PAUL WARD goes in search of his third Fermanagh Senior Championship medal on Sunday as his Derrygonnelly side take on Erne kingpins Roslea in the final.
The former county man is under no illusions as to the task that lies ahead for his team, describing Roslea as a "serious outfit".
“They are the benchmark for Fermanagh football. They have their system down to perfection and have been playing it for six years now and, even with James Sherry and Kevin Cosgrove missing, they have been playing really well. Sitting second in the league and in another county final, they just know how to win football games,” Ward said.
Ward and Derrygonnelly have been in fine form themselves this season. Having spent almost all his career in the full-forward line, Harps manager Martin Greene has played Ward in a more withdrawn role and the attacker has been producing some excellent displays. And now back in their first Championship final since 2009, Ward feels this particular group of players are starting to fulfil their potential.
“We would have been very disappointed last year," he said.
"We felt we had enough to beat Teemore in the first round, but didn't perform as well as we could and they went all the way to the final. We probably had as good a squad last year as we have this year, but I definitely think we have learned and improved.”
Learning is what this Derrygonnelly team is all about and the improvement in six days between their drawn championship quarter-final with Ederney and the replay was stark as they dismantled the opposition in the replay.
“That game has probably stood to us, to be fair. We got out of jail the first day and we went away and did a lot of work and tweaked a few things and it worked well for us,” he said.
They went on to confidently dismiss Devenish in the semi-final to set up a final date with Roslea. As an interesting aside, Derrygonnelly and Roslea will contest the Reserve Championship final in a clear indication that these are certainly the two strongest squads in the county.
“It is great to have the reserve team in the final too," Ward added.
"Firstly you're getting great numbers at training but, also, the competition for places is huge. Any one of those players on the reserve team could come in and do a very good job for the senior team and we all have confidence in each other.”
Ward believes they will need all that confidence, belief and more when they meet Roslea on Sunday. Competing in their sixth final in seven years, Roslea are still the team on the pedestal in Fermanagh and Derrygonnelly will have to be at their best if they are to knock them off it.
“We are not overawed by the challenge and we are looking forward to it and know that, if we produce our best, we will be in with a very good chance," he said.
"But Roslea are a serious outfit. They have experience all over the pitch and they have real match winners too. Séamus Quigey barely touched the ball in their semi-final, yet scored two goals, while Seán Quigley is playing brilliant football, even when he comes out around the middle he is scoring five or six points a game.”
Derrygonnelly have a number of match winners of their own too. Ward is one of them and, if he plays well on Sunday, Derrygonnelly could well be celebrating their fourth championship in 20 years.
