Cootehill want Ulster upset
By Kevin Óg Carney
Having picked up five of the last six Cavan Senior Hurling Championship titles, Cootehill Celtic will attempt to finally make a concrete impression this year on the junior provincial scene.
On Saturday, October 31 the Celts will take on Antrim’s finest, Patrick Sarsfields, in the opening round of the Ulster JHC at Kingspan Breffni (1.30pm). As per usual, the Cavan champions will carry the tag of raging hot underdogs into battle.
“It’s nothing new for us to go in against a team that are hot favourites and, in all honesty, it’s not hard to see why the Antrim champions would be expected to go through,” Cootehill’s serial top-scorer Mark Moffett admitted to The Celt.
“We don’t know much about Sarsfields but they won in Antrim and we’ll be up against it obviously. All we can do is prepare as best we can, go out there with the intention of giving it our all and we’ll see where that takes us.”
County star Moffett has been part of the fixtures and fittings of Cootehill Celtic’s hurling fraternity since he was 10 years of age. He’s now 28, and 2026 represents his 10th year lining out with the club’s seniors.
In 2023, the Hoops hinted at a promising future at Ulster JHC level when consolidating their county title triumph with victories over Killeavy (Armagh) and Erne Gaels (Fermanagh) before succumbing in Crossmaglen to eventual winners Castleblayney Faughs.
Can the Class of '26 emulate that run of three years ago?
“With the level of experience we have in the squad now and the talent that’s there too, there’s no reason why we can’t go into the Sarsfields’ game in a confident mood.
“A lot of the lads have been down this road before and know the level we have to play at and there’s new, good young blood there now in the shape of Seamus Clerkin and Connor Delaney that I’m sure won’t be out of place.
“I suppose, for us, it’s mostly about getting the mindset right beforehand and making sure we’re not going in with a defeatist attitude. We’ve got to believe that we cause an upset.”
Cootehill landed their 10th Cavan SHC title this year when beating East Cavan Gaels in the final by 3-24 to 3-8 but playing the cream of the crop from Antrim is a whole different kettle of fish.
The west Belfast-based club defeated Lámh Dhearg 4-14 to 2-12 in the Antrim decider two weeks ago to win their first ever county JHC crown and bridge a gap way back to 1974 when they won their only other county championship hurling title (SHC) at adult level.
Cootehill’s opponents weren’t flattered by their eight point winning margin with Kevin Barry McArdle’s strike on the stroke of half-time giving them a 1-10-2-4 lead at the break.
Cormac Mulligan’s 47th minute goal later opened up a five-point gap and despite the Lámhs going down to 14-men when Michael
Herron was dismissed and pulling the gap back to three, late goals from Fionn Jemfrey and another McArdle goal saw the Stewartstown men lift the trophy and book a date with Cootehill in the process.
“If I’m being honest, we wouldn’t have wanted to have to take on the Antrim champions in the first round but it is what it is. We will need a good start, find our feet and hopefully we’ll be able to settle into the game and play to our potential,” Mofffett added.
“Obviously, we’ll be hoping they have a bit of an off-day and we get the rub of the green. If those two things happen, who knows.”