Extra-time and penalties and then the small matter of the draw for the Down SFC semi-final. Warrenpoint manager Shane Mulholland had plenty to ponder in the immediate aftermath of Monday night’s dramatic win over League champions Burren in Páirc Esler.
For the second successive night at the Newry venue, a penalty shoot-out was required with All-Ireland champions Kilcoo defeating Clonduff on penalties on Sunday evening.
On Monday, Gary McMahon was the hero for St Peter’s after making two crucial saves in the shoot-out as well as scoring one himself.
Read more: Burren vs Warrenpoint RECAP as St Peter's prevail after a penalty shoot-out
As the players celebrated their success, their fate was soon known as the Down executive made the draw on the pitch with Warrenpoint pitted against Loughinisland, leaving Mayobridge to tackle the defending champions this weekend.
“It is hard to know what to make of the draw - we've Loughinisland who’ve already beaten us in the Championship,” said Mulholland.
“It is not great playing a team who you’ve already played against and they beat us comfortably in Kilcoo.
“We've got to go and do our homework and get ready for that one.
“To be honest, nobody wanted Kilcoo - they’ve been there and they have the pedigree.
“The other three teams probably wanted to avoid Kilcoo. At this stage, you just have to give it your all for 60, 70 or 80 minutes.
“The big one for this club has always been the Frank O’Hare Cup. They were so close in 2019 and a lot of people have already written them off.
“We’ve only one a quarter-final and there are no medals handed out at this stage of the season. Jim McCorry (Burren manager) told the players after the game, there was no point in winning a game like that and not going on to win the whole thing. That has to be our aim.”
He added: “It was a local derby and these boys are very hurt by not winning a Championship.
“The squad has changed and we’ve lost a few lads to injury, but we’ve a crop of boys there who deserve to win something.
“They won the League last year and there’s always going to be an asterisk next to it because it was a Covid year. They are quite a driven bunch and I’ve been questioning their mental toughness for the last two years. When the chips are down, are they going to be able to stand up and be counted? They answered that in spades for me and credit to them.
On the prospect of penalties coming up again in their Championship campaign, the former Down attacker insists every team has to be prepared for that eventually.
Burren had a kick to go through to the last four after Niall McGovern’s miss, but Niall Toner’s penalty was saved by McMahon before John Boyle converted in sudden death and McMahon made another save to deny Burren’s Ryran Treanor.
Boyle also converted Warrenpoint's first penalty while Eoghan Byrne and Alan Davidson were also successful with their efforts.
“We were just delighted to get out the other side at that point - it is in the lap of the gods at that point,” said Mulholland.
“It is a toss of a coin, but maybe there’s a bit of mental toughness in it too?
“There is a bit of pressure applied when people have to do something they don’t normally do. It is a lottery at that stage. In extra-time, neither team wants to lose, you are nearly safer skipping the extra-time and going straight to penalties.
“Burren are a great team and they’ve a great set-up with some excellent players coming through. We knew it was going to be a big challenge for us.”
Mulholland said the Warrenpoint squad have been practising penalties in recent weeks and will continue to do so ahead of Sunday’s last four meeting with Loughinisland.
That semi-final will be played at Páirc Elser at 3pm with Kilcoo versus Mayobridge later on Sunday at 7.15pm.
“We do practise penalties and we’ve been practising them for quite a while,” said Mulholland.
“We’ve been working on the five or six or seven players who could be taking them. The lottery is, you pick five penalty takers, then they might not be on as the game goes into extra-time.
“We brought Niall McGovern back on and, ironically, he was the one who missed his penalty! Usually, he is very good at them.
“It plays on your mind - you might look silly putting someone on with penalties in mind and someone hits a winning score. You have to be prepared for it.
“We’ve been practising penalties a lot over the last four or five weeks and you have to be prepared for that eventuality. You only have to look at the Championship games across Ulster last weekend to see how many games went to extra-time.
“That’s the beauty of Championship football. This back-door stuff has to go, it should be knock-out football the whole way with the passion and intensity and everything that goes with it.”
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