Tight schedule leaves little time to rest for Egan’s men
John McGlynn looks to scoop up the ball during last Sunday's thrilling win against Caltra. The Kilmeena attacker scored six points, including four from play. Picture: Martin McIntyre
The real test of any team is not how to deal with triumph, but adversity. Much of the challenge Kilmeena had to deal with against Caltra last Sunday was of their own making at times but, like their Mayo intermediate championship victory, they kept going.
Tuam Stadium can be an unforgiving venue for Mayo teams at club and county level, even more so when going into extra-time, but Kilmeena found the strength of character necessary – as well as a bit of much-needed luck – to set up a Connacht semi-final with Coolaney-Mullinbreena this Saturday.
“At times, it looked like the game was getting away from us, but we kept going,” said Kilmeena manager Damien Egan. “The mistakes were obviously high today, though high for both teams, and we were flat at times. But in fairness, the likes of Jack Carney there, got the winner right at the end when he was down injured, got up, and swung over a great score.
“Winning ugly after extra-time up in Tuam, not too many teams do it so we've momentum now into a semi-final which is all we want.
“Their experience over the last few years, they would have tapped into that when the game was in the melting pot. Whatever our lads thought about in those few minutes, you know, it did the job anyway.”
Momentum will be critical for this provincial series, given that Kilmeena will be out three weekends in-a-row should they win their semi-final, with the final set for the following weekend (November 22/23).
Kilmeena’s squad needed be called upon and their impact off the bench was huge against Caltra. Liam Durkan was outstanding in defence while county final hero Cormac O’Malley did his burgeoning reputation no harm with a pair of two-pointers as well as some excellent fielding in the middle of the park. Caolach Halligan was also held in reserve due to a slight knock but Damien Egan expects the Meath native to be available for the Connacht semi-final.
“It'll be Thursday before the bodies are anywhere right. As you saw today, we worked our bench very well… the likes of Luke Durkan, obviously Cormac coming on. The key thing is if most of our bodies are fit for next weekend, we'll give it a right rattle. Obviously it's not ideal but we're up and running now again and we'll see what happens.
“A massive [score from Cormac] when we really needed them, two or three good marks as well, so trying to harness his impact and as I say, you can see there the last couple of games trying to utilise our squad as best as possible. It probably worked again today.
“Again, Luke Durkan was as impressive defensively, I'd say, as Cormac was attacking wise.”
The composure that Kilmeena showed will need to evident again against the Sligo champions, who will be out for the first time in three weeks since their county final victory over Enniscrone-Kilglass. The extra-time was far from ideal for Kilmeena but given the outstanding performances of their full-back line, the monstrous performance of Jack Carney and the fortitude of attackers like Liam Moore, John McGlynn and Darragh Keaveney, they’ll be confident in dealing with whatever may come their way.
Again, it will boil down to what was spoken about at half-time against Caltra on Sunday: composure, not just on the ball but off it too.
“In the dressing-room we spoke about it, just calming down on the ball and we did that at the start of extra-time,” explained Damien Egan. “We kind of dipped out of it then again and they got a few frees but I thought the performance of our full-back line, Ciaran Kilcoyne was outrageous on a really good player, Alan Naughton. John Ryan was excellent as well.
“When it looked like they were getting on top inside, we kind of held firm and despite our wides up the other end, we just did enough to get over the line.
“You have Liam and Ronan and obviously Cormac coming on and caught a few marks as well. If you think about it, with three, four, five men across the width of the field and once the ball went long, we dominated. They started off getting their kickouts short, so we tried to squeeze on that and force them long.
“We probably got good joy and got a lot of ball. As I said, our conversion rate we need to improve again next week.”
