Greencastle’s McKenna delighted to be in the mix

GREENCASTLE endured a rather mixed league campaign given their aspirations of a hasty return to top-flight football, but talented young Enda McKenna says that won’t matter a jot if they get their house in order in the Intermediate Championship.

They finished strongly with two late goals to account for neighbours Kildress in their first-round clash against Pomeroy nearly a fortnight ago, and now they’re in the midst of their preparations for Friday evening’s big quarter-final clash against Beragh Red Knights.

Greencastle can call upon a host of frontline figures who have helped carry the can for the club for quite a number of years, but there are also a number of young players coming through the ranks, including 20-year-old McKenna who kicked two vital points against Kildress.

Enda praised the side’s stalwarts as model teammates and is hopeful they can stitch together a Championship run to remember.

“ We didn’t have the best league campaign but the Championship is what it’s all about. We’ll give it a good shot and we’ve Beragh in the next round and we’re looking forward to it.

“ Beragh have a lot of attacking threat and scored four goals against Drumragh so we’ll have to be prepared for that, but you couldn’t fault our full-back line, they’re hard men and good at their job.

“Every man is willing to run the length of the pitch and everyone gets stuck in together and that’s all you can ask for. I couldn’t ask for better teammates to be honest with you.”

McKenna is also hopeful that they’re coming to the boil at the right time as they’ve a fuller deck to pick from than during the majority of a Division Two campaign that saw them finish seventh in the table.

“There were only a couple of games where we had a full team. Cahir McCullagh only played half a year and is back on the field of play, we’ve other boys back as well. Sean Fox is only home and came off the bench against Kildress, Chrissy Gillen came on as a sub as well and is only back from injury, Mark Carson came on.

“ It was probably the first time all year we’d a full bench and I’d be happy with any single one of them coming on and doing a job for us, and that’s what got us over the line in the first round.”

Late Tiarnan Teague and Ryan Gumley goals sealed a 2-11 to 1-6 win against their neighbours from Kildress, a team that have endured a poignant season following the tragic death of their talisman Matty McGuigan.

McKenna acknowledged: “It was always going to be tight in a local derby, we had chances to pull away but they kept on coming at us.

“ It’s been such a difficult season for them for obvious reasons but they left everything on the pitch for Matty. I’ve nothing but respect for those players, the way they played against us.”