‘Repeat performance needed to finish the job’

JFC final preview

It's been a long and winding road to this point but Denn are back in the Junior Championship final this Saturday and they have done it the hard way, blitzing a vaunted Knockbride side in last Friday's semi-final replay.

“We prepared very well for it. We were probably a little bit disappointed that we didn't see it out the last day but we learned from it. I was watching the boys just before the game and I said it to Jerome, I thought our boys were moving very well,” stated Denn manager Stephen Baxter (above).

“To be honest, that performance against a team like Knockbride, it was super. But in fairness to the boys, they stood up to be counted - they have taken responsibility all throughout the year.

“We are delighted with the win but it's only a win in the semi-final and we learned the hard way with the last final what can happen so we just have to prepare as well as we can now.”

Baxter previously led home club Ballymachugh to the Sean Leddy Cup and hopes to repeat the trick with Denn. His message to the players is simple and can be boiled down to the following: football is fun and is to be enjoyed. Where else would you rather be?

“I said it to the boys before the game, it's brilliant playing football, it's brilliant being out there with their friends. They are an unbelievable bunch of lads and I know everyone says that about their teams but it's a very enjoyable thing to be involved with a club like Denn.

“They are very similar to Ballymachugh. What I like about them is they all get on, we just go out and enjoy ourselves and whatever happens after that, it's a bonus.”

Denn selector Raymond Smith, meanwhile, felt the hard work in training paid off in the semi replay. Denn were notably more defensive but there was nothing novel about it, he insisted.

“It's not a new game plan, no. Most of last year and this year as well we have been playing man to man. After the drawn game, we had a look at Knockbride and we tweaked a few things - we placed a big emphasis on our defence because Knockbride got through us a couple of times last week and didn't take advantage of it, lucky for us.

“We knew we had to work on that during the week and that's what we did and our defence was excellent I thought.

“That comes down to pure hard work, they worked hard all week and really put it into place on the pitch by their effort and commitment and turned Knockbride over a numbers of times which really gave us a good basis to go forward from there.”

Fellow selector Kenneth Rothwell agreed.

“We are lucky in that way that we have pace in that middle third sector, the boys work very hard and they train extremely hard on transitioning the ball. Conor O'Reilly, Oisin Kiernan, Mark McSherry, James Brady, they're great transitioning the ball. There's no point having Ted or Ben or Cavell in there and slowing the ball down, so it's something the lads have worked very hard on.

“We knew we had to take our work-rate up and we did that and it was probably what got us over the line today.

“We are going to have to bring the same again to Drung, if we don't do the same again, we're not going to win, it's that simple.”

Losing to Templeport back on August 21 was a blow but Denn have learned the lessons from it, said selector Jerome Kiernan.

“At the end of the day, if you don't perform, you're not going to get the result and that's what happened to us. We were probably a little bit complacent in the final and we got our comeuppance in it. We regrouped, as we do, we got back at it, we left no stone unturned and we are back in the final again.

“This is where this team wants to be, they've put in a lot of work and helped each other out through the whole year with everything that has gone on.”