Carney: Collective effort has been key for Derrylaughan

TOMAS Carney is hoping to join the ranks of some of his experienced teammates as the proud holder of an Intermediate Championship medal when they take on the Moy this Saturday evening.

Derrylaughan landed their one and only Intermediate Championship title back in 2010 with a hard-earned 1-9 to 2-5 victory over Urney and a number of exceptionally dedicated men from that team are still plugging away for the Kevin Barrys.

Their ace forward  Carney made his adult debut in 2015 and suffered the pain of back-to-back Championship final defeats in 2016 and 2017 (the second of which was against their upcoming final opponents, Moy) but by no means has it all been doom and gloom and they enjoyed a five-year uninterrupted stint mixing it among the big boys in Division One between 2018 and 2022.

Last year they fell short at the semi-final juncture against eventual champions Pomeroy and Carney was delighted to make amends in their recent Loughshore derby clash against Moortown.

“That was definitely in the back of our minds, we didn’t play well against Pomeroy at all that day. We left a lot of scores behind us and wanted to rectify that. We were determined to give ourselves another shot at the final and we’ve ticked that box.”

A small club tucked in between nearby Derrytresk and Maghery (home of Armagh’s All-Ireland winning captain Aidan Forker), Derrylaughan aren’t blessed with a sizeable catchment area but what they do have is a batch of hugely committed players, as Carney explains.

“We’ve had 51 players who have trained for us since the start of the year. Everyone’s going for a place and whether you’re starting on the day doesn’t matter – everyone’s pushing and driving each other on. You can’t plan ahead, you don’t know what could happen in terms of injuries and so on – those squad players could be needed and that’s the approach we take to every game and training session.”

Among their number are dedicated servants still playing a pivotal role on match-day – whether on the starting 15 or sprung from the bench.

Carney commented: “You’ve lads who won a Championship for us in 2010 still knocking about – Fergal McAliskey, the Gervins (Liam and Ciaran), the two O’Hagans (Colm and Ciaran), Sean Robinson as well. Those boys are pushing us on – it doesn’t matter whether you’re the oldest on the team or the youngest, it’s a collective approach.”

Derrylaughan’s most well-known player is 2021 All-Star midfielder Brian Kennedy, a totemic figure in the middle throughout his club’s championship campaign. They’ve also a familiar presence donning the bainisteoir bib on the sideline – namely former Antrim footballer Kevin Niblock, who won an All-Ireland SFC Club title with St Gall’s back in 2010. Carney says he’s been a brilliant addition.

“Kevin’s been absolutely outstanding for us. He came in as interim manager in 2021 and we knew if we kept hold of him we wouldn’t be far away.

“He’s a vast amount of footballing knowledge and he’s a great team of men in alongside him. They’ve done a serious amount of work behind the scenes, in a sense we’re doing the busy bit coming to training on a Tuesday and Thursday night, there’s so much preparation involved and video analysis and all the rest of it. We’re very grateful for them, they’ve been class in every respect.”

Derrylaughan have overcome Clogher, Owen Roes and Moortown on the way to the final. There’s been a couple of sticky patches but on the whole they’ve been very impressive and they were particularly glad to overcome a highly rated St Malachy’s side in the semis.

“Moortown are a really good side and they ran us right to the wire. It could’ve gone either way and there was a serious wind that wasn’t really benefiting either team. It was one of those days where there was never going to be much between the teams, you were never going to run away with it. They gave us a good game and we’re expecting another huge battle in the final.”