Harps boss Smyth keeping his fingers crossed

IT’S a week of recovery and keeping the fingers crossed on the injury front for Stewartstown ahead of Saturday’s Ulster final with Cavan champions Drumlane insists joint manager Blake Smyth.

The Harps were comprehensive winners over Letterkenny Gaels in Sunday’s semi-final despite not having Shea Burke, Shea and Fergal O’Neill available, all of whom have featured this season.

“It’s all about boys getting recovered and having the rosary beads out so nobody gets hurt…so we’ll not do too much his week,” said Smyth of their five-day turnaround.

“We have Niall Dillon back on the panel, so it is great to see him back.

“He’d have been a mainstay in the team for the last 10 years. He was a big miss this season and is only coming back.”

Smyth and fellow joint manager Peter Armour were on the 2004 Ulster winning squad beaten by a Paul Galvin and Éamonn Fitzmaurice inspired Finuge in the All-Ireland final.

Goalkeeper Greg Kelly was on the bench as a teenager that season with All-Ireland minor winner Gareth Devlin one of their chief cogs in attack with 1-32 – one point ahead of Dan Lowe’s 4-24 haul.

“I suppose everybody wants to be in a final,” Smyth said of Sunday’s win. “We are happy to be there and if you are still playing championship football at this time of year, you are in a good place and we are glad to be there.”

It’s changed times from last season when the Harps dropped out of the intermediate grade with Smyth stumbling to put his finger on what exactly changed this season.

“That’s a good question,” he said, as he pondered. “We would always believe the ability is there and that we should never be in this position we find ourselves, but you deserve to be.

“We just weren’t at it last season and haven’t been good the last few seasons. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two forward.”

Another factor was bringing through 15 of the club’s 2016 Grade A U21 winning squad to senior level, forming the core of a team with Gareth Devlin as the experienced head up front.

“We don’t have a lot of numbers, so we have to make the most of it,” added Smyth, who doesn’t buy into the hype surrounding Tyrone clubs in the Ulster junior scene.

“People have the opinion that Tyrone teams are strong but that hasn’t been the case. If they look at the history books, there hasn’t been a Tyrone team in the final in six years.

“If you look at things like that, a Donegal team has been in the last four (finals) and a Cavan team (Denn last year) have won it since a Tyrone team.”
Looking ahead to a week of build-up, Smyth hinted it as the ‘down side’ with the need for players to keep their feet on the ground amidst the hype a final brings to any community.

“It is nice to let the supporters enjoy it, young and old,” he said. “There are people who will never ever see us in a final again and there are people for which it is their first ever memory…going into Clones in an Ulster final, so you have to build that in.”

Smyth had yet to delve into what Drumlane had to offer.

With eight other teams in the mix, before a ball was kicked, the tight schedule ensures a one week at a time approach to preparation.

“If you looked at them all your head would be melted,” he joked. “There is that quick of a turnaround, so you just have to worry about the team you are facing and take it from there.”

He saw Craigbane and Clones, as two of the fancied teams to go the whole way, with Drumlane since accounting for both on their way to the final.

The memory of Stewartstown’s last appearance in a final is still imprinted in the mind and a reminder of the need to get out of the blocks this weekend.

“We were seven nil down, 2-1 to 0-0, before we knew where we were at that in Casement Park…we can’t let that happen again.”