Rodgers hopes for more of Beragh’s second half showing

TRAILING by four points and down to 13 men, Beragh’s cause looked a forlorn one in the first round of the Intermediate Championship, but Martin Rodgers remained confident that they would eventually get their act together.

Even with the numerical disadvantage the Red Knights plundered four second half goals – man of the match Oran Treacy netting one and setting up two others- as they turned the tables on Drumragh to run out 4-9 to 1-13 victors.

Next up for them is Greencastle in the quarter-finals this Friday night at Healy Park. You would have given long odds on Beragh booking their ticket into the last eight just after the interval in the topsy-turvy Sarsfields tie, and Martin Rodgers agreed that vast improvement was required down the home stretch.

“ We just didn’t do ourselves justice in the first half. We were making a lot of unforced errors and just weren’t at ourselves. We still thought we could break them down if we got our act together and got the right men on the ball in the right positions.

“ The wind was a bit deceiving and in fairness Drumragh put over some great scores in the first half. We maybe stepped off them a bit though but we managed to turn it around after the break and do the business.”

The experienced attacker admitted that the Red Knights showing in the first half was lacklustre and disjointed, something of a surprise especially given that everything was on the line for them to try and rescue a fairly nondescript season.

“ In fairness to Damien (Leonard) and Conor (Gormley) the warm up was very good and we thought we were going into it in good shape. Even at the backend of the league we thought our trajectory was heading in the right direction. So it was just one of those things that is hard to put your finger on.”

Beragh upped the ante significantly in the second half and a couple of laser-guided diagonal balls paved the way for three of their goals. Despite seeing two men sent to the line (and a third walked before the finish), they maintained their composure and belief to seal the verdict.

Rodgers added: “ We have been in a position before where maybe we had two men down and in fairness our boys stepped up. We got in behind them at times and the boys showed some great vision to pick out runners and they stuck their goals away well.

“ There will always be a few nerves in the first round of the Championship and it is all about getting a bit of momentum. In Intermediate I would say that any of the teams left will fancy themselves. I suppose those sendings off will hurt us in terms of suspensions but that gives an opportunity for someone else to step up.”

Looking ahead to the next round, Martin feels it is a tie that each side will go into harbouring genuine hopes of making the semi-finals.

“ Neither ourselves or Greencastle will fear each other. The two teams probably look at it as a decent draw. It will be interesting.

“ We were just relieved to get over the line against Drumragh but that is what Championship is all about. We had a tough game with Pomeroy last year, who pushed Errigal close in Senior this year in the first round. So nothing can be taken for granted and we knew that Drumragh would give their all.”