GAA: Hasson in search of All-Ireland glory
ALL-IRELAND JFC FINAL
Derry v Fermanagh
Sunday 11.45 - Croke Park
By Orlagh Mullan
DERRY Ladies manager Paul Hasson believes his team have what it takes of become All-Ireland champions on Sunday as they prepare to meet Fermanagh in Croke Park.
The Erne Ladies are heavy favourites to take the title having already beaten the Oak Leaf four time this season – including a 4-10 to 1-10 win in the Ulster Junior final – but after good victories over Antrim and then Carlow in the semi-final, confidence is high in the Derry camp.
With the three club championship finals taking place on Saturday, there was a fear that key players wouldn’t make it through unscathed, but Hasson said there is a full bill of health and the mood is the camp is one of excitement.
“The feeling is very, very good,” he told the County Derry Post.
“We met up on Sunday morning because with the county finals the day before we were a bit worried about getting everybody out of it injury free with no red cards, and we’re raring to go now this week. We’ve regrouped and got everybody focused. The plans have been laid out and we feel relaxed.”
Like the county’s minors two days ago, the ladies contingent are preparing for a match that simply can’t be considered as just any other. An All-Ireland final in the home of GAA is every footballer’s dream, but Hasson insists they have to do what they can to put it out of their heads.
“It’s the same size pitch as your home club. The occasion is obviously the biggest of these girls lives, but if we get hyped up on the occasion then we’ll not focus on the match, and ideally we want to focus on it,” the manager explained.
“It’s live on TG4 and they can record it and play it over and over after it to watch the surroundings and the atmosphere. These girls will never play in front of 40 odd thousand people again, but the minds are focused on staying professional and doing what we’ve been doing the last three, four, five matches. We want to take care of business.”
At the start of the year Hasson and his management team made a big push to get numbers involved with the county set-up, and it has paid dividends. As well as that the Oak Leaf have come on leaps and bounds since their last appearance in the showpiece – a defeat to London in 2008. It’s an improvement he is pleased to see.
“It’s turning as close to professional as it can – though we’re a long way off the Dublin senior men yet! We’ve tried to add that this year. We wanted to add that bit of respect that we felt the girls hadn’t been getting. Whenever we give them that, they bought into what we were trying to do. We set the stall out very early in the year,” Hasson recalled.
“A lot of people, probably 80-90%, within Derry didn’t believe we could do it and it’s the same throughout the whole of Ireland. They never thought Derry could achieve what we have. The girls have put in the work, and believed in us. We asked them what they needed and took it on board. It’s not just Sean, Jennifer and myself that have got them here – it’s very much a collective thing.”
He continued: “The last few games we’ve turned teams over that nobody gave us a chance against. Come Fermanagh, the fifteen point deficit from last time will have no bearing I don’t think on Sunday. A final is a final. Yes, they’ve been there before and done it. They know the Croke Park set up but we’ve no pressure. We’ve a free wildcard to go out and express ourselves and very few times in football does that happen. We’ll stick to the game plan and what we did against Carlow, and hopefully the result will take care of itself.”
And so attentions turn to the opposition. Fermanagh manager Emmett Curry has tried to play off the favourites tag, but there is no denying that Derry’s Ulster counterparts, led by 16-year-old Eimear Smyth, will feel confident after four consecutive wins in the same battles this season.
“Only for the fact that we’ve played Fermanagh so much this year, we probably wouldn’t be where we’re at. Those games have helped us develop and work on what we need to be,” Hasson insisted.
“The girls have seen that they can get close to them without overly playing well. We seen in the Ulster final that we had ample chances to score goals, and decisions maybe went against us. We maybe got caught up in the occasion that time, but it won’t be the case here. Every time we’ve played Fermanagh, we’ve learned lessons from it. They’re probably sick of seeing us.
“We’re in a good place. They’ll obviously be strongly fancied to win and no doubt they’re under no illusions they can beat us because they have previously this year, but a broken clock is right at least twice a day so we’re hoping to get it right this time around,” he added.
Over the past few years there have been times when Derry Ladies football has been walking the line of extinction. Hasson and his team have brought it back now – in fact they have elevated to the pinnacle. At the end of sixty minutes on Sunday, they may well achieve the ultimate dream.
“The response from the girls has been fantastic to be honest. I’m not worried about just rewards or accolades, the girls have just deserved to get here. There’s girls that have travelled the length and breadth of Ireland for Derry and got no respect or no justification at all,” the manager admitted.
“It’s about time, for the good of Derry football, that this gives the club in Derry a massive lift. The amount of people bringing school children – under 10’s, under 12’s, under 14’s – down to Croke Park to support the senior players is fantastic. It gives them something to look up to watching them run out there, it’s every player’s dream, so if you’re sitting in the stands seeing your favourite player in Croke Park – it’s unreal. The development that will do further down the line is great. They think if they can do it, then so can I if I stick at it and train hard enough.”