Adam Neale insists that Rathfriland won’t be dwelling on a turbulent last seven days with a double still to be won.
The Whites tackle the first leg of that target tonight when they lock horns with Armagh City in the Intermediate Cup showpiece at the National Stadium (7.45pm), and then will turn their sights to the title with the resumption of their league campaign at home to Crumlin United this Saturday.
It promises to be a frantic and exhausting finale to the season for Ally Wilson’s men, who came into April in sparkling form, albeit lagging a long way behind the rest of their rivals in terms of fixtures.
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They’ve made up some of that ground since, but the physical demands of two games a week have come at a cost.
Last weekend, they crashed 5-0 at Derriaghy, and then fell to a limp 3-0 loss at Immaculata on Thursday night.
To compound matters, centre back Brian Johnston is now a doubt for the run-in, coming off injured in that reverse to Derriaghy.
They got back to winning ways with a 3-2 win over Ballynahinch Olympic on Saturday, however, and surveying their quest for glory over the next few weeks, forward Neale insists he and his team-mates will relish the chance to write a bit of history for the Iveagh Park club.
“Obviously at the time, those two defeats felt bad but reflecting on it now, in the past seven games, we’ve five wins and two defeats,” he told Match on Tuesday.
“So before those fixtures, we’d have bitten your hand off for those points from those games.
“And looking at the cup final, we played Armagh in the semi-final of the Bob Radcliffe, they beat us 3-1, it was a strange game but we know what to expect and we’re looking forward to it.
“We’re going in as underdogs, we weren’t expecting this and the league is still our bread and butter but we can go into this, really enjoy the day and whatever happens happens.
“We’re going to go down early and take it all in and hopefully we can get a result.”
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