Setanta quietly building towards the biggest game in club's history

Setanta selector Gary McGettigan says that silence has been golden these past two weeks as the club readies itself for a historic Ulster Club IHC final shot at Tyrone heavies Carrickmore. 

That tranquil build-up is in complete contrast to the magnitude of the occasion and indeed what’s at stake. But with temperatures plummeting, the usual interest along the perimeter at training has also dropped. 

The Setanta fateful have of course continued to turn up in their droves as their team overcame both Ballinscreen and Middletown in recent weeks. 

However, McGettigan says midweek preparations now are strictly business. 

“There is a definite sense of excitement. You can see that there in the players at training. It’s probably a strange one in a way - this time of year I mean. Coming up to a county final, you’d be training away on your own pitch and there’s usually a good crowd about. There is plenty of noise and humour. 

“But with the winter closed in, and no floodlights, we’ve been training all over the place lately. 

“But because of what’s at stake, there are probably pluses to that as there’s no one about, no distraction and you simply just have to get on with the training”.

Setanta have climbed the provincial JHC mountain but it was hard to know how’d they’d fare moving up to the Intermediate ranks. But that transition has been seamless. 

It’s raised some eyebrows but McGettigan says Setanta’s holding of their own at this grade hasn’t surprised him one bit. 

“Coming from Junior up to Intermediate, it’s a step up but people might be making more of it than is needed. Realistically, the majority of clubs we came across last year in the Junior were all serious sides. 

“Dungannon would have made an Intermediate final not that long ago and Glenarn would be a top team in Antrim. So the games we played last year at that level definitely set us up for this run. 

“Winter hurling isn’t as free-flowing as you’d like anyways. So they’re always tight and conditions are usually a great leveller. So experience and a bit of grit is usually what gets you over the line”. 

Setanta’s semi-final victory over Middletown of Armagh was as dramatic as it was hard-earned. 

Gerard Gilmore lofted over a fifth-minute injury-time winner as the side dramatically edged past the Orchard men 0-13 to 1-11 in Owenbeg a fortnight ago. 

Middletown had opened up a four-point cushion near the end of the third quarter and you wondered if the Cross men were on the verge of capitulation. But they’d dig deep to pull it back to two. 

And with Josh McGee Cronolly stepping up just when his side needed it most to crack in a superb three-pointer, Setanta led for the very first time, 1-10 to 0-12. 

Matters swung back and fourth from that point right up until the end with the teams all level bang on 59 minutes. But a late penalty awarded to Middletown threatened to finally extinguish Setanta’s brave efforts.

With Steven McBride and Declan Coulter also having to hobble off down the home scratch, it looked ominous for the Donegal champions. 

But joint manager Kevin Campbell, also the team’s goalkeeper, had other ideas as his gamesmanship seemed to distract ace score-getter Ryan Gaffney who dragged his effort wide. 

Gilmore would then step up to nail the game’s decisive score to bring the curtain down on an exhausting night’s efforts at the foot of the Sperrin Mountains. 

“I know people look back at the penalty but both sides missed plenty of chances on the night as well,” McGettigan explained. 

“Again, it was just so blustery. No one sitting in the stand probably appreciated just how tricky the conditions were. There was a real swirling wind. And it made it so hard for both teams.  

“We probably had even more chances than Middletown but we got a wee bit of a rub of the green as well in relation to the penalty. So we were just happy to get out of it with the win”. 

On the night, it has to be said that both McBride and Coulter looked hampered as they hobbled back up the tunnel as the Setanta celebrations died down and the group returned to the dressing room. 

But McGettigan is happy to report that both those key operators as well as the rest of the squad are in rude health ahead of Saturday’s return to Owenbeg. 

“We’d a few lads that came off with wee knocks - Stevie McBride and Declan Coulter. But thankfully they’ve both been back out training. We’ve no major injury concerns”.

McGettigan is an experienced and well-travelled campaigner with a cerebral knowledge of hurling inside the province. And he doesn’t believe there’ll be much in the weekend’s clash when all is said and done. 

“The majority of both teams have played county hurling at some level. They’re quite similar in that way. Carrickmore have won Tyrone five years on the trot so they have that extra experience at Intermediate level.  

“It probably makes them slight favourites but if we can get to the level we know we can get to we won’t be far away”.