In the last couple of years, Madden have blooded through a number of young players that are now playing senior football. The likes of Dylan Crilly, Cathal Donnelly and Oisin O’Hara are all starters in the championship.
Those three players put decent performances under their belts as Madden hammered Armagh Harps last Sunday evening. That saw the Raparees qualify for the last eight of the Senior Championship for the third year in a row.
Mark Harte’s side have suffered a number of season-ending injuries this year, so the inclusion of a few younger players has been vital. Cathal Maguire, Conor Mone and most recently Patrick Carr have all suffered ACL injuries.
“We’ve had a couple of bad injuries, we’ve actually had three ACL injuries this year which is unfortunate. The squad depth is brilliant, the young lads coming in are unbelievable,” Sheridan told Armagh TV after their 14-point win.
“Young Dylan Crilly there has been excellent. This is only his first year of senior, maybe second, but he’s doing a brilliant job. He man-marked Tom O’Kane and done a really good job.
“He’s only 18 years of age. The depth is unbelievable and it’s great to get those young lads football, it drives everything on at training too.”
Madden came through a tricky start to overcome the Harps, kicking 14 unanswered points. An O’Kane goal early on put the men in red and black under pressure but their response was emphatic.
“We knew the Harps would bring big intensity at the start and they got their goal and we were one or two points down. We had to regroup and keep kicking over handy scores and thankfully that got us settled and we pulled away there towards the end.”
Madden had nine different scores on the night, with Sheridan chipping in with 0-3. “That’s what we want, we want everyone chipping in with scores, it can’t just be one or two men. You need everyone tipping away at the scores and the more the better.”