BY KIERAN McCARTHY
LAURA O’Mahony accepts there is a novelty to O’Donovan Rossa’s All-Ireland junior football quarter-final in Glasgow this weekend, but she insists the Skibbereen side has a job to do.
The Rossas’ reward for winning the Munster title – in the Skibb ladies’ club’s first-ever provincial campaign – is an All-Ireland quarter-final away to Glasgow Gaels in Clydebank, Glasgow this Saturday morning (11.30am throw-in).
A Skibb twist on planes, trains and automobiles, the Rossas will fly out to Edinburgh on Friday, stay overnight in Coatbridge outside Glasgow, play the knock-out tie on Saturday morning and jet back home that evening.
It would be easy to get distracted by the unusualness of it all, but Skibb’s inter-county star Laura O’Mahony has stressed the importance of focussing on the match.
‘Getting on the plane, of course there will be huge excitement, but when we are over there, like James (O’Donovan) always says, we need to get the job done. And we can think about the memory of it after,’ O’Mahony told the Star Sport Podcast.
‘We really try to take it one game at a time, that has been the approach all year, whether it’s the group stage of the county or the semi-final in Munster. We just want to get over the next game; that’s how we approach it.’
It’s also a trip into the unknown for the West Cork outfit as they come up against a Glasgow Gaels team that regraded from intermediate to junior this season – it’s a decision that has been vindicated by their success this season. They rampaged through the All-British junior championship, scoring 18-50 in three games while conceding only 0-4 en route to a tighter final, which they won 1-12 to 2-2. Since then they defeated Belgium GAA 1-7 to 0-1 to earn a home tie against Skibb.
Glasgow Gaels have conceded only 2-7 in five championship games, but free-scoring Skibb have averaged 0-18 per game and negotiated a far tougher route to this stage – and they want to be more ruthless in front of the posts. In their 0-12 to 1-7 Munster final win against Clounmacon/Moyvane, the Rossas hit 15 wides, so Laura O’Mahony and Co know they need to bring their shooting boots this weekend.
‘In every game we are always looking for something to improve on. Even if you feel you have one of your best games of the season there is still something you have to improve on for the next game,’ the Skibb footballer said.
‘You have to take the positives from it as well, that we were creating the chances and we had a lot of possession, but we just need to settle down in front of goal. That’s myself included.’
The carrot of a home All-Ireland semi-final the following weekend is dangling for Skibb, too, but there’s a job to be done first.
