ST MICHAEL’S are up and running in this year’s Senior Championship and forward Eddie O’Reilly is hopeful of making it two wins from two today.
The men from the Bridge had a good start last Saturday evening as they beat Killybegs at home by a score of 1-12 to 2-5, but O’Reilly still feels there is room for improvement.
“It was a good win, it’s always vital to get the first win early on. Killybegs were strong and caused us problems, I know we conceded two goals which is something we’ll need to improve but to keep any team in the senior championship to seven scores is quite impressive.
“On our own side I thought Oisin (Langan) and Colin McFadden had very good games, Colin especially in the second half.
“We will be looking to increase our scoring percentages and we probably left a couple goals out there but we got over the line.
“We targeted a home win and that’s half the battle.”
It’s a trip to Ardara for the Creeslough/Dunfanaghy men next and it’s another game they will be targeting a result from.
Ardara suffered an away defeat to MacCumhaill’s by 3-15 to 0-13 last Sunday but they will be hoping for a different outcome at home.
“Every team in this championship is a tough game and the Ardara game will be no different.
“Up in Ardara as well, after defeat in their first game to a very good MacCumhaill’s side.
“ They have a good mix of youth and experience.
“They have (Conor) Classon and some very good young players like Cailum Malley is firing well so it’ll be a tight game.
“My first game in the senior championship was up in Ardara in 2019 when we had the likes of Colm (McFadden) and Christy (Toye) and it’s a very different team from then but hopefully we can get a similar result to that day.”
Saturday’s win saw Michael’s overtake their points total from last year already, when they picked up just the one point in a draw with Four Masters and had to defeat Milford in the relegation semi-final to stay up.
But with numbers short last year, O’Reilly believes they are in a much better position to make it further in the championship this time.
“Obviously we’d love to get into the top four to avoid the preliminary but first and foremost we want to avoid the relegation play-off.
“Last year we had a lot of bother with injuries and we did again this year but the likes of Carlos (O’Reilly), Daniel McLaughlin and Michael Cannon are all getting back which is a huge boost for us.
“We lost Conan Brennan and Max Roarty this year to Australia then Hugh O’Donnell who was in the county panel last year. Every team loses their fair share of players but we have lost a couple important boys.
“But I do think we have more depth this year than we have had in the last couple of years, Andrew Kelly came off the bench on Saturday and you’re bringing the likes of Daniel and Michael Cannon off the bench, it’s not a bad sign.
“You need that depth to go on any sort of run in the championship and it’s probably the best depth we’ve had since Cathal and Raymond took over as joint-managers.
“The lads are playing well so it’s a good headache for the lads to have to pick a 15 from the 20 or 21.”
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