Burke believes in his players

As Carlow travel to Croke Park on Sunday it is quite possible certain mind-games are dancing around in the players heads.

After a long journey which was years in the making, the quest to get to Croke Park has finally been achieved. Does this lessen their ambition? It happens. After trying so hard to get so far, going on and winning can be as difficult as getting there.

Ed Burke acknowledges this kind of thing happens.

“We are happy to be there. We want to win but I suppose in a lot of senses the semi-final was like a final for us. The pressure is off us now. We will probably be underdogs again. We will give it everything now and see if we can get the result we want,” he promises.

After Carlow beat Derry in Cavan, the backroom team brought the players back down to earth. They were given the following Wednesday off but two days later, on the training ground, the players were put through the mill. There was no question of relaxing after a goal had been reached.

“It is generally sometimes that is the case but we kind of knocked that out of them at the next training session we did. It was the hardest training session of the year. They quickly realised that this year must not be over yet.” Nobody was spared. Burke is confident the players listened to what could have been a wake-up call.

“They were shocked they were so wrecked. Some of them said it was the hardest training session of their lives,” he said.

Antrim will have had the experience of playing a final in Croke Park in 2025. Burke says the Northerners have to be favourites but knows himself that finals take on a life of their own.

“Sometimes there can be complacency but we are going in as underdogs which we like. In junior ladies football, you have to lose one to win one is a common trend. It will be on the day. As I said last night to the girls, we could have five great training sessions and not turn up on the day or we could have five terrible training sessions and turn up on the day.” 

Burke continues to articulate the unknowns of All-Ireland final day. Predicting a winner can be all but impossible.

“We could be brilliant on the day. Antrim could be poor. It could be vice-versa. We could both be brilliant. Pressure, in our eyes, is all on Antrim. They are probably better than a junior team. I might disrespect some of the others but I would rather play the two teams who are in the intermediate final. In fairness, Antrim got promoted from Division 2,” he points out.

Members of the management team will visit Croke Park this week. Burke says he doesn’t see the benefit in bringing the squad on an extra journey before the final. He is happy to let the hare sit and see how things unfold.

“We have turned up 17 times out of 17 at some stage this year. As I say, we expect to turn up. We expect to play well for vast majorities of the game and if we do I think Antrim will have a hard job to beat us.”