UlsterNet.co.uk

Tyrone and Armagh clash in Minor Final

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

THE reigning All-Ireland champions take on the All-Ireland champions of 2008 in Sunday's Ulster Minor Football Championship final at Clones.
It's a fixture that carries with it the promise of quality, of class and of supreme entertainment for the big crowd that will pack into St Tiernach's Park to see Armagh face Tyrone.
But Red Hand manager Raymond Munroe doesn't believe the outstanding achievements of minor teams from the two counties over the past couple of seasons will have any bearing on this week's provincial decider.
“We'll be looking at it as another game with an Ulster title at stake. What has gone on in the past is totally different. It's not like senior football, where you're playing with the same panel.
“For ourselves it's a completely new panel, and I'm sure Armagh have a lot of changes.
“So this will just be about the 2010 panels taking each other on for an Ulster title," he said.
Munroe is hoping the steady development and gradual improvement displayed by his side during the series will be maintained on Sunday.
The Tyrone lads dug deep to carve out a heroic semi-final win over Down, standing firm in a backs-to-the-wall finale to hold on for a narrow success, having come from eight points behind.
“I don't think we got the credit we deserved, because a lot of pundits expected Down to win, and that we were very lucky.
“But on the day, we turned an eight point deficit into a two point lead, which is a 10 point turnaround.
“It took an awful lot of energy on the day to do that. When Down got on top, we held out, we kept Down from overtaking us, which I thought was no mean feat.
“We went out to win the game, it was all about working very hard, and I think we got our deserved rewards at the end."
The manager is confident that the experience gained in that Casement Park victory will be of immense benefit to his players.
“Every game, every stage you get, you grow in confidence, you actually grow in stature, you grow in the experience that you have.
“It was the same last year, when you look back at the game against Armagh in the very first round. There was very little in it, but you saw where Armagh ended up.
“That's what minor football is all about, taking it day by day. Certainly, you can fall back on the experience of the previous day out.
“That's going to be very important, because to come through that type of game and come out as winners is very important in the development of any young player, and hopefully it's going to stand us in good stead on Sunday."
Win or lose this weekend, both teams will advance to the All-Ireland quarter-finals by way of the minor championship's own version of the back door system.
And Munroe is hoping that the guarantee of progression to the All-Ireland series will not take the edge off his players' desire to win an Ulster title.
“Hopefully not. Obviously, you're dealing with minors here, you don't know what the mindset is. No manger knows the mindset of his players until he actually experiences what happens in games like this.
“We'll be trying to get the message across that there's not one player on our panel who has got an Ulster Minor Championship medal. That challenge is still out there.
“We certainly aren't thinking about the next round, or about an All-Ireland quarter-final."

Subscribe to read full newspaper »

Send this page to a friend »