New Ross boss confident ahead of Cup tie
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The RSC plays host to an intriguing local clash tomorrow night when the inconsistent home side, Waterford United, take on non-league New Ross Celtic from neighbouring Wexford in the FAI Cup. The Blues are under new management following the dismissal of Stephen Henderson and this could well prove to be a stern first test for the men in caretaker charge, Paul O’Brien, Billy Hearne and Alan Barry. One man looking to ensure this is the case is New Ross manager Brad O’Neill; he spoke to extratime.ie on the eve of the clash.
“I said to the lads last night when we were training; we haven’t had a game in five weeks now, we finished our season five weeks ago, so all we could do is just keep training”, says O’Neill of his team’s less than ideal preparations. “We were getting no games because there’s no one to play, you know, everyone’s finished and the League of Ireland clubs didn’t want to play because they’re playing every weekend themselves. So it was hard, but we just kept training and hopefully that’ll be enough for tomorrow night.”
But if the physical preparation hasn’t quite been up to scratch, the same certainly can’t be said of their mental approach. O’Neill and his team are relishing this opportunity against their higher-profile neighbours and the away draw is not being seen as a problem. “When the draw was made we were really delighted that it was Waterford United, 15-20 minutes down the road from us. They’ve got a great tradition, we were looking for one of the big teams and we consider Waterford one of the big teams. The lads are really, really looking forward to it, the town is really buzzing over it.”
“We would have liked a home draw maybe against one of the bigger sides but I actually don’t know whether our grounds would have been allowed to hold a game because I think if this game is a draw tomorrow night, the replay is Monday at three o’ clock in Wexford Youths’ place. So I don’t think we would have been allowed to hold a home game anyway.”
Given the recent disharmony surrounding their opponents and the turbulent experience of coaching changes, this could be a great chance for New Ross to cause an upset. But O’Neill is wary of a Waterford resurgence under their new management and won’t be taking anything for granted. “I’ll tell you, I would have rather played them last week when the manager was still there. Sometimes if a new manager, or even a caretaker manager, comes in the players respond a lot better to it. You see it in England every day of the week with teams getting a caretaker manager and the next game they’re flying because they get that new lease of life. Maybe things just went a bit stale with their manager there and he couldn’t get around them anymore. But I hope it hasn’t given them too much of a boost during the week, maybe they’re on a little bit of a downer, I hope.”
Of his own team, O’Neill is proud to highlight the rich tradition and philosophy of the Wexford club, one which focuses heavily on youth. “Right down the club we’ve got something like 15/16 under-age teams, we’ve always fed off of our youth teams for our senior teams. You’ll see the team on Friday night, bar one or two it’s all local chaps, all New Ross chaps. Down through the years we’ve played in some big competitions; we’ve won the Leinster Junior Cup, we’ve played in the FAI Junior Cup final back in 1994, got to the semi-final this year, like we’ve always had players representing our county team. We’ve got two Irish Junior internationals on the team as well and we do have a great tradition. Hopefully we can bring it down to Waterford on Friday night and show that bit of football that we have in us.”
That ‘bit of football’ is a reference to his team’s offensive style of play, a style which has been lacking at the RSC in recent times. But will he have to adopt a slightly more restrained approach for this game? “Well to be honest about it we are an attacking football side and we don’t seem to be able to play any other way, it’s the way we go about games. We have to be a little bit cautious going into it of course because we haven’t been playing; they’re after getting ten or twelve league games under their belt so we can’t be greedy, going gung-ho. Hopefully the fitness will hold up for us. They should be really at their peak at the moment you know, they should be first to every ball, they should be that little bit quicker than us but we have to compensate for that by being that little bit cleverer in certain situations as the game goes on.”
“Our two forwards are very, very sharp; Mark Lee is top goal scorer in Wexford this year, over 30 goals”, says O’Neill when asked to highlight his team’s key players. “Philip Drohan playing alongside him is very, very exciting to watch, he actually scored our equaliser in the semi-final of the FAI [Junior] Cup against St. Michael’s. They’re very sharp around the box and hopefully we can sneak one and you never know what could happen.”
And so finally, will this be a confident New Ross side that takes to the field against their First Division opponents tomorrow night? “Oh yeah, confidence has been high in training and nobody is thinking any other way than coming out of there tomorrow night with some sort of a result. Whatever happens like, we’ll have a go at them. Some of these players will only get this opportunity once in a lifetime, to be playing in the Third Round of the FAI Cup for a Junior side like ourselves. We’re definitely going to have a go, there’s no point going there, not having a go and saying ‘ah they were so much better than us’. You have to go in confident in what you’re able to do and if you don’t get anything back out of it then fair enough, Waterford were too good for you.”
“I said to the lads last night when we were training; we haven’t had a game in five weeks now, we finished our season five weeks ago, so all we could do is just keep training”, says O’Neill of his team’s less than ideal preparations. “We were getting no games because there’s no one to play, you know, everyone’s finished and the League of Ireland clubs didn’t want to play because they’re playing every weekend themselves. So it was hard, but we just kept training and hopefully that’ll be enough for tomorrow night.”
But if the physical preparation hasn’t quite been up to scratch, the same certainly can’t be said of their mental approach. O’Neill and his team are relishing this opportunity against their higher-profile neighbours and the away draw is not being seen as a problem. “When the draw was made we were really delighted that it was Waterford United, 15-20 minutes down the road from us. They’ve got a great tradition, we were looking for one of the big teams and we consider Waterford one of the big teams. The lads are really, really looking forward to it, the town is really buzzing over it.”
“We would have liked a home draw maybe against one of the bigger sides but I actually don’t know whether our grounds would have been allowed to hold a game because I think if this game is a draw tomorrow night, the replay is Monday at three o’ clock in Wexford Youths’ place. So I don’t think we would have been allowed to hold a home game anyway.”
Given the recent disharmony surrounding their opponents and the turbulent experience of coaching changes, this could be a great chance for New Ross to cause an upset. But O’Neill is wary of a Waterford resurgence under their new management and won’t be taking anything for granted. “I’ll tell you, I would have rather played them last week when the manager was still there. Sometimes if a new manager, or even a caretaker manager, comes in the players respond a lot better to it. You see it in England every day of the week with teams getting a caretaker manager and the next game they’re flying because they get that new lease of life. Maybe things just went a bit stale with their manager there and he couldn’t get around them anymore. But I hope it hasn’t given them too much of a boost during the week, maybe they’re on a little bit of a downer, I hope.”
Of his own team, O’Neill is proud to highlight the rich tradition and philosophy of the Wexford club, one which focuses heavily on youth. “Right down the club we’ve got something like 15/16 under-age teams, we’ve always fed off of our youth teams for our senior teams. You’ll see the team on Friday night, bar one or two it’s all local chaps, all New Ross chaps. Down through the years we’ve played in some big competitions; we’ve won the Leinster Junior Cup, we’ve played in the FAI Junior Cup final back in 1994, got to the semi-final this year, like we’ve always had players representing our county team. We’ve got two Irish Junior internationals on the team as well and we do have a great tradition. Hopefully we can bring it down to Waterford on Friday night and show that bit of football that we have in us.”
That ‘bit of football’ is a reference to his team’s offensive style of play, a style which has been lacking at the RSC in recent times. But will he have to adopt a slightly more restrained approach for this game? “Well to be honest about it we are an attacking football side and we don’t seem to be able to play any other way, it’s the way we go about games. We have to be a little bit cautious going into it of course because we haven’t been playing; they’re after getting ten or twelve league games under their belt so we can’t be greedy, going gung-ho. Hopefully the fitness will hold up for us. They should be really at their peak at the moment you know, they should be first to every ball, they should be that little bit quicker than us but we have to compensate for that by being that little bit cleverer in certain situations as the game goes on.”
“Our two forwards are very, very sharp; Mark Lee is top goal scorer in Wexford this year, over 30 goals”, says O’Neill when asked to highlight his team’s key players. “Philip Drohan playing alongside him is very, very exciting to watch, he actually scored our equaliser in the semi-final of the FAI [Junior] Cup against St. Michael’s. They’re very sharp around the box and hopefully we can sneak one and you never know what could happen.”
And so finally, will this be a confident New Ross side that takes to the field against their First Division opponents tomorrow night? “Oh yeah, confidence has been high in training and nobody is thinking any other way than coming out of there tomorrow night with some sort of a result. Whatever happens like, we’ll have a go at them. Some of these players will only get this opportunity once in a lifetime, to be playing in the Third Round of the FAI Cup for a Junior side like ourselves. We’re definitely going to have a go, there’s no point going there, not having a go and saying ‘ah they were so much better than us’. You have to go in confident in what you’re able to do and if you don’t get anything back out of it then fair enough, Waterford were too good for you.”
About Dean Hayes
Dean covers Waterford United and, due to a challenge from Gareth, writes in an increasingly Gonzo style. Having found himself with a considerable surplus of a culinary herb, Dean founded sister 'site extrathyme.ie some years … View Full Profile