By Shaun Casey

COMING into the championship campaign as Division Four league winners, Dromara carried all that confidence and momentum into the group stages and have already qualified for the quarter-finals.

Having picked up three victories on the trot over Aughlisnafin, Glasdrumman and Aghaderg, John Fegan’s men have one game of the round robin series remaining against Dundrum before looking ahead to the knockout stages.

Collecting that league title back in August gave Fegan’s side the belief that they could produce the goods in the championship.

“The league was important just to get a trophy on the table for the boys,” said Fegan.

“It gave them belief then going into this championship that they can challenge, and they can go all the way if they put their mind to it and buy into what we’re doing from the start.

“Thankfully the boys have done that, they’ve bought into everything we’ve asked and it’s going well so far. We’ve topped the table, just the way things have fallen, with two games to go.

“We have a free week this week, so it’s about recovery this week, getting the bodies right and then we played Dundrum in our last game.

“We don’t want to lose a game, that’s just the way we’ve approached the whole season. We take each game as it comes, and we play to the final whistle. That’s been the mantra for the boys to be fair, there’s only been one defeat in the whole year.

“This free week now gives us just the boys with niggles or anything just to rest up.

“We’re doing a good recovery day on Saturday and then just attack the Dundrum game and then on to the quarter-final after.”

While Dromara have been racking up some huge tallies in the group stages, having posted 7-50 across their three games, Fegan and his team won’t be getting carried away just yet. They’re focusing on themselves and what they can do to improve their own setup.

“We were in the toughest group because we had the Division Three team in ours,” added Fegan. “Aughlisnafin got relegated from the Intermediate last year so that was an unknown for us with them coming down.

“Thankfully, we were over the line with a bit to spare there, they were decimated by injuries and we caught them, and we racked up a big score. Glasdrumman again, they were decimated by injuries too and we caught them on a good day as well.

“The boys have bought into the rehab this year, the strength and conditioning. I think by keeping them fresh and hungry, it’s worked in our favour so far, that we can give the boys a lot of game time.

“We have a squad of 32 at the minute and everyone’s chomping at the bit. It’s intense with training, boys playing for their jersey, trying to keep the jersey and boys trying to get on to that championship team.”