Tang take on fancied reds with county final place at stake

Tang will be bidding to reach the Westmeath IFC final for the first time since 2002 when they take on Coralstown/Kinnegad in Cusack Park this Saturday (throw-in: 4.45pm). The maroon and white brigade overcame Caulry in the quarter-finals - in a game where they made a bright start, then went over 36 minutes without scoring, yet did enough in the end to secure victory (1-7 to 0-7). However, that long scoring lapse is obviously something which has exercised the mind of Tang manager Padraig Farrell. "People were commenting that Caulry took over, but I looked at the DVD of the match and we actually had 13 wides and we kicked a lot of ball into the goalie's hands. It wasn't as if Caulry were totally dominating, we had plenty of possession, we just weren't getting the scores," reflected Farrell, who led Castledaly to the Westmeath senior title in 2008. "It was really the reverse of last year when Caulry got a great start. I was happy with the way we finished the game this year. In the run-up to the game, people were saying Caulry would be faster and fitter, but our fitness held up well at the end." Pointing to Tang's first championship game this year (a 0-9 to 0-8 defeat to Shandonagh) - when they also went a long spell without a score - Farrell said: "I can't really explain why we go through these long phases of not scoring. Maybe it's due to taking shots from stupid positions on the field and not working the ball into the scoring zone." Coralstown/Kinnegad were surprisingly relegated from the top tier last year, having contested the SFC semi-finals in 2009. From the outset of this year's intermediate championship, the men in red have been viewed as favourites for the title. Tang have already met Saturday's opponents in the 2011 championship, a game which finished 1-11 each in Shandonagh. Farrell understandably views this result as a source of encouragement, though he is quick to say that a semi-final presents a different dynamic to a group game. "Coralstown/Kinnegad are a strong team and they have been favourites to win the championship since the start. They have a good manager in John Cooney and they play a good brand of football," said Farrell. "In a way it reminds of when I was with Castledaly and nobody was giving us a chance in the (2008) final against Garrycastle, but people seemed to forget that we had drawn with Garrycastle in the group stages. And this year we drew with Coralstown/Kinnegad in the group stages. We were the only team to take a point off them in the group stages. Maybe they have improved a lot since then. Also, the wide open spaces of Cusack Park suit a different type of player, a more mobile player. It's a different kind of scenario from a group game in that whoever is beaten on Saturday is gone," he continued. Farrell has put a lot of emphasis on not conceding goals, and Tang have only let in two in this year's championship thus far. "We let in nine or ten goals last year and we've only conceded two this year. For me, the first ten minutes on Saturday is very important, we need to stay in the game early on," said the Tubber man. The Tang camp is reporting no major injury worries ahead of Saturday's game, with Robert English (pictured left) and his brother Trevorr both coming through Fr Dalton's IHC semi-final win over Clonkill last weekend (see report inside). Now, the English brothers - and the rest of the Tang squad - will be hoping to book their place in the intermediate football final this Saturday.