AVOID defeat – that is all Gabriel Rangers need to do against Dromtarriffe in their McCarthy Insurance Group Intermediate A Football Championship Group 2 clash on Saturday in Castletownkennigh (4.30pm).
After a win over Mitchelstown (0-19 to 0-16) and a draw with Kildorrery (1-15 apiece), the Ballydehob club is in a good position to qualify for the knock-out stages. Gabriels boss Mike O’Brien feels that they are in an ideal place, in terms of the championship and overall performance.
‘We are happy with where we are at the minute. Three points. Top of the group, just about, but in a good place. It’s in our own hands,’ O’Brien told The Southern Star.
The beauty of this scenario is, as long as Gabriels don’t lose to Dromtarriffe, the players, mentors and fans won’t need to look at their phones for updates. They are in control of their own destiny.
‘I’ve said to our lads, “go out and win the game.” We have got to go to win it. We’re not going to look for favours from anyone else. We’ve got to do our own job. Forget about the other teams and concentrate on ourselves,’ O’Brien emphasised.
‘We’re up against a good side in Dromtarriffe, a big strong side. We have no doubts about what test we have ahead of us.’
Dromtarriffe are one of three teams in this competition on zero points after two games. As of now, they are in danger of a relegation play-off which means they are battling for survival. But the boys from Ballydehob will be ready for the challenge.
‘It puts a bit more pressure on them to get a result because they don’t want to be in a relegation battle. They’ll be out to win the game so that makes it intriguing in a way,’ O’Brien said.
There were a lot of positives from Gabriels’ win over Mitchelstown. But management weren’t entirely pleased with the showing in the draw against Kildorrery, who scored a last-minute goal.
‘The second half of the first game (against Mitchelstown) was very good. I wasn’t happy with the last day (against Kildorrery) because I thought we were going for goals rather than taking our points early on in the game. We could have been out of sight,’ the Gabriels boss explained.
‘I don’t know how many chances we missed in the first half but we kept doing the same thing in the second half. That’s now what we wanted. There were four minutes of injury time, they had a free out the field, their corner-forward got a touch, back of the net and it drew the game when we should have been out of sight. The players knew it themselves.
‘Training has been good since. They’ve been working hard and they know now what they have got to do on Saturday. ‘
The West Cork side was very unlucky in this competition last year. But their 1-9 to 0-11 semi-final loss to eventual champions Glanmire showed that they aren’t too far away. They are determined to go further this season. ‘We were very unlucky last year. That day, they got a goal just before half time, and that was the difference. We could have won that game,’ O’Brien said.
‘I thought we were a bit short in squad numbers last year but we have a few players back this year, which has added to the team. The group has expanded – we are stronger this year as a group.’
