Moy captain Conroy out to atone for last year

ONE less week to prepare for the County Final may work in Moy’s favour, team captain Declan Conroy believes.

Whereas this Saturday’s opponents in the Intermediate decider Derrylaughan have had a full fortnight to ready themselves for this weekend’s title tilt, the Tir na Nogs in contrast only have seven days to prepare for the assignment.

Moy’s semi-final clash with Greencastle went to a replay on Friday night, with second half goals from Matthew Laverty and Patrick McGeary ushering their passage through to the decider for the second year running.

On paper the Kevin Barrys should be in pole position having been afforded additional time to rest up and recuperate from their stamina sapping derby tussle with Moortown, but Declan Conroy doesn’t feel that the run-in to the final has been a disadvantage to his side.

“ We enjoyed getting to the final last year and all the build-up over a few weeks but we came out on the wrong side of it against Pomeroy. We have a week less to prepare now so that might work in our favour and take our minds off it.

“ Those (Derrylaughan) boys would have been training all week as we did. The difference I suppose is that we had an extra match to prepare for. We are just happy to be in the final so we won’t worry about that. It is another game so I don’t think it will make a big difference.”

Gerard McCrudden heads up Moy’s management team this season, and Conroy credits him and the rest of the backroom staff for helping to galvanise the squad after they narrowly missed out on promotion last season.

“ We had a defeat in the County Final and were beaten in the playoff final so it was a year of double disappointment but we feel like we are gradually progressing.

“ With the management in this year we feel like boys are starting to step up. We have a lot of younger boys too making their mark so that can only be a positive about how things are going.”

The Tir na Nogs still look to the experience of the Conroys and the Cavanagh brothers for leadership and composure when matches are in the balance but Declan is also impressed by the contribution of younger members of the squad, who really stood up to be counted in those gruelling clashes with Greencastle.

“ The likes of Ryan (Coleman) probably thought he hasn’t played as well as he could this last couple of games. But there tonight he really stepped up. He was unbelievable with his running power. He has the pace to burn men when he gets clear and he showed that against Greencastle.

“ Patrick McGeary and Matthew Laverty are others who really stepped up. When they get into space they can cause real damage and that’s what we like them to try and find. They turned up big time for us tonight when we needed them.”

Moy know what it takes to go the down and distance in the Intermediate Championship, with the All-Ireland winning team of 2018 still forming the backbone of the current squad. Declan Conroy lined out on that never to be forgotten day at Croke Park against Michael Glaveys of Roscommon.

And if they are looking for positive omens ahead of this weekend they defeated Derrylaughan 2-5 to 1-7 in the 2017 Tyrone County Final, a victory which propelled them on their superb run to national glory.

The Moy captain believes that Finals are always occasions to be savoured no matter how often a team gets there.

“ At this stage we are just looking forward to being in another County Final. We didn’t do the job last year so hopefully we can make amends this year.  We have had plenty of battles with those (Derrylaughan) boys. They are a brilliant team and have caught us out a lot. I’m sure they will be looking forward to playing us.”

And Conroy feels that Moy go into the Kevin Barrys showdown in fine fettle having picked up their game in the Greencastle replay.

“ I know on the first day there was a strong breeze and both teams got a lot of critcism for the way they played. The conditions were tough. Hopefully in the replay people got a better game to watch. I felt we improved a lot from last week so are just happy to get through to the final.”

“ We still had a few wides and let other chances go abegging. I had a good goal chnace myself in the first half which I didn’t take but at the end of the day we were just happy to get over the line.”