Fired up Rafferty hoping to make it third time lucky for Ferbane

IF ever a man deserves to enjoy the feeling that comes with managing a team that wins a championship, it is Ger Rafferty.

Now in his third year as Ferbane manager, he has led them to their third successive final and has brought the same passion and drive he had as a player to the table as manager.

A tough, no nonsense individual, not afraid to make hard calls, the Cloghan man has seen them suffer two agonising defeats to Tullamore and will be leaving no stone unturned to try and avoid a hat-trick of defeats at the hands of their great rivals in Sunday's Senior Football Championship final.

How do Ferbane keep coming back?

“I suppose there is huge resilience in the group, every time they are knocked down they get back up again and go and get at it and it's great to be back in the county final.”

There has to be huge hunger in you for this to get across the line?

“Ah yeah, that's the thing now with all the players. It's not about me. There's a few new players this year and there's massive hunger in the group, there’s massive ambition in the group. It has been there in the last couple of years but we haven’t done enough to get the result we wanted.”

How hard have the last two defeats been to take. Two years ago, Tullamore were the better team, but you could’ve won it last year, it was 50/50 really?

“Last year was very hard to take.. Two years ago, it was a wet day, and we never just got into it, and Tullamore had their finest line-up, and they did enough to get over the line. Last year it was disappointing, an awful lot of things went right for us last year and what the boys were asked to do they did it. Just coming down the home straight there, I don’t think we might have done enough to get it over the line. Personally I was devastated after but so were the players, I know in the dressing room some of them stood up and said you know we are going to get up and get back at it next year. The county final was two weeks later last year than the year before, we were heading into the winter and early January we were back at it again.”

I suppose in the immediate aftermath of that match there was obviously a lot of talking about the referee but did a bit of self-reflection take place and were you sort of looking at yourselves rather than the decisions that went against you?

“100%, we were the hardest critics. We just didn't do enough in the second half. We were not in a bad position at half time. There was a bit of a breeze there, we probably died out of it in the last 15 minutes and heading into injury time, they got ahead and we just couldn't wheel ourselves back in and as I said we made mistakes and hopefully we learned from them. “

How big of a loss was Leon Fox?

“He gave huge commitment and dedication to Ferbane and Belmont. He was coming from Louth for training and I'd say over the two years I had him he wouldn't have missed five training sessions altogether. He was massive player for us and a big loss but players will probably step into the breach there and plough on. So I wish Leon well there with his new club.”

Joe Maher and Ronan McGuire went intermediate but was there sort of a need to freshen the team up anyway?

“Well like the panel is open for anyone in Ferbane or Belmont. Some lads have came in here in the last two or three years and have progressed from finding it hard to get on the intermediate team to then getting onto the intermediate team to getting on the senior team. If a lad is training hard and doing what he is asked and is showing good desire he’ll get a chance and five or six lads have taken their chance this year and we probably needed it. They have probably been a breath of fresh air and the other lads too have been huge help, the likes of Shane Nally, Stephen Wren and Ciaran Cahill have been helping these lads bed in.”

It is a great asset having a player like Cathal Flynn who in unbelievable form at the moment. I assume there is no real managing Cathal at the moment?

“Cathal is brilliant and he has a savage attitude, he has huge skill, he is going really well and having a really good year for us and hopefully he will continue on next week. But he is a great man away from football too.”

You probably didn't look like county champions in the group. Ye have been a bit hot and cold at times this year

“A little bit inconsistent early on in the year as there was a few lads bedding in. I don't think we were going as bad as some people were making out. We lost to Rhode by a point. We are learning every day we go out. Anyway we’ve got a few lads back, Paddy Clancy came back from Australia which strengthens us up a bit as well, strengthens up the panel anyway and we are coming along nicely all year to be fair.”

The loss to Rhode was a blow?

“We were expecting a kick out of them. They got well beaten by Edenderry. A few things went wrong for us that night and we rectified in the mean time. You know Rhode is Rhode. We lost by a point but we learnt from it and moved on.”

With respect to every team that's in the championship but the way the groups were this year, obviously Durrow and Ballycommon were in the same group, and three were qualifying so it probably would have took an effort not to qualify out of it, did that give you sort of leeway to try out new things?

“Not really, we really would have targeted Ballycomon and Durrow because, like coming into the Durrow match and we’re after losing to Rhode we were probably out of the championships if we lost to Durrow. We appreciate getting the victories off whoever and the main thing was getting to the knockout stages. We didn't really care if we came one, two or three. We came third and would probably prefer to be third than first really. Because if we were first we would have a six week break until the semi -final. The main thing anyway is that we are progressing and moving on.”

The Shamrocks game very nearly went wrong. Ye probably got a couple of breaks that day, a bounce that ye didn't didn't get in other years?

“First of all it was a magnificent game of football I thought and you know it was a great

day for it, 3-15 to 2-17 was a huge score. Coming down the home straight and we were in a bit of bother but weren't panicking too much. It was just that kind of game that scores were there to be got. Maybe at the very end when we were a point or two up, if they got in, they could have got a goal or maybe could have kicked a two pointer. But I was really happy to get the result coming out of there that evening and I think we had multiple breaks before that which really helped us prepare for Edenderry again.”

Was the second half against Edenderry in the semi-final the best Ferbane display in your time in charge?

“Loking back at it, the boys played really well. Sometimes we fall asleep after half time, so I think when the first goal went in I think Edenderry probably fell back a bit. I'm happy with the performance alright but I think Edenderry maybe went a little bit earlier, without being disrespectful.”

But it was really good Ferbane performance?

“I wouldn't get carried away with it. There's kind of, I notice a thing around here that when a good team beats you by a point it's doom and gloom and when you beat a team well, everything is going rosy. But you know we’ve an awful lot of work to do to beat Tullamore because they're the standard bearers the last couple of years and we realise that the performance against Edenderry won’t be good enough to beat Tullamore”

Ferbane is such a traditionally powerful club, and they expect to win titles?

“Ah, it's good like and the expectation that there's confidence that they are going to be in finals, semi-finals every year which is great. Great belief among the players. I wouldn't call it pressure. I find it great that you're expected to be in a final and we’re back in one. You're expected to win it and now it would be great to win it.”

A third final defeat to Tullamore would be a nightmare?

“I'm not thinking of it like that. A lot of teams would love to be playing three finals in a row. They are the standard bearers in Offaly the last couple of years. They play a different kind of football, I suppose, really tough, really on the line, on the edge football. They have a good system that they started with Niall Stack and if anything they’ve pushed on. They’ve blown everyone away so far and you know maybe we’re setting ourselves up for a downfall but I know the lads will give a great effort.”

You have to be hopeful after the two semi-finals?

“Our match was a lot looser than the Rhode Tullamore match. It was a huge physical encounter, really intense and the day was dry as well. The forecast next week is wet and it will be tougher and a different kind of match. It will be tough and tense but there's very little between Ferbane and Tullamore the last couple of years.”

Do the new rules suit Ferbane?

“Some of it, maybe because it’s our third year. Colin Kenny has done huge work with it, some of it, we would’ve been doing it anyway the last two years. I suppose the big thing with the new rules is kickouts you know. I suppose it's the one rule that you might not have looked at at the start of year that’s going to catch you but looking even at Armagh and Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter final, Armagh couldn't get their own kickouts away so that's a massive thing now in the game more so nearly than the two pointer or the keeping three up. I think they’re a huge help to Gaelic football, I think it's a lot more enjoyable to watch and to play and it's probably harder to referee as well now.”

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Possession is crucial because it's so hard to get it back?

“Possession is more intense the way it's gone like so a goalie has to go long ways with kick outs, and I suppose it's more congested there around and it probably brings back the old style feeling as well which a lot of older stock love to see as well. Tullamore are well up for that, and they’ve been at it a few years too.”