Derrygonnelly lifted by Roslea victory

Derrygonnelly’s Kevin Cassidy

DERRYGONNELLY Harps’ win against Roslea last weekend not only affords the club another Championship game, but according to manager Brendan Rasdale it should make their league run less of a concern.

The Harps defeated the reigning champions last weekend, and in doing so threw the Championship wide open with a number of teams capable of taking the throne.
However, Rasdale explained that winning that Championship match has a number of other benefits for the club.

“It was a great lift,” said Rasdale.
“If we had lost that game, it would have been the third year in a row that we lost in the first round of the Championship. When that happens it becomes a problem for the club.

“It is a great lift at this stage of the season, because if you go out of the championship in the last week of July it is a struggle for the rest of the year. It makes myself, and Peter Jones’ job a lot easier.”

Without the allure of championship football to entice players to turn out to training, the panels dwindle and the hunger to win games disappears.

But how did Rasdale’s team manage to beat a Roslea team that included the irrepressible Seamus Quigley, and a side that won the last two Championship titles on the trot.

“In Fermanagh football everybody knows everyone else inside out. I would say that Roslea are that bit ahead of everybody else,” he said.

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday August 2. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent, or you can purchase the online version – for only 90p – by clicking here