AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Football Championship final : Steelstown (Derry) v Trim (Meath)
(Sunday, 3.30PM, Croke Park, Live on TG4 YouTube)
When referee Barry Judge throws the ball up for the beginning of Steelstown’s All-Ireland final against Trim, the calmest person in Croke Park might just be Hugh McGrath.
The manager of Brian Óg’s doesn’t do hyperbole. He doesn’t get nervous in the run up to big games, but he has complete faith in the panel of players at his disposal.
Despite the fact that the Derry and Ulster Intermediate champions have had just one week to prepare for the All-Ireland final in Croke Park on Sunday, McGrath believes his players will take everything in their stride when they run out onto the hallowed turf.
“We haven’t had too much time to think about it or get bound down with it,” stated McGrath.
“So it is just a matter of getting ready for the final. We are happy that it is only a one-week turnaround as it avoids too much nervous energy.
“It is always easy to say that when you’ve come out of a semi-final with no injuries as well.
“We have a few boys who have played in Croke Park before, representing Derry underage teams. There is always that factor, that Croke Park factor that you have to be wary of.
“It is a totally different arena to anything you’ve ever been on.
“Although I’d be fairly confident because the group is in such a good place. Everything has been new to us this year – winning Derry, getting into an Ulster campaign, going round different grounds. They reacted really well and are great at getting focused on football.”
Perhaps the significance of Steelstown’s impressive win over Kerry and Munster champions Na Gaeil was lost a little during the opening weekend of inter-county League football last weekend.
Cahir McMonagle scored a late penalty with Ben McCarron scoring his side’s other goal as Brian Óg’s claimed a 2-6 to 0-7 win at Bekan last Saturday.
No county has won as many Intermediate All-Irelands as Kerry and their collective tally of six is as many as Ulster combined.
However, there wasn’t the slightest hint of an inferiority complex in the Steelstown camp going into last weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final.
“I think some of our performances in Ulster showed what we were capable of,” said McGrath.
“We destroyed a very capable Donaghmoyne outfit from Monaghan (4-13 to 2-7).
“Buttersbridge came through a very tough Cavan Championship and we did a similar job on them (5-13 to 0-10).
“The Ulster final was never going to be free-flowing football against Moortown, who had shown that they play defensive football, plus the conditions were brutal.
“We might have been underdogs to those outside our group, but we knew what we were capable of.
“Our team is littered with boys who have represented Derry at different levels, we’ve good footballers on our team so we were confident we could compete if we put pressure on Na Gaeil.
He added: “We felt they hadn’t been put under pressure during their campaign. They cantered through the Munster final and, maybe, they brought a bit of complacency to the semi-final.
“One thing is for certain – our boys will never be complacent because anything we’ve ever gotten, we’ve earned.”
Sunday’s opponents Trim came through a tight semi-final battle with St Faithleach’s of Roscommon last Saturday, prevailing 1-11 to 0-11.
Like Steelstown, they’ve plenty of players in their ranks with experience of playing in Croke Park, including leading attacker James Toher, who captained the Meath hurlers to Christy Ring Cup success against Antrim back in 2016.
“They are a bit similar to ourselves. They like to play with pace and they are very physical,” remarked McGrath.
“They are loaded with absolute athletes. The fact that a lot of their team plays hurling as well… I always feel the dual player is equipped to play at any level.
“They are in the final because they’ve earned it. Their semi-final victory tells you how good they are.
“We’ll need to be on our guard, especially in the wide open spaces of Croke Park.”
