By 
ULSTER INTERMEDIATE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL
By Michael McMullan
FRUSTRATION and immense disappointment were Clonoe manager Kevin Madden’s words of choice to describe the mood in their dressing room after Saturday’s Ulster Intermediate Championship semi-final defeat in Armagh.
Madden didn’t buy into the “massive favourites’” tag many gave his side ahead of their clash with Cuchulainns.
“We didn’t really buy into that narrative,” he said. “We looked at them in the video and they were an aggressive team, right from (Niall) Carolan in the centre-half back to (Byran) Magee in full forward.
“We knew we were going to have our work cut out to beat them. It’s just funny the narrative that Clonoe, the Division 2 team and Tyrone were overriding favourites to win the competition whenever the other three teams left (Glenullin, Cuchulainns and Carrickmacross) were playing Division One football in the rest of the counties.
“I thought that was a wee bit disrespectful to Cuchulainns.”
Madden points to the winners having finished fourth in Cavan’s Division One and Saturday’s performance proved they were a team playing at that level.
“They are a very good side. I think it was in the county final against Butlersbridge, their shot to score ratio was 88 per cent, which is completely through the roof.
“They played the ‘D’ very well and they got runners coming off the loop, they don’t force shots, they don’t force passes.”
A hallmark of Clonoe’s win over Saval was Declan McClure’s dominance at midfield in an overall team performance and Madden felt it was an area the Cavan champions go joy from on Saturday.
“They very good and very impressive in possession, but probably the big thing that they achieved this year, that no other team could do, was they got a stranglehold at midfield.
“They really targeted Declan McClure and unfortunately we didn’t have enough men stepping up and winning the breaks whenever we weren’t winning the ball cleanly around that area, particularly in the second half.”
