OUT of Sunday night’s frying pan and into the fire for Silverbridge who held on to beat Granemore in the preliminary round only to be drawn against in-form Clann Eireann at the quarter-final stage of the Armagh senior championship.
Manager Colm Nally rates the Lurgan outfit as “probably the team to beat this year” and his Harps side will have to do that if they’re to progress to the semi-finals of an intriguing championship race that is rising steadily towards the boil.
Silverbridge looked to have Granemore beat out the proverbial gate of the Athletic Grounds on Sunday evening when three first half goals gave them a 10-point lead at the interval. But Granemore, last season’s finalists, found their feet dramatically after the break and they pushed right to the wire before time ran out for them.
Going forward, the lessons learned from a close encounter are straightforward for Mullaghbawn: A repeat of their first half performance will give them a chance against Clann Eireann, their second half showing won’t.
“They (Clann Eireann) are Division 1A champions, so we know it’s going to be tough,” said Silverbridge boss Nally.
“I don’t know a whole pile about them but we’ll get a look at them over the next few days and I believe they’re probably the team to beat this year. It’s a big test for us and it’ll tell us where we really are in our development.”
After winning the senior league for the first time in their history, Clann Eireann remained on course for an historic double with three wins out of three in the group stage. Nally rates them as clear favourites but Silverbridge came mighty close to shocking eventual winners Crossmaglen in last year’s championship so they won’t go into the quarter-final short on belief.
“The favourites tag counts for a lot because it’s very hard to cap the hype,” said Nally.
“There was a lot of hype about ourselves over the last few weeks that probably wasn’t warranted and we showed (against Granemore) that we probably didn’t deserve all that hype.
“We’ll be going into this game as underdogs which probably suits us better because everybody will be expecting Clann Eireann to win. We’re a young team, we’re trying to develop and find our best style of play and it (their style) came unstuck a little bit in the second half against a team that knows what they’re about.
“But it’s a great draw for us to learn and develop so we’ll look forward to it.”
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Had Sunday evening’s game continued in the second half as it had in the first, Silverbridge would be being talked up as championship dark horses now. Nally can take solace from the fact that his players were severely tested in the second half and came through the storm.
“We knew it was going to go right to the wire,” said Nally.
“We knew they were going to have a purple patch, I’m just disappointed the purple patch lasted so long. When momentum goes to the other team and you’re in survival mode, it’s very hard to click back out of it.
“But, to be honest, I’m delighted because we know exactly where we are. We’re not where people think we are, we’re a team that is developing and we needed to win a dogfight because if you’re going to compete in the Armagh championship you’re not going to beat teams well every week - you have to win a scrap, you have to win a fight.
“Maybe we haven’t got a reputation for winning those fights so to come out and win a fight like that… I’m thrilled with that.”
Armagh SFC quarter-final draw: Killeavy v Clann na Gael, Madden v Ballymacnab, Clann Eireann v Silverbridge, Crossmaglen v Armagh Harps
