seat, the imprimatur that came from a subsequent players’ meeting sealed the deal.

“I knew from watching the lads over the last couple of years that the talent was there,” Fitzpatrick recalled, “but it was about getting them training, getting them fit, pointing them in the same direction and having everyone singing off the same hymn sheet.

“The commitment I got from the start of the year was top class and it drove me on and gave me confidence and after we got a few league wins under our belt, we got some momentum going and things just grew from there.”

The former no-nonsense defender led from the front at training; his marathon running allowing him to join in on the training and inspire and push his charges to greater heights, session by session.

And the silver lining continued to shine bright:

“The lads were tired of doing stuff on their own, sitting on the couch for the guts of the last two years so when we were able to get back on the pitch together, they were biting at the bit to come to training and there was never anything less than twenty lads there on any given night. The training was very positive and the lads really enjoyed being together.”

On reflection, Fitzpatrick fingers his team’s league play-off success in Scotshouse against Redhills as a huge boost to morale and also Drung’s second half showing against Munterconnacht in the third round of the championship.

“I think our fitness showed up well against Redhills in the last quarter when we were seven points down with about five minutes to go but fought back to get a draw. We built on that confidence booster and pushed on from there.

“Our second half performance against Munterconnacht had the same effect as our comeback against Redhills. It was tight stuff in the first half but I’d say we turned a corner that day in the way the lads stepped it up in the second half.”

Fitzpatrick likes the fact that Drung are going into the county final as clear underdogs. He reflects back on his team’s clash with Killeshandra in the league and name checks it as another landmark encounter in 2021 when “we got our eyes opened to what the division two teams are all about for it was a real step up for us and we weren’t prepared for it at the time.”

Given that the club’s last JFC success was way back in 2008, the Drung supremo is confident his team will bring an appropriate level of hunger to the table this Sunday and he hopes that and some other ingredients will rock Denn’s boat to a sufficient degree.

“We can live with being underdogs for the final but everything has to go right for us on the day ,” quips Fitzpatrick.

“But I know I’ll get an honest performance from the lads. Where that will bring us, I don’t know.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”