Munchies take on Armagh champions next
Gaelic games
Munterconnaught manager Stephen McGovern was a picture of calm after watching his side dismantle Down champions Ardglass in the Ulster Club Junior Football Championship preliminary round at Kingspan Breffni.
The Killygarry clubman, who guided his side to the Cavan title earlier this month with a nailbiting one-point win over Kill, said he always believed a performance of that calibre was within them.
“I have no emotions, I'm quite calm about it,” he said afterwards.
“I don't know if I referenced it before the game, I knew we had a performance like that in us again. Going back to step five in what was a process for us, the Templeport game in the quarter-final, we did something similar.
“Today, I knew that was in us again. The county semi-final and the final were cagey but I felt we still had lots left in the tank. We spoke about it there last week, we felt there was more. Maybe the county final even wasn't enough and that's just coming from within the group.
“I hope that doesn't sound arrogant or nothing like that because we're not like that but we just genuinely felt we had more to give. Hopefully that will kick-start something now but look, you're only as good as your next game and don't worry, I'm not at all getting carried away. We'll be ready to go again next Sunday.”
McGovern revealed that he and selector Vincent Mulvey had scouted Ardglass in advance and identified where Munterconnaught could hurt them, although he admitted it took time for their players to implement the plan.
“Longer than I would have liked to be very honest with you. I nipped up to Newry last week, myself and Vincent, who does a lot of logistics and stats and all those kind of things for me.
“We both left the game thinking, ‘right, we can really take these boys but we need to keep the ball moving, we need to go over and back, we need to go up and down, we need to keep it out of the tackle’. And we didn't do that in the first half, we had to get it together at half-time there, we really did.
“You leave a team in it, they can be a dangerous animal. We really needed to get ahead early in that second half, I didn't bother looking at the scoreline, I'm not interested in what it finished, but there was a 10 or 15-minute period in the second half where we needed to do that or we could have been in trouble.
“Look, it is what it is but you're never too far from that pat on the back changing into something else. We'll take it for now and move on swiftly to tomorrow night's training.”
Attention now turns to the Ulster quarter-final, where Munterconnaught will face Armagh champions Clonmore Robert Emmets at the Athletic Grounds this Sunday at 1.30pm. McGovern knows the challenge awaiting them will be significant.
“The pedigree goes through the roof now. Absolutely, great to get a win, but the Armagh champions now, Clonmore, they're very strong. We're going into the lion's den, we're used to Breffni, they're used to the Athletic Grounds so the shoe is on the other foot now.
“With the week turnaround that Ardglass only had, that's the same for us now so we really have to get our heads right now. And we will do that, from minute one now. We'll get ready, we have our sessions planned out.
“These lads just love representing their club and I know that sounds a bit... but they do, they love going out playing, whether it's a quarter-final of Ulster or a round-four league game, they'll just be going out looking forward to Sunday and expressing themselves again. That's the plan.”
Meanwhile, Kingscourt Stars and Cuchulainns will meet Irvinestown and Erne Gaels in the Ulster Club IFC and JFC quarter-finals at Kingspan Breffni at 3.30pm and 5.30pm respectively on Saturday, November 8.