Draw with leaders will give Castle confidence-Teague

SECURING an unlikely point at the home of the league leaders was just the ‘leg-up’ that Greencastle needed entering a vital series of matches in Division One, manager Sean Teague believes.

Enda Clarke’s late fisted goal helped the battling St Patrick’s seal an eye-catching 1-8 apiece draw at Dromore last Friday night, and in doing so put the ‘Castle’s relegation rivals on red alert.

Most would have put this fixture down as a home banker given that St Dympna’s came into the contest boasting a 100 per cent winning record, and the contest appeared to be following that pre-ordained script when the hosts eased six points clear in the early stages of the second half.

However even shorn of the services of a host of regulars Greencastle refused to throw in the white towel, and amid the deepening gloom at Gardrum Park they came storming back to restore parity by the final whistle.

Sean Teague was delighted with the spirit and determination displayed by his young charges.

“ We set our stall out to hold back Dromore’s scoring in the first half and keep ourselves in it.

“ We were still in with a shout as the second half went on and we threw on big Clarke hoping we would get a goal out of it and sure enough he delivered when it mattered.

“ This was a massive leg-up for us. Other teams will see too that we picked up a point away to Dromore so in that regard it’s a boost.

“ Who knows maybe Dromore took it a bit easier than they would usually do when they are playing one of the bottom teams but we still had to go out and perform and we got a point from them.”

So stretched was the visitors playing resources at the weekend, that they had to concede the preceding Reserve game to Dromore because of lack of numbers. Teague was pleased with the response of the team he pitched into the fray against the table toppers.

“ We have a lot of men down at the minute. I suppose we are no different to any other club, but we just don’t have the cover that others do. Even during the warm up Dromore had thirty odd men warming up, we had twenty odd.

“ This was the second time this year that we couldn’t field a reserve team. Some boys were away and others are injured. Of last year’s Senior team there is seven of them not playing at the minute. That leaves you with no choice but to throw in young lads. For example big Sean Conneely had only his first or second start of the year and did really well.”

The fomer county captain dismissed the suggestion that last Friday’s encounter was something of a free-hit for Greencastle, because of the contrasting league form of the two teams going in.

“ Anytime Greencastle go out there we expect to get something out of a match, no matter the opposition. There’s no point fielding if that isn’t the attitude. There is definitely no freebies.

“ We have three games coming up now in the space of a week -Carmen, Galbally and Ardboe. We will expect to get something out of those games too. The boys did brilliant but they are still young and inexperienced so you definitely need the more regular players back.”