CUSHENDALL manager Ciaran Kearney insists there will be no complacency in Ruairi Og ranks ahead of Sunday’s SHC semi-final clash with rivals St John’s in Ballycastle (2pm).
It took two epic games to separate the sides in last year’s semi-final with Cushendall eventually getting “over the line”.
The north Antrim men went on to beat Loughgiel Shamrocks in the decider, they eased past Down champions Ballycran in Ulster before Galway champions St Thomas’s ended their pursuit of the big prize at the All-Ireland semi-final stages in February.
St John’s were faced with having to play three championship matches (two football games and one hurling game) in the space of seven days.
The west Belfast men lost their SFC quarter-final replay to Portglenone on Wednesday night and with a sizeable number of dual players involved their championship timetable has been unfavourable.
“Our players won’t be complacent,” said Kearney, who took the managerial reins from Eamonn Gillan at the end of last season.
“The league games we had against St John’s this season had a bit more mettle about them based on how last year went in the championship. So there’s a bit of a mini rivalry between ourselves and St John’s."
Former county stars Conor and Ciaran Johnston remain key players for the Johnnies alongside Mickey Bradley, while Donal Nugent is back with the hurlers this year, although goal-getter Donal Carson is currently travelling.
“Listen, you look at the team St John’s have - they’re contenders and maybe they just need that one breakthrough win to get into a county final. They certainly have the talent.”
Cushendall were shorn of some of their more experienced players for the early rounds of this year’s county championship.
Conor Carson has been training to become a pilot, Sean McAfee has moved to Australia and Arron Graffin is still rehabbing from a knee op in May. None of them will be available on Sunday.
Sean Delargy and Donal ‘Natty’ McNaughton are recovering from injury but could be in line for a recall against St John’s this weekend.
Neil McManus missed their round robin defeat at the hands of Dunloy due to standing on a sea urchin while on holiday but he returned for the crucial win over O’Donovan Rossa.
St John’s, meanwhile, lost their opening round robin game to Loughgiel before seeing off a spirited St Gall’s to clinch their semi-final berth.
With Cushendall losing some of their physical edge for the 2019 season, they have had to dig deep into their resources and unearthed a couple of young players that have made the grade, in particular Scott Walsh who made his championship debut against Dunloy this season at midfield.
“We had to play players that we thought wouldn’t play championship but they’ve made their way into the team,” Kearney said.
“Following the All Ireland semi-final defeat in February I wouldn’t say there was a hangover but we wanted to time everything. So we tried to peak at the right time and I suppose we’ll find out how that’s gone at the weekend.
“The Rossa game was effectively a quarter-final game for us. If we’d lost we were out and while we won the game I wouldn’t say we weren’t overly enthused by the performance but we’ve worked very, very hard to get back up to the level that we’ll need to face St John’s,” Kearney added.
Dunloy and Loughgiel (3pm) will contest the other semi-final in a double-header in Ballycastle this weekend.
