Lawlor hopes to re-create magic of 1995 JFC success

JFC final preview

When Belturbet last won the Junior Championship, in 1995, Mark Lawlor was playing full-back on the team. That was a long-awaited victory for the Rorys, who had come close in the previous seasons; this time, they’re looking to get out of junior at the first attempt.

“We waited 60 years the last time, it’s only 29 this time!” laughed Lawlor, now the manager of the team.

“There was fierce pressure on to win it because we had been beaten in the final the year before, we were beaten in semi-finals… we were beaten in the Intermediate final in 1990 actually because we were playing in Division 2 so we got moved up to intermediate and got to that final but we couldn’t get over the line.

“Aaron Donohoe, Brian Mulvaney, Conor Walsh, all these young lads came along at the one time, there were seven or eight of them and we threw them into the mix and Jason (O’Reilly), of course, produced the goods.

“Look, it was a good feeling to win it. Once we got the monkey off our backs, we went on to win the Division 2 league that Christmas and we won the Intermediate Championship the following summer so it was great.

“It would be just great (to win) but we know we have an awful lot to do, Knockbride are a real good team. We played Knockbride the last time as well actually and they were a good team that time too, the three Reillys were playing and Raphael Rogers. Raphael is on the line as well now too and they have great forwards, Lorcan, Ciaran Smith, the Rogers’, they’re all good footballers so we’re under no illusions as to what we have to do.

“It’s great to be back in the final again after 29 years and we look forward to a good tussle next week.”

Are the Rorys hitting their stride at just the right time?

“You’d like to believe that alright, we started off well, we had a very tough 45 or 50 minutes against Drumalee in Terry Coyle and the next day out we go Drung in Drumalee and we didn’t do so well there and then we faced Knockbride here in the third round and they gave us a good trimming in that game.

“But luckily enough we got a result against Kill and got into the quarter-final, we got a few players back I must say which helped us as well. Hopefully you’d like to think we are hitting form at the right time but we’ll need it all.”

Knockbride have been fancied all year, with Belturbet regarded by many as the side most likely to challenge them for top honours.

“Ah, Knockbride were hot favourites from the word go and rightly so. They are playing Division 1 and they have played a lot of Division 1 football at underage level. They have good footballers, they have great forwards.

“We always thought it was going to be Knockbride but we are only playing in halves to be honest with you. We played a good half against Drumalee in the second half, we played a good first half against Kill, we played a good second half against Shannon Gaels… we played Kill again in the semi-final and we were good enough in the first 20 minutes and didn’t play that well then after.

“So unless we play for an hour on Saturday, we needn’t be turning up at all.”

Asked what motivated him to pick up the bib marked Bainisteoir again, Lawlor said: “I was at a few games last year and it really got to me, the results and the way the team played, and I said before I’m finished and before they’re finished, I’d like to get another crack at this.

“There are a few older players there, there are a lot of young players but there are a few older players like Damien O’Reilly, Kevin McConnell, Enda Henry who are there a long time and I’d like to see those boys getting a medal before they quit.

“We’re after getting in a few good young lads there. Giles McConnell is playing corner-back, he’s a minor. Luke Mulvaney is playing wing-back, he’s a minor as well. He played wing-forward and midfield actually a good bit.

“Callum McGreevy has come in there and scored a bit so there are a few boys there but they need the older lads to guide them along.”

Mark likes the current championship structure and hopes it pays off for his side.

“It’s a good structure actually, you can say that when you get beaten twice and you’re still in it! The last time we won it, it was knock-out of course, you had maybe three or four games and you were champions.

“It’s a lot harder now, a lot more difficult and the fact that we played Knockbride already and they beat us well and were a much better team than us the last day… it’s hard to beat the same team twice, they say, so hopefully that comes true.”