Gortletteragh taking nothing for granted ahead of Smith Monumentals IFC Final

They may be hot favourites for this year's Smith Monumentals Intermediate Championship title but manager Paul McGuire and captain Jack Heslin insist that Gortletteragh are taking nothing for granted ahead of Saturday's clash with Annaduff in Avantcard Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.

Annaduff beat Gortletteragh in the group game but manager Paul McGuire does not believe it will have any impact on the Final: "It will be a tough game against Annaduff, it always is. The group game has no bearing on the final, it is a new game and the game is going to have to be won on the day."

Neither does the favourites tag bother the Gortletteragh manager: "“We never let that get into our heads. We always knew that we were probably in the stronger group. We knew Annaduff were always going to be there or abouts ..... You just have to keep focusing on the next game and we didn’t let that get into our heads.”

His captain Jack Heslin was singing from the same hymn sheet, emphasising that Gortletteragh still had a job to do: “Delighted, the final is where we wanted to be at the start of the year. But we’ve won nothing yet but we said this is where we want to be and I’m just delighted to get the win today.

"It is a fifty-fifty game, it can swing either way. Annaduff is Annaduff, they beat us earlier in the competition, we’ll just have to put the heads down now. They’ll probably be going in as favourites but it is up to this to give them a game."

READ MORE FROM PAUL & JACK IN THIS WEEK'S LEITRIM OBSERVER