BY KIERAN McCARTHY
JAMES O’Donovan has challenged his O’Donovan Rossa team to see how far they can go in this season’s county intermediate football championship.
After last year’s heroics – the Skibbereen team won county, Munster and All-Ireland junior titles – the Rossas have stepped up to intermediate level and O’Donovan knows his charges must rise to the challenge.
They have enjoyed a winning start with a 2-10 to 1-9 victory against Inch Rovers before beating Donoughmore 5-19 to 1-6 on Tuesday night, ahead of a clash with the team to beat, Naomh Abán, in Skibbereen this Sunday (3pm throw-in).
‘It was important to get the first win against Inch Rovers. We probably didn’t rightly appreciate the step up in class until we played a championship game,’ O’Donovan explained, with the Skibbereen team’s Division 2 campaign ending in a 2-9 to 0-7 loss against the might of Mourneabbey.
There is a noticeable difference in intensity and physicality between junior and intermediate levels, O’Donovan adds, and with the Skibbereen team eager to find their feet at this grade, it’s a learning experience.
‘The group is excited, it’s been a big target by the club to push on and see how high we can go. This is a big challenge for the team to up their game again and push on.
‘We haven’t really set ourselves a target. I know this is a cliche but we want to take it game by game and see how we get on. There are some very good teams at intermediate and until you go out and play them, you don’t know where you stand,’ O’Donovan said, and he feels he’ll learn more about his team’s prospects this season when they play Naomh Abán on Sunday.
‘They are the standout team,’ he stated, ‘They got to the All-Ireland junior final a few years ago, should have won the intermediate final last year and Glanmire went on to the All-Ireland. They are playing to a high standard so that's a big test.’
The intermediate championship itself is a challenge with six group games and the top four will then play in the semi-finals, so for the county finalists it will be eight games in nine weeks. Strength in depth is key. O’Donovan feels the Rossas squad is in a good place. Emma Hurley, a standout player in last season’s trophy-laden campaign, is back with her home club Ilen Rovers, while Kate O’Connell, who also started the All-Ireland final, will miss a chunk of championship games as she is currently based in Madrid. There is good news, though.
‘We had a couple of big knee injuries last year in terms of Molly O’Neill and Sinéad Farrell – Molly is back playing and going well and Sinéad is almost back. They are two big additions,’ O’Donovan explained.
