DESPITE making a winning start to their county title bid on Monday evening, Liatroim look to have another hard task this year under Collie Murphy.
The Fontenoys are aiming to dethrone the Ards clubs from the podium of Down senior hurling and have steadily progressed in recent years, but the spread of resources and players across both football and hurling continues to hamstring the club.
A 2-25 to 1-15 win over Carryduff sent out positive signals, but the fixtures get more difficult from here, with Ballygalget visiting in round two this weekend.
The Ards clubs – most recently Portaferry and Ballycran – have had a perennial stranglehold over the weaker clubs in the county and Murphy sees the gap being as wide as Strangford Lough.
“Look at Portaferry, the last puck of the game, a 21-yard free against Cushendall and we’d have been going up against the Ulster champions [in this year’s Down Championship] and deserved Ulster champions,” said the former Antrim hurler.
“I just think there’s a gap there between Portaferry and Ballycran and Ballygalget and then there’s another gap between them two and us.
“So you know there’s gaps there, but that’s why we train and that’s why we love the game we try and improve and try and close that gap, take our victories when we can.
“Saying that, we’ll never go into a match with a defeatist attitude, we’ll always go into a game and go ‘right, we’re here to win’ as all teams should do, but we know there is a massive gap there.”
Murphy believes that Liatroim are “slowly” closing that gap but says it might take another year or two to catch up with Ballycran and Ballygalget before figuring out how to take on Portaferry.
“It’s the joys of the dual club,” said the west Belfast man.
“Portaferry, Ballycran and Ballygalget haven’t won the championship for the last 68 years on their own for no reason.
“It’s other teams – Carryduff, Bredagh and ourselves trying to compete, Newry in the past. All dual clubs, so it isn’t easy, but the gaps there and we’re trying to close it and that’s all we can do.”
The last side west of Strangford to win the Jeremiah McVeagh Cup was Kilclief in 1956, with the side finishing off a three-in-a-row.
Ben Dhearg still remain the second most successful side in Down hurling history with 23 titles, level with current holders and last year’s Ulster senior finalists Portaferry.
Liatroim face the three Ards sides in the next three matchdays, with Ballygalget the first team to travel across the lough to face Fontenoys in their own backyard.
Speaking about the reality of the gulf in class, Murphy said: “We’re going in against Ballygalgaet as underdogs as we always will be when the Ards teams feature but that’s the way it is and we enjoy that, we’ll give it a lash.”
One week after this, some of the hurling panel will be up against Burren in the Down Senior Football Championship in Clonduff.
He continued: “We enjoy the challenge, as all clubs have to, you have to embrace it and we work well together, the football and hurling management and the club are great at accommodating both.”
