'The big goal was to get to a final again' - Cole
SFC final preview
When Ramor United won the championship in 2016, ending a 24-year famine, they looked best-placed of all the senior clubs to go on and string together several wins.
A majority of the team were still U21; they were young, committed and talented and the way seemed clear, with Cavan Gaels, the superpower of the previous decade and a half, looking to be entering a period of transition.
It doesn’t always work out like that, though. The Oliver Plunkett Cup moved from Dolan Park down the N3 to Terry Coyle Park the following autumn and, five years on, Ramor have yet to get it back in their clutches.
Of course, they have been close – closer than they have been given credit for. In 2017, they lost by a point in the semi-final; a year later, Crosserlough beat them by three in the quarters and in 2019, the first year under current manager Ray Cole, Castlerahan edged them out by two in a low-scoring final.
Last year, if someone had hit pause with 15 minutes of football left in the group stage, Ramor looked head and shoulders above the rest in the county, having beaten Cavan Gaels comfortably in round three and built up a seven-point lead over eventual winners Crosserlough in round four.
And then things went awry. Crosserlough came back from the dead to win and the Gaels, bent on revenge, lay in wait in the quarters. An understrength Ramor were well beaten. In hindsight, it seems like a crossroads for this team but they have shown their resilience, taking the difficult path back to the big day now.
“When we took over in ’19, we went the whole way to two finals and we lost both finals and we were very, very hurt over that,” Cole explains honestly.
From the outset, Ramor were determined to return to the final this year. That was the aim, no matter what it took.
“Then last year with Covid and injuries, it was just a mess of a year. This year we just decided we’d give it a real lash, we’d keep it tight at the back and just try to win games and get there. The big goal was to get to a final again, this team deserves to be in a final nearly every year we can. Once you get to a semi-final, anything can happen after that.”
They managed that with a win over Ballinagh and then the semi against the Gaels was the definition of a dogfight. In wintry conditions, with a gale blowing down the pitch, it was a test of character. Ramor passed with flying colours, conceding five points in a row but reeling the Gaels back in on the home stretch.
Cole insists he wasn’t worried at any stage in that contest. He has faith in the talent in the squad and believed that if they were in the mix, they could produce the goods.
“I wasn’t, other games I could have been but I wasn’t because I knew if we were close at the end we’d have a chance because we have players that can do stuff, like Sean McEvoy did. I knew we had a chance if we could stay close and that was probably in the back of our minds from last year, when the Gaels took over in the first 20 minutes of the game and that was us gone.
“We just weren’t going to let that happen again. I know it wasn’t the best game to watch until the last 10 minutes but we didn’t really care, we just wanted to win it.”
That aforementioned loss to Cavan Gaels in the 2020 quarter-final left a scar but they have drawn on the experience. When the sides met again, Ramor didn’t have to dig deep for motivation.
“We were seven points up against Crosserlough and let it slip and lost the game, that put us in the quarter-final against the Gaels. They had a lot of fodder on us after we had beat them in Crosskeys [in round three] and we had a few injuries going in – Jack [Brady] wasn’t available, Gareth Mannion wasn’t available, a few players like that.
“We were kind of under pressure that day and they had plenty to give after us beating them a couple of weeks beforehand by a good few points.”
Gowna enter as 8/13 favourites with the bookmakers. There is no false modesty at play for the Ramor manager when he says that their final opponents are worthy favourites.
“Gowna deserve to be favourites, they’ve won the league final already, they’ve won most of their games comprehensively, they’ve had a great season and have a great bunch of young lads there who are fit, mad to play football. They deserve to be there, they have played the best football of anybody there so far.
“We’ll go and do our bit and we’ll be ready for them but they deserve to be favourites in fairness.”
Ray, and the Cole family, have an association with the club which goes back decades. The last three Ramor sides to win the championship in 1985, 1992 and 2016 had a few Coles on the panel. As a young man, Ray played on the middle team.
But while a few family names on the teamsheet have been a constant, the town of Virginia has changed a lot over the years and the club has evolved with it.
“It’s just the volume of people in and out of the club now, it’s unreal. You go there on a Saturday morning and you can’t get parking, there are that many people there with underage, U17s down to U11s, and it’s great to see it.
“We had an average of 45, 48 at training with us all year this year so there’s a great bunch of players there, all mad to play football and who all want to play football for Ramor.
“It has changed a lot. Back when I started off, I won a championship in ’92 with an ageing team, Paddy McNamee and Derek McDonnell and all those boys.
“After that, there was a barren spell, we were in relegation play-offs for a long time and then a bunch of young lads came on who had won a minor and that’s what has brought this team now to where it is.
“They won in 2016, should have gone on and probably won some more. In 2019, we got to the final, didn’t have any luck that day and hopefully this year now will be their year.”