Derrylaughan looking for consistency

DERRYLAUGHAN overcame a lively challenge from Clogher in their Division Two league meeting last Friday and the Kevin Barry’s are keen to kick on now as they strive for better consistency.

Barry’s centre-half back Conor Kennedy was acting captain on the night since the normal duo of Fergal McAliskey and Liam Gervin were unable to play. Kennedy’s immediate reaction to the game with Clogher was a forthright one:

‘’I was marking Clogher’s centre-half forward(Marc McConnell) who is a serious player and Marc gave me plenty to contend with due to his pace and ability to land scores. Conor Shields is a fine player too among several others for Clogher.

‘’ The defence and myself managed to get a bit better to grips with the Clogher forward line in the second half but they still posed a potent threat. We were relieved to get our goals when the chances came along or otherwise it may well have been a different story.

‘’ We started the match pretty sharply to carve out a three-point advantage but Clogher came rattling back at us and they led over half-time. Thankfully, then, we met the ground running after half-time and gained some breathing space on the scoreboard but Clogher continued to ask questions of us’’, added the centre-half back.

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of Derrylaughan’s first four matches, with the win at Clogher making it two triumphs and two defeats thus far. Conor Kennedy is a fan of the Friday night fixture structure but he concedes that the Barry’s camp will be striving for more consistent displays as the next phase of fixtures unfold:

‘’ The Friday evenings are good and you get into the routine of weekly matches. That aside, though, we realised returning to intermediate football that this is a tough division and the early exchanges bear that out that clearly.

‘’ We’ve lost to Aghyaran and Pomeroy, winning against Rock in between before Friday’s victory over Clogher. We want to try improve on the wins to games front and try to make more headway.

‘’ Clonoe, Aghyaran and several sides are showing up well in the table. We therefore have ground to make up and you get punished in this division if the performance levels slip. We face Owen Roes next who are another decent side, so each game represents a challenge.

‘’ It’s good to see younger lads filtering through to the team as well and they can benefit from the experience of playing in a closely contested league. Regular games and a more set structure to the season helps teams develop without too many long gaps in play.

‘’ The near future in terms of some fixtures depends too on how Tyrone get on in the All-Ireland series but from our own viewpoint the aim is to try and win as many points as possible moving towards the July holiday break’’, concluded Derrylaughan’s stand-in captain.