By Shaun Casey

SILVERBRIDGE claimed the Division 1B league title last weekend, seeing off Dromintee in the final round, but rather than concentrating on the silverware, manager Colm Nally insists his side are focused on performance.

“We were delighted, obviously at the start of the season one of our goals was to try and get promoted so we got that box ticked a few weeks ago and any time you get a chance to compete for some silverware, it’s always good for the lads,” said the former Meath coach.

“It gives them a bit of confidence, but I don’t think anyone is getting carried away. We trained the next morning just to keep it going because it’s very important that fellas don’t get carried away about any sort of success.

“I know this sounds boring, but we don’t put any emphasis on results, we try our best not to because that’s what’s wrong with a lot of teams at the minute, it’s all about winning, winning, winning.

“If it is all about winning, then you can’t develop players. We have one or two young players that have played very well but within that performance there’s three or four mistakes that need to be coached and you need to work with them and there has to be room for that as well.

“What we try to do is we put little or no emphasis on the scoreboard. If you’re genuinely focus on performances and if you refer back to performance all the time, the performance will ultimately get better over time.

“If the performance gets better, the results will get better instead of having the outcome goal of winning, winning, winning, you have to have the performance goal first. That’s the start point when you’re trying to build something.”

Nally’s main focus is very much in developing the team and the upcoming Senior Championship campaign will give them a further chance to do that.

“There are some good players in Silverbridge and it’s just about integrating the new players with the existing players. They’ve been a senior team now for four or five years and the age profile is decent and we’ve a good mix of young players coming through as well.

“There’s a great appetite for football, great appetite for learning, big numbers at training and a big interest and a great club. There’s a big interest with everybody involved.

“There’s not a lot of silverware to win in Armagh. You have the senior championship, then the 1A league and 1B league so to win one of them is a good start.

“But the main thing is now that we get up to Division 1A is to try and hold your own and try to push on from there. That’s the most important thing, is that scope for further development.

“You won’t know until you’re up there competing with the seasoned teams. That’ll give you a better idea of where the development is then.”