Patton expects a tough test in U21 showpiece

BY MATTHEW WILSON

Sean MacCumhaills coach Anthony Patton is expecting a tough test when they face St Eunan’s in this Friday’s Under-21 Hurling Championship Final.

The Twin Towns men have battled hard to date to seal their spot in this weekend’s decider, defeating Aodh Ruadh by seven points in the last eight before a narrow one-point win over Burt in the semi-finals.

“It’s been tight now to be honest, we’ve had two tough games”, said Patton. “We played Aodh Ruadh in the quarter-final, they’re a big physical team but we managed to overcome it.”

“We then played Burt in the semi-final and it was touch and go, it could’ve gone either way. The conditions were tough and we managed to scrape it by a point.”

Having won the last three editions of the competition, the Hibernian Park men were bidding for four in-a-row before they ran into MacCumhaills.

This is the Twin Towns outfit’s first year competing at this age group and the youthful side are standing up to the challenges placed in front of them, something Patton is pleased with.

“Over the last couple of years, Burt has been the main team at Under-21. This is the first time that MacCumhaills has ever entered a team in the Under-21’s.”

“We’ve a lot of young boys in the team so they showed good resilience to come through that one against Burt.”

The MacCumhaill residents have enjoyed a huge amount of success at underage level in recent years, including the previous three Minor Championship titles.

These players are now progressing up to Under-21 and senior level and Patton feels that the club are beginning to reap the benefits of the hard work that’s been put in over time.

“We’re maybe starting to reap the benefits now. There’s a lot of good managers there now at every age group and they’re putting in the work.”

“The young boys are buying into it and they’re starting to taste a little bit of success now as they go on a bit.”

Next up for MacCumhaill’s is a meeting with St Eunan’s in the Under-21 Hurling Championship Final in Convoy this Friday.

The Letterkenny men have been going about their business nicely to date, securing two convincing victories, and the MacCumhaills coach is expecting a tough test when the pair meet.

“It’ll be a massive ask now for our lads to be honest. I know St Eunan’s are going well now at senior level, they’ll probably have a few of them boys involved.”

“It’ll be a big ask for our boys but we’ll knuckle down and we’ll give it a go, that’s all we can do.”

With this being MacCumhaills’ first term in the Under-21 Championship, a piece of silverware to show for their efforts would be the dream end to the campaign.

Patton is hopeful that his outfit can get the job done but insists that they’re under no illusion of the task that lies ahead of them.

“It would be brilliant. Hopefully it would push a lot more boys onto the senior panel as well and show the younger lads coming through where they can be at.”

“We’re under no illusion that this Friday will be a serious task.”