Cavan Senior Football Championship final

Crosserlough v

Kingscourt Stars

Saturday, Kingspan Breffni, 7.15pm

CROSSERLOUGH are aiming to make amends for their heart-breaking one-point defeat against Castlerahan in the 2018 final, but stories don’t always have happy endings.

While they’re strongly fancied to get their hands on the Oliver Plunkett Cup for the first time since 1972, their manager Jimmy Higgins isn’t one bit surprised that Kingscourt Stars have come through the other side of the draw.

Kingscourt Stars pulled off one almighty upset when they overcame Cavan Gaels in the semi-finals by eight-points – and it was all the more surprising when you consider that they really struggled to shake off Mullahoran in the previous round.

However, many of their players won the senior championship back in 2015, and Higgins is conscious that they’re facing a team with a potent mixture of youth and experience.

“I’m not at all surprised Kingscourt are in the final. They had a very good underage team a couple of years ago and they’ve brought through a number of those players – Cian Shekleton, Paddy Meade, John Oates, Shane Duffy.

“They have something that we don’t have as well – they anchor those young lads with more experienced players like Alan Clarke, Barry Reilly and Padraig Faulkner.

“They have a great mix. A lot of people were surprised to see them beat Cavan Gaels because the Gaels have the headline names, but Kingscourt are a very talented and hard-working team.”

Joe Dillon has been a massive loss to Kingscourt during their championship run, while Padraig Faulker had to go off with injury against Cavan Gaels, but as Higgins says they have plenty left in reserve.

As for Crosserlough, they qualified for the final with a spirited performance against Castlerahan, eventually pulling away to record a 2-16 to 0-16 victory after extra-time.

Higgins said: “There were a couple of phases in the game where we left ourselves a bit to do, Castlerahan went two clear coming into injury time, the boys didn’t panic and responded with two quick points, and we got over the line in extra-time.”

Even though they reached the final two years ago, they’re still an incredibly young team. At 24 years of age, David Shalvey is their oldest player, while they’ve also had to deal with the absence of former Cavan captain Dara McVeety.

Higgins said: “The boys will have the experience of getting to the final but they are a relatively inexperienced bunch.

“As Dara is away, a lot of them have had to step into leadership roles this year and you can see the transformation of some of them in that regard. the more games they play the more experience they get.”

Higgins also cited the work of their strength and conditioning coach Eoin Maguire in ensuring that the team is in tip-top condition heading into Saturday’s game, which is set to be broadcast live on RTE.

“Eoin has got them in great shape. He’s been there about a year and a half. They’ve got bigger and stronger but not to the detriment of what they have, which is pace.”

By Niall Gartland