'Do we believe we're going to win it? Absolutely'

SFC final build-up

Three weeks ago, after winning the championship quarter-final in extra time against an unfancied Mullahoran, Kingscourt Stars found themselves in an unusual position.

“After going back to training after Mullahoran, it was the weirdest feeling, after winning a championship quarter-final, it felt like a defeat - it was probably the worst training session myself and Derek [Walsh] done all year,” explained the Stars’ manager, David Lennon, after their stunning win on Sunday evening.

The side was at a crossroads of sorts and the manager has been delighted with how they responded. Lennon’s animated demeanour on the sideline and refreshingly unguarded post-match comments have been infectious and it’s clear to see that his passion and enthusiasm has rubbed off on his players.

"Between us and boys stepping up and saying that they didn't perform either, we had a bit of a get-together and said 'we're going to go for this'. We'd won a championship quarter-final and we've Cavan Gaels and we're going to go for it, and not too many people, including the bookies, and maybe a lot of so-called good analysts didn't give us a chance but the 30 lads, or the 42 lads that trained, believed that they had the better of Cavan Gaels.

“We weren't going to come out and be bullied like we were last year. It was one of the most perfect performances I've managed these boys through. It's one of the best wins myself and Derek have as managers, as well. From word 'go', I thought we were immense - losing Padraig Faulkner, not having Joe Dillon, losing our 'keeper two minutes before the game starts.

“Everything seemed to be going wrong but, you know something, they stood up after the water-break and they said: 'We're gonna win this for Padraig Faulkner. And that's what they did."

The Latton native is in his second year with Kingscourt and has struck up a great relationship with the players. The Monaghan man feels his side have not been given the credit they deserve to date.

" They stepped up, big-time [against Cavan Gaels]. People don't realise this team finished fifth in the league last year, our first year with them. They were beaten in one championship match, which was a poor performance, last year, against Cavan Gaels.

“We haven't been beaten, this year, in the championship, we haven't been beaten in the league, we haven't been beaten in challenge matches. The only time is when they beat each other on a Tuesday and Friday night, which they do, let me tell you.

“With the 15 or 22 lads who don't make the panel, some of their in-house training games have been savage. That paid off here today. They just met a Cavan Gaels team that probably, maybe, were within thinking that it's only a matter of just turning up. And that can happen. It's happened to us against Mullahoran, too. And maybe we didn't handle the favourites tag well in the semi-final but today we handled the underdogs one quite well."

Kingscourt responded to adversity when they lost star man Padraig Faulkner early in the game. Faulkner was removed to hospital but is understood to be recovering well and is likely to feature next Saturday. At the time, though, his injury appeared very serious.

"It's not for me to call but, standing on the sideline, I felt that Paul O'Connor came out with momentum but I'm not going to comment until I see the DVD but it looked like a high knee, straight in. But Padraig Faulkner is probably in big, big trouble. I spoke to him before he went to hospital, at half-time, and he couldn't breathe, and that's not a good sign. We'd be very concerned about Padraig Faulkner."

Kingscourt refused to be cowed, he said, and stepped up physically.

"Gearoid McKiernan, for the first ten or 15 minutes, was awesome. We couldn't handle him, Padraig couldn't handle him; Toasty [Alan Clarke] was on him, and maybe man-handled him a wee bit but them young lads; Sean Burke, Shane Duffy, John Oates... there's an endless amount of young lads who had serious games and young Shekleton at corner-forward, who, maybe, spent a lot the time there up on his own. He kicked three, or four, points. He kicked an awesome free-kick with the outside of his boot - all them young boys stepped up.

“We're gonna come here next week and we're not gonna come here to be walked all over by Crosserlough. We're looking forward to it. Is it a bonus to be in the semi-final? Absolutely. Do we believe we should be there? Absolutely. Do we believe we're going to win it? Absolutely."

Having just six days to get his side recovered and motivated for the final will be challenging, he agreed, but it’s the same for both sides.

"It's probably going to be tough. But we've a very good panel of strong players, as Crosserlough has, too. They'll be probably happy that they finished three or four hours before us and they probably have a bit of a bonus, seeing us and seeing how bad we played! All the mistakes we made!” he joked.

“But it's a brilliant occasion, not just for Kingscourt but for Crosserlough and Kingscourt. A new team is going to win this championship in Cavan and I believe it's broadcast live, so I hope both teams go out and give a great account of themselves. I hope it's a great game of football and whoever wins the battle deserves to win the championship in Cavan."

"We'll have a recovery session tomorrow night, please god, and we'll assess the situation. The big downside is about Padraig and everyone, including Padraig's parents, are just concerned about his health. Leaving here, he was in a pretty bad way. Most of all, I hope he's okay. That's what I'm thinking about, at the minute, and maybe I'll think about Crosserlough in the morning, when I realise that we've beat Cavan Gaels.

“But he's the main concern at the minute. We'd been carrying a good few injuries into the game and the boys just got on with it and got through it. It was a good hard, tough battle and maybe the only surprise was that I didn't believe we won the game by eight. We're looking forward to this week and looking forward to getting the guys back again.

“Hopefully, we can get Padraig back on that field but if Padraig's not fit to play, then that's it. He's just another player and somebody else steps in and takes his place. That's it."

David didn’t watch the Crosserlough v Castlerahan semi-final but will dissect the video during the week as he makes plans for what will be the famous Stars’ first senior final appearance in five years.

"I purposely didn't watch the game because I was out playing golf and that's the god's honest truth. I wanted to get my mind away. I didn't sleep a lot of nights and I'll probably not sleep this weekend but it's a brilliant occasion for these young lads.

“A lot of people think that Kingscourt are an old team; they are not an old team. There's a lot of young, dedicated young men, who've put in a savage effort, even through the Covid - they've done the programmes themselves, worked really, really hard, come back in great shape and now the reward is there for them. They're in with a 50-50 chance of winning a county final."