By Frank Craig
Oisin McConville has revealed that he’d backed Gaoth Dobhair for the Ulster Club SFC title before a ball had even been kicked inside the province.
The Armagh and Crossmaglen Rangers legend has kept a close eye on the Gaeltacht men all season and has been very impressed with the manner in which they’ve powered towards the Ulster semi-finals.
Speaking exclusively to the Donegal News this week, McConville said: “I remember doing a forum in Mayobridge before the Ulster club started. A lot of people were fancying Cross for the competition. I was asked and I picked Gaoth Dobhair. I felt they just needed to get past that first hurdle.
“People need to understand just how competitive the Ulster club is. Every game so far, bar one, could have gone either way. I just thought that looking at the squad that Gaoth Dobhair have; it’s pretty formidable.
“You’ve got that lovely blend of youth, power and experience. That’s exactly what you need to win an Ulster title. They’re getting the best out of those older lads and the younger ones are energising the whole thing.
“I’d seen those (young) lads a few times in the Ulster U21 championship a while back and they were definitely a force to be reckoned with even then.”
The loss of Kieran Gillespie, who suffered a cruciate ligament tear against Cargin of Antrim last time out, is a serious blow to Mervyn O’Donnell’s men. McConville coached Gillespie at Dundalk IT and admits it was difficult to watch as his former player went to ground straight from the throw-in.
However, he agrees Cross will only benefit from his absence next Sunday in Omagh.
He added: “It was a massive blow for them. I had Kieran in Dundalk for a year. He’s a powerful lad. He’s been dogged with injury one way or another. He looked like he’d put that behind him. It was such an innocuous thing, the way it happened. It came straight from the throw up.
“From a footballing point of view it’s a horrible thing to see. For Cross, it’s one less thing to have to contend with. It definitely helps them. He plays through the centre of their side.”
A rejuvenated Kevin Cassidy, operating at full-forward for the Donegal champions, has also caught McConville’s eye.
“Cassidy has been a revelation at full-forward,” he said. “He provides a real focal point. We played Gaoth Dobhair back in 2007. They had his brother Stephen in there in a similar role. He was a handful too. They don’t always use him but he has to be watched all the time.
“He can kick off both feet and he lies in very deep. That brings other people into the game. A lot of Donegal sides that have come through to Ulster haven’t had that. There was an absence of direct ball.
“Gaoth Dobhair have that. As I said they don’t use it all the time. They like to run the ball. But it’s an option and it’s a very good one if and when it’s on. The conundrum for Cross is that they know what to expect but they have to find a way to deal with it.”
McConville won an amazing 10 Ulster club medals and six All-Ireland club titles with Cross and has also managed the side to two Armagh championships and an Ulster crown. He sees plenty of similarities between the makeups of both teams ahead of next weekend.
“There is new blood,” he says on the 2018 version of Rangers. “It’s taken a little bit of time to develop. The last time out I think we started six or seven U21s. Again, it’s not that dissimilar to Gaoith Dobhair. There is that good mix. There is experience still there.
“A couple of months ago I didn’t envisage Cross getting to this stage. Things just weren’t happening. Their first two championship matches they scraped through by a point in each and weren’t at all impressive.
“From that point of view this is a little bit of a bonus. But that’s not how the people of Cross will view it. When we get to this stage we expect to keep on winning.”
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