Fitzpatrick anticipates 'great occasion' in novel final

Ladies football

Kevin Óg Carney

Ahead of this Saturday’s county Ladies SFC final (4pm) at Kingspan Breffni, Drumlane team-manager Eamonn Fitzpatrick says that if his charges can reproduce the quality of football and energy levels they delivered last time out, Lacken Celtic will have their hands full.

Fitzpatrick was utterly delighted with the form Drumlane showed in ousting (2-14 to 1-16) favourites Crosserlough in a titanic semi-final tie that was only decided after the completion of extra-time.

“It was a fantastic game,” the Drumlane boss enthused. “It was probably the best ladies football match I’ve ever seen or been part of and it really could have gone either way to be honest.

“At the end of the day, I thought maybe our fitness levels got us over the line and for that we have to thank Ollie Fay who has got the girls in top condition with a lot of hard running from right back at the start of the season.”

The Drumlane native and long time Sons of O’Connell mentor is adamant that the Hoops are deserving of a first-ever place in the senior championship final although he does admit that most people in the county would have fingered the ‘lough as the side most likely to have come out of their recent semi-final joust on top.

“I can understand why ourselves and Lacken have caught most people by surprise by getting to the final but both of us deserve to be in the final, as far as I’m concerned.

“We’ve been knocking on the door though and reached last year’s championship semi-final so it’s not as if we’ve come from nowhere.

“Losing by just the goal against Lurgan was a hard one to take and I think all the girls were just so determined to make up for it this year that no-one was going to stop them making the final.

“Crosserlough have the better pedigree and they would have been favourites to at least make the final along with Lurgan and possibly Killygarry but, in all honesty, there has been very little between all of us over the last couple of years.”

So little between the major combatants right now that Eamonn – not unexpectedly – reckons this Saturday’s tete-a-tete is too close to call.

Fitzpatrick is happy in his own mind that he has all his ducks in a row and that, just as importantly, all his troops came through the aforementioned marathon match with the ‘lough uninjured although a few niggles have been reported since.

The Drumlane boss believes that this weekend’s decider will “be a great occasion”. He also believes that the 2023 blue riband title “would be a great one to win” not least because it would be the west county club’s first ever such success.

“We’ve prepared as best we can and the girls have done terrifically well to get this far ‘cause it’s been a very tough campaign but one that has brought us a lot of joy at the same time.”

And what of the fact that Drumlane have beaten all-comers to date with Killeshandra, Lacken Celtic, Templeport and Crosserlough all coming a cropper?

“Those games are behind us at this stage and it’s all down to next Saturday. The girls were literally exhausted after the Crosserlough semi-final game but they’ll have recharged their batteries by the time Lacken come around again.”

Surely Drumlane must be going into this weekend’s decider with a psychological advantage having trumped Lacken already this season?

“I don’t think that game or result will have any bearing at all on what happens in the final. Us and Lacken are two well-matched teams with a lot of good players and teams that will fight all the way to the wire. It’s a 50/50 game.

“Both teams have a good mix of youth and experience and it will be very close with many it coming down to which team converts its chances the most.”