All about getting a result after tough week for Fenagh St Caillins says Paul Gill
Connacht Gold SFC: Club Chairman Paul Gill reflects on a difficult week for Fenagh as they hold off Aughawillan in Quarter-Final
Championship games are tough but there are times when events off the field put things into perspective so it was no surprise to hear Paul Gill reflect that Fenagh St Caillins were just relieved to come through their Connacht Gold SFC Quarter-Final clash with Aughawillan.
“We were probably struggling for a lot of that game, the whole way through so the positives are we didn’t concede a goal, we won a tight game and that is what we’d take from this game,” Paul told the Observer, “After the week we’ve had off the field, it was all about getting the result and that was what we got in the end.”
Paul’s reference to events off the field put things into perspective after one of the club’s young players was seriously injured in a car crash on the way home from a game in Drumkeerin and the Club Chairman highlighted admitted that Saturday’s clash with Aughawillan helped the club process what had happened.
“The crowd that came here today - the GAA is at the core of every community, the Senior teams are the main team in every club and they are the team that the younger lads look up to. In fairness, what happened during the week probably didn’t affect the players that much in terms of their preparation but it is still in their mind.”
Add in the departure of Tommy & Joe McCormack as managers from the Fenagh camp and Saturday’s game, which ended 0-9 to 0-8 in Fenagh's favour, was never going to be easy: “It was all about getting the result here today and getting across the line. Tommy & Joe’s stamp is still on them lads, we’re not doing anything majorly different.
“People may say there is turmoil from looking outside the group but not a bit of it. There is going to be 34, 35 lads in there going for a drink after this game and they’ll buckle down in the morning, looking forward to the semi-final.”
Neither did Paul or the players believe they were going to have it easy against Aughawillan: “I don’t know where that was coming from, listening to some of the reports that we were going to blow Aughawillan away - that was never, ever going to be the case. When it comes to this end of the championship, we know that they are a serious competitive force and we always knew we were going to be in for a battle.
“We didn’t expect anything else, we were never going to blow them out of the water or anything like that, it was always going to be a tight, tight affair and in a local derby, just get the result was the key thing and we’ve a lot to work on for the next day.”
The semi-final draw pitted Fenagh against champions Mohill who prevailed after extra-time last year and Paul is sure Fenagh are up for the challenge: “On to the next day, we’re well familiar with Mohill, we draw them every year in the championship so the lads are going to have to knuckle down and get ready for them.
“It is going to be a different game, we’ll see how it goes and we’ll put our best foot forward for the semi-final and hope it is good enough and if it is not, so be it.”