TOMAS McCann says it never entered his head that defending champions Cargin would lose Sunday’s tense semi-final affair with St Brigid’s as the Erin’s Own men went on to book their sixth county championship final in seven years.
Cargin are aiming for three-in-a-row county titles when they face Portglenone in the October 13 decider – a feat they managed between 2018 to 2020, with Creggan Kickhams interrupting their dominance in 2021.
And they haven’t lost a county final in their last seven appearances with St Gall’s being the last team to deny them in a decider, in 2014.
Portglenone, by contrast, are featuring in their first senior final since 2009 and have yet to claim the silverware.
St Brigid’s, though, were many people’s tip to topple Cargin – but for the second year running the south Belfast men narrowly failed at the semi-final stages.
They led Cargin 0-5 to 0-1 after 35 minutes of Sunday’s game but couldn’t hold the champions in the final quarter.
Asked if he thought the defence of their county crown was in jeopardy at any stage of Sunday’s clash in Dunsilly, McCann said: “No. Never at any point did I not think we’d gain complete control of the game.”
A strong breeze played a major role with St Brigid’s building up a wind-assisted 0-4 to 0-1 half-time lead but it wasn’t enough to keep Cargin at bay in the second period.
“We were playing against a really strong wind in the first half and we just had to be patient.
“In the second half we squeezed up and eventually they were going to cough it up. Once we went ahead, St Brigid’s had to go chasing a wee bit and we just exposed them.
“We just felt if they were going to get a score in the second half it was going to have to be a good score,” McCann said.
“In saying that, we missed two goal chances in the first half to put it out of reach. Realistically, we would have controlled the rest of the game had we taken them.”
Angry words were exchanged between the two benches at the end of Sunday’s low-scoring encounter with Cargin members seemingly annoyed at how St Brigid’s celebrated their Division One final win over the Erin’s Own men back in July.
It was St Brigid’s first-ever Division One title win.
However, the league final defeat wasn’t something that annoyed McCann who was one of Cargin’s most influential players in Sunday’s tie.
“To be honest, we actually struggled to get a team for the league final,” McCann said. “Marty Kane (retired) was meant to come back and play, Michael Clarke actually came at half-time; he wasn’t playing this year.
“He came on in the last 20 minutes. I hadn’t played a pile of football at that time and it gave me another game. I was just happy to get a bit of fitness out of it.
“But every time we play, we look after ourselves and give our opponents respect. People think we get complacent, but we don’t, and people like to say we’re arrogant – we’re just focused on what we’re doing. To be honest we are just stepping up week on week.”
With seven county championships banked in the last decade, Cargin have been the team to beat in Antrim.
Creggan, Aghagallon, Lamh Dhearg and Dunloy have been the main challengers during that time – but there is a sense among the Erin’s Own squad that they still don’t get the respect or accolades they feel they deserve.
McCann said: “I like going in and proving the point again. You can’t beat footballers, people who can think for themselves on a pitch.
“People will say this and that, boys in our team have been written off every year but I’m happy to stick up for them. Every year we go out to prove the point again.”