Fintona assistant relieved to make semi-finals

FINTONA assistant-manager John O’Neill believes that his side arguably showed Down contingent Drumanee ‘a wee bit too much respect’ in Sunday’s Ulster Junior Club Championship quarter-final victory at O’Neill’s Healy Park.

There were only four points between the teams at the final whistle as Fintona set up a semi-final clash against Blackhill, and there were periods during the game, particularly early on, where their opponents looked like they could pull off an upset.

The Pearses stayed composed and cruised across the finish line, but it wasn’t always easy and that was a testament to their opponents as much as anything else.

O’Neill said, “Maybe it did take us a while to figure them out but it wasn’t a big surprise what they brought to the table.

“There’s days where we get into the game quicker and I thought we weren’t as assertive as we wanted. We didn’t push forward as much as we’d have hoped early on.

“But equally we’ve researched them and knew they have a lot of good players and were going to bring that to the game, players you have to really respect, so maybe we were paid them a wee bit too much respect early on.”

This is uncharted territory for Fintona and while there were a few nervy moments at the weekend, it’s still a hugely exciting period for the club.
O’Neill said, “Ulster is completely new for Fintona and you’re playing teams where okay you can watch a bit of video footage but you haven’t played them before.

“You don’t have a history and you don’t know them inside out. That’s a great challenge for a young panel, we’ve a very young panel and this is real learning stuff. Any day you’d love to go out and in the first 20 or 30 minutes streaking ahead by five or six points but that’s not always realistic in championship games like these.”