By Kevin Herron
Antrim U-20 boss Hugh McGettigan admits that last Fridays victory over Derry in the Ulster Championship was a stressful experience but one that put a smile on many people’s faces.
The Rossa native had masterminded the Saffrons victory over Fermanagh and Donegal at Minor level but his side claimed their first win at U-20 (previously U-21) at the expense of the Oak Leaf County at the Dub.
McGettigan believes that the victory pleased so many people within the County but insists it was a game full of stress.
“All the boys were very pleased – not just the players, all the spectators that were there and the folk were very pleased with the result” believes McGettigan.
“The performance caused a few people stress and there was a lot of stress involved in the whole performance the way it went. It was a stressful game scenario but we were just so glad to get through”.
McGettigan pinpointed his side’s strong attack and praised the trio of Adam Loughran, Dominic McEnhill and Pat Shivers – who topped scored with 0-05.
“Some of the forwards certainly produced great performances” McGettigan reflected.
“Adam Loughran- who is on the senior county team and Dominic McEnhill performed well along with Pat Shivers. Pat has brought some of his experience gained with being on the Cargin senior team to the fore. It’s good to see those lads all stepping up and producing big performances”.
Reward for Friday’s victory sees the Saffrons take on a Tyrone side that McGettigan predicts will be All-Ireland champions come the end of the current campaign and the St. Mary’s CBGS school teacher was certainly impressed with the red hand men’s showing in their quarter-final win over Armagh.
“Tyrone will be favourites for the All-Ireland” predicts McGettigan.
“This is how you measure yourself against some of the best teams in Ireland. Tyrone were All-Ireland champions at U-17 level and this is their squad a few years on. It’s going to be a good yardstick for how well our lads have progressed over the last couple of years. They’re exceptionally strong and managed to get the victory over Armagh- playing a lot of the game with 14-men. It shows the calibre of the opposition”.
Although Tyrone will be overwhelming favourites for Saturdays clash, McGettigan is adamant that the players will be motivated to test Paul Devlin’s side and feels his players are on course to perform at club and county levelC
“We would still see it as very, very important to perform against these bigger teams. Everybody is motivated towards putting in a good performance against Tyrone” McGettigan revealed.
“This group of players – some of them played last year and it’s good to have them back again”.
“You see the improvement that they have playing at this level, it’s really taken them on and you’d hope that some of younger lads in the panel will get a great experience and be able to perform next year at a high level and most importantly – be able to go on and perform for their club and county in the future. That’s what’s really important”.
McGettigan also praised his fellow coaches in the backroom team that include goalkeeping coach Benny Devlin and Colm Walsh – as well as newcomers Niall Jackman and Benny Marron.
“We’ve been helped out again by Benny Devlin (Moneyglass goalkeeping coach) he worked with the squad for a couple of years and has seen great improvement along with Colm Walsh”.
“New in is Niall Jackman from Fermanagh and Benny Marron- who is coaching at St Johns this year. It’s a good group of coaches to work with the team”.