Harkin and Termon looking to push ahead

BY RYAN FERRY

TERMON head into the Under 21 Championships semi-finals as the only unbeaten team left in the competition and bainiteoir Hugh Harkin says there is no inferiority complex when they look at their opposition.

Naomh Conaill, Glenswilly, and Four Masters were all in the last four of the Under 21s last year, as well as this year’s Minor Championship.

Termon have made real progress themselves at senior level and they are an ambitious club who crave success.

Harkin said: “You can chat about keeping pace but with how our seniors and reserves went this year, we’re kind of looking at can we push ahead of them?

“That’s the next challenge for us.

“Look, maybe at underage we have fallen away slightly but with this group in particular – myself, Paddy McMenamin and Eddie (Harkin) would have had them coming up, and we would have been right at the sharp end of every competition.

“We don’t have a mentality that we don’t belong in a semi-final and the boys cannot wait to play on Sunday.”

Termon defeated Buncrana, Four Masters and Glenswilly to top the group phase, but needed extra-time to see off a gallant Aodh Ruadh team last week.

“We would be happy with our form.

“There was maybe a wee bit of luck in that the Four Masters game was reversed to the Burn Road and they were without their minors so there was maybe a slight falseness to it.

“We rode our luck against Glenswilly and Aodh Ruadh to a certain extent but the lads have put in four massive shifts over the last five weeks so we couldn’t ask any more from them and we just can’t wait to play Naomh Conaill on Sunday.”

Termon have been without Cian McMenamin since the Ulster Under 20 Final at the start of May while Gary McGettigan and Cormac Brady have been nursing injuries.

Harkin said: “We’re lucky in that we have a lot of numbers but we have a lot of quality within that as well.

“I think we have used 27 players to date and I wouldn’t say we are just finished yet.

“We were delighted to get forty minutes into Cormac last week and eighty into Gary, which was probably more than we thought.

“We had some very sore bodies after extra-time so we will see how they recover but the lads coming in from Under 17 and Under 18 have been a big, big bonus for us.”

John James Sweeney, Cormac Gallagher and Ciaran Cassidy are all important players for Termon and they have plenty of players that can hurt Naomh Conaill.

However, Harkin appreciates what’s ahead of them against Young Footballer of the Year Finnbarr Roarty and his Naomh Conaill teammates.

“They have huge threats all over the pitch and a brilliant goalkeeper as well.

“But what I am seeing with the new rules is that the game is so chaotic and we have a whole lot of threats as well and they will have people that they need to worry about as well.

“The x-factor is Finnbarr but we would like to think that we will have a lot of players around the pitch that Naomh Conaill will have to plan for too.”