Senior Football Championship first round
Burren v Ballyholland
Monday, Páirc Esler, 7.30pm
A STRONG squad is the first step for any team that seeks to challenge Kilcoo’s dominance of Down football. That’s the analysis of Burren manager Collie Holmes.
During the league campaign, Collie and the management started 33 different players in the league in search for their strongest players who could try to bring the Frank O’Hare Cup back to the club.
“We have made a conscious effort to try to build a stronger panel than we had last year,” Collie said. “Everyone is chasing the perennial champions. If you are going to take them on, then you are going to have a strong squad and strength and depth.”
Last year Burren cruised into the semi-finals where they were beaten by Carryduff. Collie was part of the backroom team along with Stevie O’Hara and Eoin McCartan.
He said that they looked at everything they did last year and tried to improve it, whether that was training or strength and conditioning. However, he further emphasised that it was simply a case of having stronger numbers.
“We wanted to see who is fit for it, and see who is likely to push on,” Collie said. “When Burren have four or five county men and they are coming back, you know they are going to be the core but you need 15 to 20 to build around them that are tough enough and ready to go.”
But he said that it is hard to know if they are ready until the first ball is thrown in.
“Like every team you think you are well set up until you find out you are not. It is about trying to cover all the bases, and making sure everyone knows their job and is doing it well.
“For me, we have to have a competitive squad. That is the launching pad for what you would hope would be a bit of a run.”
Burren open their championship with a game against Ballyholland who played in Division Two this year, but who were in Division One last year.
Collie said: “We have the reference points on them from last year, but we have no reference for them for this year so we have a bit of work to do in trying to find out how they are operating this year.
“Then we have a balancing act to look at ourselves as well.”
