DOWN U20 ace Cathal Gorman has praised manager Conor Deegan for his approach in handling his workload over the past number of weeks.
The Newry Shamrocks man says he felt fortunate to have Deegan as his manager at Queen’s and U20s. Gorman was part of the Queen’s Sigerson Cup team that ended their four-year winless run last month.
Deegan’s side knocked out Brian Howard’s TU Dublin City in their Sigerson opener before falling to a heavy defeat to UCD in the next round fo the competition.
Although Gorman didn’t have the same commitments as some of his Queen’s team-mates, he feels the U20 Championship has been a “bit rushed” this year as the Mournemen prepare to face Cavan in Kingspan Breffni Park on Saturday afternoon.
Last year, the relatively new U20 grade was played in summer time – but with the fixtures calendar being tweaked at a national level, the new February slot has experienced plenty of problems, especially with the schools sector.
“There is a bit of pressure with commitments, but Conor was very good,” said Gorman.
“I was lucky enough to have Conor for Sigerson and U20 so he’s very understanding about training for different teams. But there were other boys who were feeling the pressure in trying to please everybody.
“Last year there definitely wasn’t that pressure. I was playing Freshers for Queen’s and the U20s were spread out and you were able to give the competitions a good rattle, and for training sessions you were a lot fresher too.
“I love playing football and I suppose if I wasn’t getting picked for different teams I’d be more annoyed. Any opportunity I get I’m thankful to be there, but there definitely would be boys who would be freaking out about having to train the night before a game for another team and they feel they’re going to disappoint someone.”
Half-forward Gorman was a key player in last year’s U20 Mourne side that beat Antrim in their opener before exiting to Tyrone.
Regardless of how this year’s U20 provincial series unfolds, Gorman hopes to follow in the footsteps of some of his former U20 team-mates and break into Paddy Tally’s senior ranks.
“Whenever the competition went from U18 to U17 that was my first year playing at U20, so I was playing with the likes of Daniel Guinness and Owen McCabe and they’re now playing senior. I was also playing with the likes of Shane Annett and Peter Fegan who have stepped up to the seniors this year.
“Seeing them making the breakthrough makes it a lot easier for you. I know Peter Fegan very well and he said there is not that much of a difference; it’s just a bit of a step up in commitment. When you’re playing Sigerson football you’re playing against the likes of Brian Howard [TU Dublin City] and you realise they’re human as well, the same as everybody else.”
On the controversial fixturing of the U20 provincial series, the Queen’s Actuary student said:“April, May time was ideal. It’s great to play football in the summer time, and I think you get to know the players better because you’ve been training together for longer, whereas this year it just feels a bit rushed. Everybody’s feeling it the same as us.”
