'It's all about enjoying it - Devine

SFC final preview

When the phone call from Killygarry came, Jody Devine did his research. After three years with neighbours Laragh United, during which they won the Intermediate Championship, that journey had come to an end and the Meathman was up for another challenge.

Killygarry had been in a bit of a rut but he quickly ascertained that the talent was there.

“I cover Cavan with my job, I talk to a lot of GAA people and they’ve always said they had plenty of potential,” said Devine last week.

“They have been very successful at underage level over the last few years, they won a Minor Championship last year and they had a core of really good players so I thought it was a challenge that was worth having a go at.

“They felt they hadn’t achieved what they could have over the years, maybe not getting to knock-out stages, and they just felt that if we could bring something different to it, it could be a good job for both of us.

I spoke to Keelan (Melaniff) then, we had a good chat about it, and we brought Jimmy Galligan in then as a selector and it’s been a good working relationship between the three of us. But it can only work if the players are willing to put in the effort and in fairness they have done that. Even though last year the results didn’t go our way, at the start of this year they said they wanted to give it one hell of a shot because they probably knew they weren’t too far off.”

Bringing a level of consistency was the target. That has arrived in the championship and while league form was disappointing, there were major mitigating factors.

“It’s exactly where we want to be but no, we probably didn’t in our wildest dreams think we’d be in a final. Since the league play-off against Killinkere momentum has just grown. We had a good finish to last year, beating Lacken and then Castlerahan in a relegation play-off.

“Killygarry’s downfall for league football was having so many fellas involved with the county U20s and seniors and then a couple of injuries. You don’t have a full strength team all the time. We lost a few games in the league but we didn’t worry about it too much. When we had everybody back we beat Killinkere and then we had a good win against Gowna in the first round of the championship and the momentum has grown and grown.

“The games we were losing last year by a point, we are winning this year by a point. It’s those fine things, the little bit of luck this year that we didn’t have last year has got us to where we are.”

With young reinforcements arriving and seasoned campaigners now injury-free, the squad is stronger this year.

“We got fresh impetus this year with the younger fellas like Kevin and Daragh Lovett who have come in, we have Martin Reilly back from injury and we were missing Daniel Walsh last year with a broken wrist. This year some fellas maybe got used to the way we wanted them to play.

“We’ve been working hard in training, we have good athletes on the team and when we go to break, we want to break at speed. What you do on the training ground becomes second nature, it’s what you do in a game then.

“We have good lads up front like Darragh and Conor and Oisin and Martin, fellas that can find a pass or run at you. We’ve got to use those strengths as well. Last year our defence was always very good because we didn’t lose too many games, this year they’ve been good again but we are taking our chances a little bit better, we are scoring goals this year that we didn’t score last year.

“It’s not managers or coaches who win games. The players implement it. The minute the ball is thrown up, you’re sort of helpless on the line, you can only guide them on the training ground, they’ve got to implement it and this year they have been doing that so far.

“What you work on in training, you like to see happening in a game and it has on occasions this year and hopefully we can have one more day when what we try to do is implemented and successful but it’s not going to be easy.”

Final opponents Gowna have impressed the Ballinlough native.

“Gowna are one of the best sides I’ve seen in Cavan over the two years I’ve been involved in senior football in Cavan.

“They’ve good forwards, they have good athletes all over the field, they like to break as well, they’re very direct and it showed against Crosserlough with the two goals they got in the first half.

“Conor Casey really went at the heart of the Crosserlough defence, went straight through and put it in the back of the net. They have threats all over the place and we know we’re going to have to play very well if we’re going to be successful in the final.”

Devine has been involved in plenty of finals at club and county levels during his time in the game. His message to the players is to savour every minute.

“I keep saying to the lads they’ve got to enjoy it and embrace it. Someone like Paddy Galligan has been playing for 19 or 20 years and Martin has been playing a long time too, they’ve never been in a final and Darragh and Kevin come up from minor last year and in one year of senior, they’re in a final.

“Everybody has got to embrace it but they’ve got to keep their feet on the ground as well and look forward to it. It’s a big game, it’s the biggest game in Cavan football in the calendar year and I just hope they enjoy it and go out and show what they can do.

“It’s going to be tough, we had a great game with Gowna in the first round of the championship and we came out on the right side of it and hopefully we do that again. But you need a bit of luck as we’ve spoken about.

“As long as they enjoy it, embrace it and just go out there and show what they can do and give it their best shot, hopefully that will get us over the line.”