John Woods
John Woods has been around the Fermanagh panel for a number of seasons but even admitted that the lack of championship victories was making it more difficult to haul the body out in the winter months to start the log slog towards the summer sunshine and championship football;
“So much effort goes in over the course of the year and then when you go back in the winter and you still haven’t won a game you can wonder what it all is for. So from that perspective to get the win over Westmeath was great and we are hungry for more now.”
Woods proved the match winner against the Leinster side who were promoted to division one this season.
A lung busting run the full length of the pitch saw corner back Woods get on the end of a move to fire Fermanagh into the second round of the All Ireland qualifiers;
“I would be well used to attacking, especially for the club but in the last few years at inter county level I have been in at corner back and marking a good forward so you can’t attack as much; you really have to pick and choose when to go because it is a long way back but at that stage in the Westmeath match it was a case of win or bust so I just made the run.”
And Woods revealed that the mood around the camp was much lighter after the Westmeath game than it was after the defeat to Cavan in the Ulster Championship. What a difference two weeks made;
“There has been a huge difference around the squad. We were determined to prove ourselves after the Cavan game but the difference in atmosphere in the squad after that defeat and after the Westmeath win has been big. There is a real spring in our step,” the Lisnaskea player stated before adding;
“But, we don’t want to rest on our laurels. We want to push on now and improve again from here.”
And that is what Fermanagh have been doing under the watchful eye of Peter Canavan and Woods was quick to praise the Tyrone man and his diligent preparation;
“If you can’t be in great shape with this set-up then you will never be in shape. We have all the facilities and resources and all the back room team that you could hope for. No stone is left unturned by Peter and to be fair the players have worked hard and I think we are in better shape than we were this time last year.”
That preparation was criticised by some high profile pundits after the defeat to Cavan and Woods explained that the players were acutely aware of the criticism;
“We got a lot of criticism and I suppose that is something all players have to deal with but I can tell you that nobody is more critical than the players themselves. So nobody was more disappointed with how we played than the ourselves.”
The All Ireland Intermediate Club winner also believes that the long lay off form their last league game and the first round of the championship heaped more pressure on the shoulders of what is a young Fermanagh team;
“I think there is always a bit more pressure when it is the Ulster Championship. The big lay off does not help and you become aware of how much work you have put in for this one day. I think against Westmeath we didn’t have too much time to think about it and just went our and played and I think we played much better as a result.”
On facing Cavan Woods feels that there are positives and negatives with the draw;
“It is a double edged sword. In one way it would be nice to play a new team but then you have the unknown factor in that you won’t know their players as well. With Cavan you know all the players and there is also a feeling that you want to prove that the team is better than we showed in the Ulster Championship.”
The corner back had a great battle with Martin Dunne in the last encounter and will no doubt once again lock horns with the Cavan Gaels sharpshooter.
Will this game bring about a different end result? Woods and Fermanagh fans certainly hope so.
See Wednesday’s Fermanagh Herald (July 10) for a full preview of Fermanagh v Cavan