Derrygonnelly’s Declan Cassidy
Declan Cassidy insists his side can only worry about themselves as Derrygonnelly gear up for another clash with Cavan Gaels.
The sides meet again this weekend to see who can book an Ulster Club SFC Final appearance on November 26th against Derry kingpins Slaughtneil.
Derrygonnelly and Cavan Gaels drew their last four meeting on Sunday in Clones, 0-12 to 0-12, 80 minutes of football still unable to split the Fermanagh and Cavan champions.
Cassidy, 34, knows his side will have to improve for Sunday, “We know there are parts of our game we failed to complete and game plans that didn’t work out last Sunday.
We all probably felt a bit of disappointment at the full time whistle after extra-time but at the end of the day we are still only 60 minutes away from an Ulster final appearance and this Sunday we will be emptying the tank to right the wrongs and we know what areas we have to improve on.”
Cassidy, who works in Tracey Concrete, this week has been a sequence of pool and recovery sessions.
“At this time of year football pitches are heavy so all this week it’s just been about recovering, getting plenty of rest and getting focused on the replay for Sunday.
“It’s been a great few years lately playing for Derrygonnelly. We intend to keep on winning for another few weeks, but we know not to be looking past Sunday. Come 3.30pm on Sunday we will hopefully be preparing for an Ulster Final appearance.”
Cassidy has been around the senior team since 2000 when manager Donal Corrigan handed him his debut against St Patrick’s. The versatile 34-year-old has never looked back.
“I really enjoy the football, yes it does take up a lot of your time, but when you have been born into it and grown up kicking a ball you wouldn’t be at anything else.”
So onto the replay and Cassidy realises Derrygonnelly have room for improvement.
“I just feel there are certain lessons we will learn from Sunday past, we will work on these and talk about what we did right and what went wrong. We have learned a lot this season and for sure the Ulster Club Championship has really opened our eyes to the quality sides out there.”
Many may believe Derrygonnelly have missed their chance of an Ulster Final, unsurprisingly Cassidy disagrees.
“We aren’t happy with our performance last week, we created no goal chances, we need to go up a gear and hopefully that will get us over the line this time.”
Derrygonnelly take on Cavan Gaels in the semi-final replay in Clones on Sunday at 1.45pm.
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