Setanta boss on turnaround: ‘Surely there can be more sensible planning?’

Donegal’s newly-crowned Ulster JHC champions Setanta have been dancing in the shadow of Paradise since their superb victory over Shane O’Neill’s of Antrim on a scoreline of 1-22 to 0-15 at Celtic Park last Sunday. 

But while they certainly and rightly shot out the lights in Crossroads on Sunday night - it was swiftly back to business for grounded manager Gary McGettigan. 

“It was a great victory last Sunday but it was back to business on Monday and there is no complacency in this bunch of lads,” he said. “The boys had an ice-bath recovery session along with recovery leggings which are a bit like the armband that tightens on you when you are getting your blood pressure taken”. 

Setanta were back at full training then as their full focus is now on Kilburn Gaels of London in Carrickmore on Saturday in the All-Ireland quarter-final, throw-in 1pm. 

The Ulster champions have one injury concern as centre-forward Oisin Marley had to go off in the second half last Sunday with a swelling knee. 

“He hit 0-2 and he had two or three chances that he would normally take, and he was creating a lot of chances which is very good,” McGettigan said. “And if he had been on in the last ten minutes, he would have popped over a few more points for us” 

Marley, Steven McBride, Josh Cronnolly McGee and Sean Ward are four players who have added a really extra powerful dimension to Setanta’s play this year. Elsewhere, tigerish corner-back Denim Rowan is actually flying from Germany to be part of the team. 

McGettigan added: “He has been working in construction in Germany since the county final and he flies over for the matches, but he keeps himself in good shape.

“Ruairi Campbell travels from Belfast, and Michael Donaghue could be down the country and Davin Flynn could be in Dublin, so we never really have a full quota during the week. But come Friday night we should have everyone there”. 

McGettigan is not a fan of the six-day turnaround, especially considering his panel had to kick their heels for 14 weeks following their victory over Burt in the Donegal SHC final and the first outing in Ulster.

“It makes you wonder about the scheduling when you have no games for 14 weeks and then you have two games in six days,” Gettigan said. “Surely there can be more sensible planning?”. 

When asked about Kilburn Gaels, McGettigan said information on their opponents was virtually nil so far. 

“We have a few boys working on it, but I think they might have a few boys on the London team from their club and London are playing in the Christy Ring Cup which is a step above Donegal,” he said.

“And there is no way whatsoever that we will be complacent as you never know really what you will get from London teams. But you can be nearly sure that they could have lads from Cork, Kilkenny or Tipperary or any other of the strong hurling counties.

“Sometimes in a way it is better not to know too much about the opposition and sometimes you worry too much about the opposition when it is always more important to focus on getting your own game right. That is all we will be doing this week and our lads are also very grounded. We know we'll be coming up against some quality players.”

This tie is perfectly set up for a potential banana skin and Kiburn Gaels for whom Sylvie Óg Linnane lined out in the past, will be hoping that is the case. 

Last week it was Davin Flynn who hit 1-8 from play, Declan Coulter and the darting Ruari Campbell who caught the eye. But they also have Danny Cullen, Gerry Gilmore, Steven McBride, Bernard Lafferty, Mick Donaghue and Josh Cronnolly McGee as key figures. And McGettigan is looking for even more improvement for Saturday.

“Looking at the video, we made some mistakes especially in the first half as some of Shane O’Neill’s scores came from our mistakes,” McGettigan said.