By Shaun Casey

CLANN Éireann won’t be taking anything for granted when they take on Derry champions Newbridge at Celtic Park this Sunday in the opening round of the Ulster Championship, says boss Ruairi Lavery.

Newbridge upset the odds in the Oakleaf County, overcoming Derry, Ulster and All-Ireland champions Glen in the final. While many from Clann Éireann would already have had their eye on Glen, the Lurgan side have now sharply switched their focus.

Clann Éireann claimed their second county title in four years, and a fourth in their history, by seeing off their Lurgan rivals Clan na Gael by seven points. Lavery took over the reins in 2022 and secured his first title as manager this season

“Newbridge have been absolutely fantastic, but I think probably even within their own county, people were expecting Glen to do it,” said Lavery. “It’s a game of football and the bookies don’t often get it wrong but when it’s two teams anything can happen.

“To be fair, I think Newbridge led from start to finish bar a period after Glen’s goal in the second half. It’s clear to see they have a lot of hunger, they’re a young team and they have no fear.

“They’re really playing in a way that they believe in – they like to get the ball and look after it and fair play to them for what they’ve achieved. For us, I know it’s the textbook answer, but we genuinely weren’t looking any further than the county final. I don’t think you can afford to do that.”

On reclaiming the Gerry Fagan Cup, the Clann Éireann boss added, “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. It’s the culmination of three years of hard work since the lads and Tommy (Coleman) delivered the first one in a long, long time (in 2021).

“We know with the success we’ve had at underage that there was a lot of expectation that we should go on and maybe get another couple. The first year we fell well short of that and that was to do with our own shortcomings.”

Clann Éireann have won the last two Division 1A league titles in the Orchard County before adding championship silverware to their trophy cabinet this year. “We got our first league title ever last year, which was a good start,” added Lavery.

“We started well in the championship but in the semi-final (against Clan na Gael) we felt we had the game under control and again we let it slip. The Clans turned us over and probably deserved to do so.

“This year, we could either run away from it or go and look at what it was that went wrong and how you can go about rectifying it. Again, there was a lot of hard work this year and we didn’t sail through, we came through those tough games which was a sign of improvement.

“I thought we put in a really good performance in what was a great game against the Clans, so we were just delighted to get it done.”

Check out the latest edition of Gaelic Lives for our Ulster Club preview show..