Sarsfields ready for the home straight

DRUMRAGH are still in a decent position as the race for play-off places reaches the home straight during the next two weeks.

The Sarsfields came from four points down to run out seven-point winners against Augher in their round 14 fixture at Clanabogan. That win over the St Macartan’s sees the Sarsfields located in fifth spot on 19 points with three rounds remaining.

Drumragh play Brackaville(home), Donaghmore III(away) and Eskra (away) in the closing ties of the main league programme before any potential play-offs plus the championship arrive into the equation. Sarsfields manager Colm Bradley feels that the squad are in a good place heading into the season’s defining stages:

‘’ We had a couple of tricky weeks there with defeats to Aghaloo and Fintona but we got a win at Brocagh and drew with Glenelly before getting the weekend victory over Augher at home.

‘’ Augher started brightly and it took us time to get a grip on the game. We had to restructure our defensive set-up and then the team began to come more into the contest. We were happy with the second half display and the team scored some good points.

‘’ Injuries are impacting upon us but several players have stepped up to the mark and performed leadership roles in the team that is encouraging to see. This helps to give more options as players proved they can perform different roles’’, added the manager who has a good back-room team to help as well.

Three league ties remain to be completed for Drumragh, starting with Brackaville this weekend and the Sarsfields camp are keen to finish the league fixture list on a bright note, as Colm Bradley points out:

‘’ We started the season with a run of wins and then had opportunities to continue that run against Cookstown. The Fr Rocks denied us and they have since defeated Fintona narrowly too. As I said, we had a sticky patch but hopefully the win over Augher can help us play well in the last few games.

‘’ We will be striving to try and seal a play-off place and hopefully then we can reset for the championship up ahead. We play Derrytresk in a tough championship opener but it’s important to keep the league very much on our minds before focusing afterwards for the championship.

‘’ Every game is significant in this league and a defeat or two can knock you back. We rediscovered our winning touch in the game with Augher and now it’s onto Brackaville at home this weekend.

Brackaville have been putting up some sizeable score returns over recent weeks, so we need to be on our game for that one’’, remarked the Sarsfields manager.

The play-off race is going to make for an interesting scene over the next three fixture rounds for all those teams in the mix. Drumragh are aiming to keep their name in the play-off hat before championship matters move into the spotlight.