Ladies final showdown

Ladies final showdown

2 July 2014

DOWN Ladies go for broke on Sunday when they take on Fermanagh in the Ulster Intermediate Football Championship final at Healy Park, Omagh.

This will be Down’s second attempt in as many years at securing the Anglo Celt Cup and they face last year’s champions in what promises to be a mouth-watering showdown.

The two sides are no strangers, having met earlier in the year in Division 2. Down came out convincing winners.

They met again three weeks ago in the first round of the Ulster Championship. Down were victors on that occasion also, but faced a Fermanagh side that bore little resemblance to the one that turned out in the league campaign.

Although Down dominated the last encounter and came out with the win, the Mourne girls are by no means going into the final as odds-on favourites.

Fermanagh have a number of key players who rise for the big games and will be confident of sending Down home empty-handed for a second year in a row.

Down manager Mark Copeland is hoping his side can go one better than last year and is pleased with the team’s preparations.

“Obviously pleased we are into another final. It shows that we have continued the good work/foundations that were built on last year, but this year we want to go one further and win Ulster.

“We won’t hide that fact that if we fail to win it will be a huge disappointment. We have a squad that should be winning Ulster, but as you know football doesn’t always work like that.

“Fermanagh will not want to give up their Ulster title and have overcome Antrim recently in a highly competitive game to reach the final so that will stand by them.

“We aren’t strangers to Fermanagh and have already played twice this year. We know Fermanagh are a very good championship team and will raise their performance yet again for the final. What we need to do is concentrate on this year’s final and not dwell on last year.

“We have worked hard from last year, we have added to the squad and we have developed younger players as well as reintroduced a few more seasoned players which has given us a perfect balance.

“We just need that to transpire into a performance and no better place to do that than the Ulster final.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our all our individual player sponsors who have stepped up to the plate and really got behind the players this year with their generous contributions, and also our main sponsor McAvoy Construction.

“Pearse and Mark McAvoy have been a tremendous help for us this year and on behalf of the team and the county board I thank them for their continued support of ladies football in Down.