City of Derry just one win away from Ravenhill

City of Derry vs. Enniskillen

Junior Cup semi-final

Judges Road

Saturday, 2:30pm

There is no doubting the importance of this weekend’s Junior Cup semi-final at Judges Road, with Richard McCarter hailing it as City of Derry’s biggest game in 13 years.

The opportunity to return to Ravenhill for the first time since 2010 is prominent in McCarter’s mind, and he has focused all his efforts on making that dream a reality ahead of this weekend’s semi-final game on home soil.

Back in 2010, City of Derry lost 25-0 to Dungannon in the Senior Cup final, but 13 years on the opportunity to end the season with a game at the prestigious venue, with the possibility of a trophy on top of that has everyone at Judges Road excited. McCarter, injured for that senior final in 2010, is desperate for his players to experience a huge day out in Belfast.

“It’s about the players and it would be great for them to get to a final, especially given what they have been through over the past few seasons,” he acknowledged. “The last time the first team were in a cup final of any description was in 2010. No matter what competition it is, to get to a final at Ravenhill would be absolutely massive. It would be a big day out and great for the player to experience that. We don’t really care what competition it is, it’s an opportunity for the club to get to a final and we’ll be treating it the way we should be.”

City of Derry head into this weekend’s game on the back of their best run of form in several years – both in terms of results and performances. McCarter’s team has won six on the bounce, but the players have had to wait almost a month since their last game against Ballynahinch.

“It just seems like an awfully long time between the last game against Ballynahinch and the semi-final,” McCarter stated. “I understand it to a degree because there’s so many other competitions going on, and some of the other teams in the semi-finals are involved in those, but from a preparation point of view, it definitely hasn’t been ideal. We have just had to manage it as best we can and thankfully now we’re in game week and we’re looking forward to getting out there on Saturday.”

Keeping his players in the zone in the interim has been a delicate balancing act for the Head Coach, who has had to temper his own enthusiasm for the next game. 

“It's going to be tough and that’s why we’ve had to manage training as best as we’ve could, but you’ll never be able to replicate the conditions of matches and the physicality and the intensity of it,” he said.

“We’re tried to do that over the last few weeks and keep it fun, with some conditioning and some contact, but the most important thing has been keeping the lads engaged and making sure that we didn’t overdo it so they would be burnt out mentally and physically. We also didn’t want to run the risk of being totally underprepared so we’ve had to find the balance and we’ll soon see on Saturday in the first 10 or 15 minutes.”

Optimism

The mood at Judges Road is in stark contrast to that just 12 months ago, with relegation from the AIL all but confirmed after a first leg relegation play-off defeat at Clonmel. One year later and the club is in a much better place.

“Almost this day last year we were in Clonmel for the first leg of the play-off and I just remember sitting on the bus on the way home and I was absolutely devastated,” McCarter recalled. “It’s funny how it’s almost 12 months on to the day where we’re competing in a semi-final. I remember telling the boys after that that things would get better, although it might take a wee while. I’m delighted that there is this positivity and no matter what happens on Saturday, it certainly isn’t going to be as low as it was last year.”

Standing in Derry’s way is Enniskillen, a team they have beaten twice this season.

“Both games were really competitive and they arguably could have gone the other way, especially in the away game where we nicked it on the last play of the game,” McCarter cautioned. “The home game was fairly nip and tuck until the last 15 minutes when we scored three tries and blew them away.

“Their cup form is good – they have been in three cups this year and their form has been impressive. They were beaten finalists in the All-Ireland Junior Cup, beaten semi-finalists in the Town’s Cup and now they are in the semi-final of the Junior Cip against us. We know the challenges they pose and it will be a real tough game.”