St Paul’s Ulster Minor Football Tournament Preliminary Round
Mayobridge 2-10 Kingscourt Stars (Cavan) 1-10
By Ronan Scott
THE experience of playing in last year’s St Paul’s Ulster Minor Football tournament was crucially important for Mayobridge on Sunday as they dug deep to beat Kingscourt in their preliminary round match.
The county minor champions were in a comfortable position at half time, leading by 1-6 to 1-1, but windy conditions, the 3G surface, as well as the Cavan champions’ determination, made for a difficult second half.
Mayobridge had to withstand a late charge from Kingscourt who got within a score of tieing the game.
When asked if the experience of playing last year helped, joint manager Francie Poland had this response.
“There was no doubt about that. Last year there was a bit of nerves but this year they were a bit more calm. They were more relaxed and knew what was ahead of them. This year they did know what was ahead of them.
“There is no doubt about it that playing last year was an advantage.”
In the full story Francie highlights some of the challenges that the minors faced and how they managed to overcome those.