Steelstown's All Ireland final "means an awful lot to an awful lot of people" says manager Hugh McGrath

Steelstown manager Hugh McGrath believes Sunday’s All Ireland Final can inspire a new generation of Derry city Gaels and says the Brian Ogs appearance at Croke Park is a fitting tribute to the many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to establish the club.

The club has been a hive of activity this week as the local and national media descended in the build up to Sunday’s game against Meath champions, Trim. Blue and yellow flags adorn the Ballyarnett lamposts and bunting speaks of a new confidence which has taken root, not just in Steelstown but the wider Derry city, since those memorable Derry and Ulster championship wins.

“This means an awful lot to an awful lot of people who have toiled for a very long time around here,” explains the Co Down native in the club’s state-of-the-art gym during this week’s press evening.

“You think of the McGurks, the Dohertys and all those others who started us off; You think of the Tony Jacksons, the Gerry Clearys, the Michael Heffernans, Paddy Cosgroves - boys who toiled and worked through some really tough times, getting destroyed every week, getting hammered out the gate but all they focused on was bringing young players through and giving them an outlet for their sport.

“They showed they believed in their culture and that they wanted to play Gaelic games. For us this run is about taking that just that little bit further so the young people around the place can says, ‘Yep, I want to be part of that’ and I want to play Gaelic Games; I want to be involved in this club or whatever club around the city that they are closest to.

“For us, that’s the major thing that this means. It exposes our sport to a new audience in the city here and hopefully it can encourage them to come along and play our games.”

Last week’s impressive victory over Na Gaeil has been quickly consigned to the history books. A one week turnaround may not be to everyone’s taste ahead of the biggest game in the club’s history but the short lead in suits McGrath just fine.

“If we have come out of the semi-final with any injuries, yes it probably would have (thrown up challenges) but we are quite comfortable with the fact there is less lead in time, less time to get nervous, less nervous energy wasted. (For us) it was automatically focus on the next game, focus on the opposition and get ready to go out and play the game.”

That can be easier said than done. All Ireland finals are not just any other game but this Steelstown team has already shown they can handle the weight of expectation on the big occasion by ending the club’s wait for championship glory. That was due in no small part to how McGrath and his management team have utilised the strength in depth Brian Ogs possess. Substitutions at crucial times like Shane O’Connor’s second half impact in the quarter-final against Donaghmoyne or Morgan Murray’s brilliant cameo off the bench last week against Na Gaeil have given Steelstown a crucial edge. Even the early switch of Oran Fox and Diarmuid Baker last week helped Steelstown get a foothold during the early stages and McGrath was quick to pay tribute to the support he has.

“As good as the playing group is, the management group around me is excellent,” he added, “I can only claim so much credit. I’ll always come up with an idea or two but a lot of this stuff is coming from the likes of Paul (McMenamin), Raymond (Tracey), Dermy (McBride), Marty (Dunne), Gary (Cunningham) - everyone brings something different to the party and everyone has a different facet that they are really good at. When you combine those things it means you get 90 percent of the decisions right.

“If I look back I think we could have more than that right. Almost all of our substitutions have worked but it’s going to take the same again at the weekend. Somebody will freeze, somebody will have a bad day at the office or nerves will get them and we have to pick the right person to come in and plug that gap.”

And as far as the game itself goes, McGrath says it will be Steelstown’s biggest test yet against a very good Trim team with a reputation for attack.

“They are physical and get hammered into you. They can be quite gung-ho which might suit us. They have some good forwards, their inside forward line is excellent, full of pace and can shoot. There will be no 12 wides like we experienced last week. If they get a chance in front of the posts they will take it, so we are going to have to limit what we give away which we’ve been quite good at.

“Our last two games will tell you that; 11 points conceded in an All Ireland semi-final and an Ulster final is not a bad record but we know we are going to have to produce that level again against Trim because they can certainly score. Thankfully, we have a couple of scorers knocking about too so for us it’s about, if we are presented with chances we have to take them.

“We thought we were quite wasteful in the second half against Na Gaeil even though in the first half we had been very economical. We have to find the balance there and maturity so that we convert at least 70 percent of our scoring chances to be within a chance of winning.”

One downside of that competition for places can be a selection headache for the manager but McGrath wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Selecting a team for Croke Park is fairly different to anything else. If you have a team full of pace then it’s a whole lot easier to get the ball from back to front so there’s a few guys looking over their shoulder which is what you want.

“There’s also a few guys on the bench tapping my shoulder and saying ‘I’m ready for this’ so yes, a few headaches for me but that’s what we are here for, that’s why we have to make decisions.”