Ladies’ Football Intermediate Championship semi-final
Bryansford vs Burren
Saturday, Bryansford, 2pm
BRYANSFORD are planning to enjoy the build up to this weekend’s Intermediate Championship semi-final, as they feel all the pressure is on their opponents.
They play Burren this Saturday (Bryansford 2pm). Bryansford are the only Division Two side left in the Intermediate Championship, and as a result they regard themselves as the underdogs.
“There are three big teams left in Saval, St John’s and Burren. There is no pressure on Bryansford,” James said.
“The pressure is on the Division One teams to get to that championship final and then get across the line. We are just going to enjoy it. We are going to enjoy this week’s training and we have got a home draw and we will enjoy next Saturday.”
Bryansford finished in second place in the Division Two, and they regard themselves as a team in transition. This semi-final is a step in their progression.
James said: “There are a lot of young players on our squad and this will be a big day for them. They will get a chance to experience playing in a championship semi-final.”
In preparation for Burren there are a number of things they have to prepare for, but one of those is how to deal with one player specifically.
“Burren are an established Division One team. They have been around, they have established players like Eimear Fitzpatrick. “Eimear is probably one of the best forwards in Down, if not the best forward in Down.
“I have not put pen to paper as to what we will do. We will sit down and look at it tomorrow.”
To reach this semi-final, Bryansford ladies beat Dundrum by 7-14 to 0-9 in their quarter-final on Saturday.
“For once the gameplan went as expected.
“Every girl that went out onto the pitch was fantastic. They had work rate, commitment, performance. We ticked every box.” James pointed out that the performance showed that Bryansford had picked up their standards in the knockout stages.
“Over the past few games we had not been fast starters,” he said.
“We gave teams like Ballymartin and Annaclone a half an hour head start. In the Ballymartin game we were seven points down at half time.
“To turn that around and win 15- 1 in the second half shows the level the girls are at (Bryansford won by six points, 6-6 to 3-9). It was something similar against Annaclone.” James said that they made it clear they wanted a different approach against Dundrum.
“We felt the first 15 minutes were very important against Dundrum. We weren’t underestimating them at all. “They are flying in Division Four. They had good results in the group stages of the championship.
“We were under no illusion if we did not perform, we were going to be in for a tough day.”
James said that Bryansford were able to dominate the first half and they built on that in the second half. “They kept going right to the end. They didn’t take the foot off the pedal.”
However, James explained that they have to win their semi-final to emphasise that the Dundrum win was no lucky day.
“We have to back the performance against Dundrum up. You can’t have a performance like that in a quarter -final and not go up and back it up in the semi-final. Otherwise that performance will not mean anything.”
But they have a great chance of winning based on their attitude. James said:
“The mindset is very good. They are confident too.
“We are definitely in a good place, there is no doubt about it.
“They are on a big high at the moment.”
