A TAILOR’S dummy could probably have converted the two goal chances that came Colm McGoldrick’s way on Sunday but being a full-forward is all about being in the right place at the right time.
Big Colm was there and anyway he earned the chances put on a plate for him by brothers Ciaran and then Sean Leo through his constant workrate and willingness to scrap for every ball that came his way as Coleraine clinched their first ever win at senior level in Ulster on Sunday.
“They were open nets,” said McGoldrick after Eoghan Rua had seen off Cavan champions Castlerahan 2-11 to 0-11 at Kingscourt.
“They were tap-ins, so I don’t think I take much credit for them.
“The person who gives me the ball with an open net takes the credit, I don’t get anything there.”
McGoldrick’s brace, and the red card shown to Castlerahan midfielder David Wright, left Coleraine in the box seat at the interval but a switch to a more defensive system in the second half contributed to Castlerahan cutting their lead to just a point in the final 10 minutes of an entertaining affair.
“It was a tough game,” McGoldrick admitted.
“They came out and got a couple of points (at the start of the second half) and we missed a couple of chances. All of a sudden, the crowd is behind them and our crowd is a bit quiet.
“Every score they got, we got more uptight but then we got one and everyone relaxes a bit.
“It’s nice to get through, this is the furthest we’ve been. The last time (2010) we got tanked by Burren, this time we’ve got through so it’s nice to win our first one.
“It doesn’t mean a wild pile, we’ve gone through and we’ll try to win the next game.”
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Next up for the Derry men is a semi-final against Monaghan champions Scotstown and they can expect a tougher challenge against the star-studded An Bhoth outfit that got past Burren in Newry on Sunday.
“How many Monaghan titles have they got?” McGoldrick observed.
“They’ve been there or thereabouts for the last five years and they have some very good players – the two Hughes’ (Darren and Kieran), Conor McCarthy, Rory Beggan…
“We’ll enjoy this and start thinking about them on Wednesday.”
Scotstown teams invariably start on the front foot and attack from the first whistle. Coleraine can expect the Monaghan men to mark them man-for-man and press high up the field – something that doesn’t always happen in Derry club football.
“Whenever teams go man-to-man things can get a bit disorganised and stuff can happen that normally wouldn’t happen,” said McGoldrick.
“Give Caslterahan credit… They came out and kept us quiet for 20 minutes of the second half and scored five points themselves. I don’t think it was much to do with us, I think it was them, they played the football and we didn’t.
“It was nice to squeeze it back out to six points. It didn’t reflect the second half because there were a few panicked heads out there but it’s nice to get through to the next round that’s the bottom line.
“We haven’t played football this late in the year in a long time – maybe the intermediate run in 2007? It’s nice to be playing football in November.”
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