THE Fermanagh Championship gets underway this weekend, kickstarting with the clash of the league champions as Division One winners Enniskillen Gaels host Division Two victors Teemore Shamrocks.
Enniskillen Gaels captured their first league title since 2001, beating Derrygonnelly in the decider, but all the focus has swiftly turned towards the championship and boss Simon Bradley is hoping they can carry that momentum through to the business end of the season.
Bradly isn’t sure if his side are playing just as well as they were a couple of weeks ago, but as they enter the first-round group game, he’s expecting the 2022 champions to find their feet sooner rather than later.
“It’s what you train for and what players play for is to play in these games and the crowds get bigger and the pressure mounts but that’s what you want as a player,” said Bradley of the upcoming championship campaign.
“We’re probably not in as good a form as we were 6-8 weeks ago but hopefully that’s just a wee blip and we find it again. We still seem to be winning games which is a good sign so we’re hoping to increase our performance a wee bit over the next 4-5 weeks.”
The Gaels will play in the familiar surroundings of Brewster Park, Enniskillen and Bradley suggests that home advantage is huge in the early rounds. “Teemore are underdogs for Friday night, coming up from Division Two,” he added.
“If I was in their position I’d prefer to have this game on their home patch. It is a big advantage for us because we’ve done a fair bit of training on the pitch.
“We’ve been under lights now three or four times in the last couple of weeks. It’s certainly a bit of an advantage, there’s no point in saying anything else.”
While Teemore are undoubtedly the pre-game underdogs, Bradley and his players won’t be taking their challenge lightly. Bradley himself has witnessed up close the talent within the Teemore ranks and won’t be underestimating their potential.
“I would know a fair bit about them, we’ve done a fair bit of work on them,” he explained. “I would know a lot of their players; I would have worked with some of them at underage level with county teams in the past.
“I would know them well and I know Tony (Collins, the Teemore manager) very well too. The two of us were in the same year group so I’m under no illusions of what’s coming on Friday night. They were very impressive against Irvinestown (in the league final).
“They were 6-2 down and another score or two and maybe Irvinestown would have been out the gate, but Teemore dug in as Teemore teams do and probably the best team won it on the day, I was very impressed with them.”
Bradley will have a full panel to pick from, which should help the hosts get off to a good start. “We have one or two knocks and bangs and bumps but nothing major. The squad will be tested as we go through the next few weeks but we’re lucky that we have a deep squad.”
