CHRISTMAS was a lot different in Cullyhanna this year, but boss Stephen Reel has no complaints. His side are preparing for an All-Ireland semi-final and hoping to add to an already historic season.
The St Patrick’s club have been on the go well over a year now and their hard work and effort has been rewarded with two trophies, the Armagh Intermediate Championship crown along with the Ulster title.
And they’re not done yet. While others may be feeling a little worse for wear next week after ringing in the New Year, Cullyhanna will be on the training field, plotting the downfall of Kildare’s Allenwood and hoping to take a further step towards Croke Park.
“Christmas was different this year and I know plenty of teams are out training at this time of year, they’re all back at it again and we were this time last year as well, we were training away,” said the Cullyhanna manager.
“But it’s different. That preseason training is all physical training and that’s what it’s all about, but this is different because the game is so close and at training the boys have to be both physically and mentally at it.
“We’ve had to be really clued in and sharp and the Christmas period itself does tend to be a chilling out time, but you just can’t afford to drop off at all and we’ve just kept at it, kept focused and just mentally clued into everything we’ve been doing.
“That was difficult because of Christmas but thankfully the boys, they cleared their schedules, and they’ve done everything they’ve been asked to do. It did mean sacrifices over Christmas but we’re in a good position and it was an easy decision for them.”
If Cullyhanna are going to advance any further in the All-Ireland series, the former St Patrick’s defender believes his side are going to have to up their performance from the one they produced in the Ulster final.
Midway through the second period, Cavan champs Ballyhaise led by four-points, but Cullyhanna dug deep to edge through by the minimum of margins. While it was good enough on the day, Reel suggests that same display won’t do in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“We don’t know much about Allenwood and you’re watching videos and bits and pieces but it’s very hard to get the downlow from that,” added Reel. “The camera follows the ball and unfortunately you need to see the full pitch when you try to assess a team.
“In that respect we are really focused on ourselves. We probably weren’t at our best in the Ulster final and we know we have improvements to make.
“We had two good performances before the Ballyhaise game (against Pomeroy and Liatroim) and maybe that was down to mentality. Our levels just weren’t good enough.
“It was enough to get over the line and get the job done which is good on one hand, but we do know we can play better so we’re really focusing on our own game and working on what we need to work on.”