KILDRUM Tigers are back in the Brian McCormick Cup semi-final and winger Brian Breslin is hopeful of reaching another final with the club.
The Station Road men have been all conquering in the Lifford Area of the competition for the past number of years and Breslin, who has been playing for the side for four years now, is yet to lose in the Area.
And they made light work of it this year as they beat Raphoe Town 8-0 and Lifford Celtic 4-0 before another 4-0 win in the final over Drumoghill, with Breslin opening the scoring in that game.
“We probably had it comfortable enough, we were never under real pressure in any of the games but it was good to get the games under us, you have to win your area before you can progress obviously so it’s good to get out into the semi-finals.
“We’ve won the Area every year in my time and we won the Brian McCormick Cup once in my time, most of the teams in the area are in Division 2 bar Castlefin Celtic who haven’t been going too well this year.
“This is the biggest cup competition within the county and the Brian McCormick has always been the priority cup for us and we always do fairly well in it and once you get into the semi-finals you’re looking ahead, it’s a good achievement.”
Kildrum finished as runners-up in the Premier Division this year with a final day win over league champions Fanad United.
The Tigers had started strong to the league and a top of the table clash with Fanad United on the 5th of November was a high stakes game, especially with the Traigh-A-Loch men knocking them out of the Ulster Junior Cup the previous week.
But again Fanad came out on top and it started a run of four league losses in five for Kildrum, although they have been unbeaten in all competitions since the final loss of that run as St Catherine’s won 5-2 at the start of December.
“We played Fanad just over two weeks ago to get the league wrapped up and we got a 3-0 victory over them which was good for us,” Breslin added, who has also been lining out for Naomh Pádraig Lifford in the gaelic football All County League.
“We went through a bit of a lull before Christmas and we lost a few games in a row which to us was very disappointing in the manner we lost.
“But we took the Christmas break and came back and I don’t think we’ve been beat in 2024 so we are going well at the minute. Everybody is putting the effort in at training and we have the miles in the legs.
“From where we were at Christmas, if someone said you’d finish second we would have taken it because we were looking like we were out of any title race as Fanad had been so dominant.
“They won it by five points and then some of those losses you’re questioning if you could have nicked something but some performances weren’t good enough and then withboys injured or away on holidays, but every team has that so we can’t complain.”
The open semi-finals is where the best of the best meet and they will meet Division One runaway winners Letterkenny Rovers this Sunday as the first part of a semi-final double header in Ballyare (kick-off 12pm), with Cappry Rovers and Keadue Rovers meeting in the other semi-final at 3.30pm.
Letterkenny Rovers have lost just three games this year, losing to Gweedore United when they already had the title wrapped up while they were knocked out of the FAI Junior Cup by Clonmel Celtic by two late goals and it took penalties for Buncrana Hearts to defeat them in the Ulster Cup final.
So Breslin is under no illusions at the task at hand but has confidence in his own team as they look to reach the Cup final once again.
“Letterkenny will be a good test for us, they’re a good side but we’re a good side too so it should be a good game.
“We’re in a good place and it should be a good semi-final and we have confidence going into it.
“We’re always going to be pushing for titles, we take it one game at a time but Kildrum will always be pushing for a title no matter what it is, we always seem to be there or thereabouts and we were second this season which was probably our best finish for a few years but it’ll be a harder league next year which it’ll make it for a good season.
“It would be massive for our season to get to a final, it’s all we have left to play for so everything is on that.
“We were beat in the semi-final last year by Letterkenny but there’s a good buzz about the club and it would mean everything to get to the final and hopefully we can get the result.”
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)