Ross Finn was at the heart of Granemore’s defence on Saturday evening when the St Mary’s side fought their way back from the dead to reach their first Senior Championship Semi Final since 2011. Finn has been part of a successful year so far for Granemore, reaching the top section of Division 1 during the league while they are now unbeaten across their four championship games.
Madden presented a difficult opponent in the quarter finals and heading into the final few minutes of the game it seemed hugely unlikely that Granemore would come out on the right side, even for the men in the green and white, “A battle, that’s exactly what it was, wet conditions obviously played their part, a scrappy game and really it was the team who wanted the ball more that was going to take it.”
“For a long time Madden were on top of us and it didn’t look like we were going to get anything out of the game. 10-8, 27 minutes into the second half and I thought the game was over but thankfully the boys pulled through and got us over the line with some good scores, some hard hits and we’re into the next round now”.
Granemore won’t be getting carried away with their championship winning streak however and Finn insists his team mates are only focused on the next game and they are not looking any further than the semi final, “It’s taking every game as it comes. Our target was to try and top our group and we managed that and that got us to where we want to be now, and now we’re just taking every game as it comes and whoever we get we’ll focus on them and we’ll not think any further ahead”.
As we now know, Granemore have been paired with their old rivals Ballymacnab in what promises to be a hell of a game but as the Nab’s quarter final was played just before Granemore’s, Finn and his team mates missed most of that contest, but as Granemore played their football in the lower sector of the senior league he believes his side was always going to be up against it no matter who they faced.
“No, I didn’t see any of the first game so we don’t really know, we know what Ballymacnab bring, and they’re a good side. Everyone in the semi finals are going to be strong teams and whoever we get we’re going to be up against it especially being a 1B side so we just have to put the head down and hope for the best”.
While the men on the pitch were the ones kicking the ball between the posts to secure the win on Saturday night, Finn heaped praise on Granemore’s new manager and how he has brought the team together this season, “Eamon’s brilliant, his organisation skills, his way of bonding the team, him and McCarten they’re bringing an extra edge to training that we never had and he’s been brilliant”.
