'We'll go out and give it our best performance': Carrickcruppen hoping to upset the odds

​

Carrickcruppen know that they are up against it when they take on reigning Ulster champions Clann Eireann in this year's Armagh Senior Championship final, but midfielder Ciara Garvey says that they have to focus on their own strengths.

“We know that Clann Eireann are strong all over the pitch, and we can't doubt that, but we're just going to really focus on ourselves.

“We'll focus on our team performance, what we can control and we'll go out and give it our best performance.”

Clann Eireann triumphed 1-15 to 0-4 when the same two teams met in last year’s decider and went on a run which took them all the way to the All-Ireland Semi-final, but Garvey says that Carrickcruppen have seen a real step-up in intensity in training because they know they are in for a real test.

“Being in the Championship final is a great honour,” she said.

“Coming up to the final, we are trying to keep everything the same, whilst trying to lift the intensity that wee bit at training and so far everything is going very good.

“That is what you want in any team – players trying to put their hands up for a starting spot.

“That raises the level of quality at training, which helps the whole team.”

Carrickcruppen overcame Crossmaglen Rangers 3-13 to 2-4 in the Semi-final, but Garvey says that there is still room for improvement in their level of performance.

“The Semi-final win against Cross probably left us in a good position because we had things to work on,” she said.

“We know that we haven't really reached the peak performance that we would want as a team, so we're working hard in training and hopefully we get that performance in the final.”

The Senior final is the main event in a festival of Ladies football at Silverbridge on Sunday, with finals taking place at three grades.

Clann Eireann II and Pearse Ogs will contest the Junior final at 12pm and Clan na Gael will face Derrynoose in the Intermediate final at 2pm.