Collins: We must raise our game

Castlehaven manager says his team needs to hit top gear to beat Duhallow

CASTLEHAVEN manager Liam Collins insists his team are more prepared for Duhallow ahead of Sunday’s Cork SFC replay at Páirc Uí Rinn.

The West Cork team produced a stirring comeback to reel off the last seven points in their 0-15 apiece draw at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last weekend.

It looked for long stretches that Castlehaven would be dumped out of the championship before their great escape has earned them a second chance this weekend.

‘We will be more prepared for Sunday,’ Collins said.

‘We know Duhallow are good. They have good backs, a very strong midfield and good forwards. Our lads were under severe pressure for spells.

‘But we’ve seen Duhallow up close now and we know what we have to do. We have to bring a lot more. We need to raise our game and go to the next level if we want to beat them.

‘If we play the same as last weekend, we’ll be out. The performance the last day won’t be good enough. But we know that, and each and everyone of our lads knows that they can play better.’

There’s plenty of room for improvement too, Collins says.

‘We backed off Duhallow a lot, too much,’ he pointed out.

‘They slowed us down as well. Whenever we attacked we were blocked up and fouled. Tactically, that’s what they wanted to do to stop us getting on the front foot and you have to say it worked, but we need to be ready for that now.

‘We stayed composed even when we were down to 14 men and down seven points. We didn’t panic and we played our way back into the game. But we need a more consistent performance on Sunday evening.’

Castlehaven are likely to be without experienced defender Chris Hayes for the replay unless they decide to appeal his red card.

Meanwhile, Carbery Rangers manager Micheál O’Sullivan couldn’t hide his disappointment after their 0-15 to 0-12 SFC semi-final loss to St Finbarr’s, a game the Rosscarbery men had been in control of.

‘We were cleaned out at midfield in the second half,’ O’Sullivan said, ‘our midfield and our half-forward line were completely out of the game. The Barrs got on top and we didn’t break their momentum. We’ve no one to blame only ourselves. We didn’t perform. We can’t legislate for the way we folded in the second half.’