'You play sport to be challenged' - Tubberclair manager

Remarkably, Tubberclair haven’t conceded a goal in six matches during their march to the semi-finals of this year’s Westmeath Intermediate FC.

Tubberclair manager Martin McCabe is naturally pleased with that state of affairs, but is not getting too caught up with trying to maintain the record as they prepare to face St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge in Sunday’s semi-final (TEG Cusack Park, 2pm).

“The first line of defence starts at number 15. We do a bit of work on that and it has paid dividends. If you concede a goal, you just have to react; it’s not the end of the world. Kevin (Fagan) is a highly regarded goalkeeper and has saved us a few times,” said McCabe.

“If we do concede a goal, it’s not a big deal. It’s all about how you react to what happens. We had a man sent off the last day but we reacted very calmly, or the lads did anyway, and things went very well for us.

“Everyone has a plan until they get a box in the mouth as Mike Tyson used to say! We’d like to think we can react to whatever happens.”

Having won all their matches in Section A, St Mary’s qualified directly for the semi-finals. And McCabe is wary of the pace in the Rochfortbridge ranks and the organised way in which they play.

“They were in Section A, winning all their marches, and we were in Section B and won all our matches. These sections are tiered and it’s not by accident that they’re tiered - the best teams are in Section A,” he said.

However, the teams met in the Section B group stages last year and played out a 1-10 apiece draw on a wet evening in Athlone. Although St Mary’s will be regarded as favourites on Sunday, many observers will expect a similarly tight game.

“All of their matches have been fairly tight. I don’t think they win matches by a lot. The way they play, they’re well set up, they’re well organised in what they do and they take a bit of breaking down. They’ve been behind in matches but they stick to the plan and they get there in the end,” said McCabe about St Mary’s.

“It’s going to take similar organisation and knowhow to break them down,” he continued.

McCabe admitted that the manner of Tubberclair’s quarter-final win over Castledaly was a confidence boost. “Castledaly have household names playing on their team and players who have played senior football for a long time. We knew that would be a challenge but we felt we had a chance. I think the score at the end doesn’t reflect how tight that game was. Castledaly missed a good goal chance before half-time and probably missed other chances in the first half.”

Having claimed three wins and a draw last year, Tubberclair were extremely unlucky to miss out on a place in the knockout stages. It was a bitter pill to swallow but also a learning experience for a predominately young side.

“At the end of last year, we were very disappointed. The last game was probably a dead rubber really. We had to put up a big score but we knew we were unlikely to make it,” recalled McCabe.

“In the lower group, the room for error is very small. One of the lessons I learned is that it really is knockout, while it isn’t like that in the higher tier. With that in mind, we set out to every game this year,” he continued.

“A lot of these fellas have won underage titles, albeit at the lower divisions, but they’ve been learning how to win. We hope to get to senior level some day; whatever length of time it takes, that’s the aim.

“The players have a great interest and they have worked really hard. Despite that setback in not getting through last year, they have responded very well. The lads have worked very hard to get back to where we are now.”

Alan Coffey, so often a key figure in the Tubberclair attack, will still be missing on Sunday due to injury. “Unfortunately, Alan won’t be available. We’ve lost a few players from last year who are on army duty or out of the country or through retirement. They were losses to the panel but other lads have done well when given the chance. With a panel like ours, every player is important as you progress in competitions. You need every player,” said McCabe.

Considering Tubberclair were competing at junior level in 2020, they have made considerable progress over the past two years.

“We lost two intermediate finals and fell away a bit then. I was part of the management team when we were relegated from intermediate. We had players coming to the end of their careers and a lot of injuries and it just didn’t go to plan. We went down to junior but I have to say the lads responded well,” said McCabe, who won three senior championships during his time in charge of Garrycastle.

“It was important that we got out of junior very quickly and we did that. Last year we performed well; in one game we were below par and we paid the penalty for it.

“We think we’re good enough to be in the higher level (of the intermediate championship) and we’re there now. The test now is we’re playing the best team in the upper tier and are we good enough to progress. You play sport to be challenged and we’d like we can give it a good go.”

Many of the Tubberclair players don’t have much experience of playing in TEG Cusack Park, but it’s not something that overly concerns McCabe.

“We don’t get many games in Cusack Park. We played the junior final there and we played Ballymore there. It’s another football pitch and it’s great to get in there; it’s how players develop,” he said.

“I’ve always felt that all underage finals, at whatever division, should be played in Cusack Park if they can. It’s difficult when you only have one pitch there. Anyway, it’s not a big deal going over there to play. If the match was in Rochfortbridge, we’d go over there to play it,” added the Cavan native.