Foyle students not going to make up the numbers

Foyle and Londonderry College go into this weekend’s game at neighbours Limavady Grammar as underdogs.

Nevertheless coach David Barnett knows his boys will give their all.

“This is the fixture when it came out of the hat, we thought maybe at home, but away I’m not looking forward to it,” stated Barnett.

“They are a big strong physical side and they’ll start the game as favourites. Jamie Millar in midfield is going to be a big threat.

“I think they got to the final of a Medallion Shield a few years ago, so they’ll be looking to do well in this competition.

“But in saying all that we aren’t going down there to make the numbers up, we are going to Limavady to give it a go and take them up front.

“It’s one of those game’s if everyone plays to their potential you just don’t know what will happen on the day.”

Both sides met earlier in the season with the Roesiders coming out on top that day, but Mr Barnett believes his team have improved since that game.

“They beat us at Springtown 29-3 so that probably gives them the upper hand, but that match was at the start of the season and we have come a long way from then, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

“Hopefully we’ll know one way or another by 11.30am this Saturday,” he said.

“Having just spoke to Patrick (Leeson) about the feeling in the squad, the boys are feeling very positive about the game.

“They know that they were defeated earlier in the year, but they are certainly going to Limavady to give it their best. We had a few very good training sessions last week and this week, there was high intensity and the boys are all focused and they seem to be looking forward to the game.”

The plus side of facing a school which is only a few miles down the road, travelling is taken out of the equation, something which Mr Barnett is happy about and he hopes that too will benefit his team.

“Generally you find with school boys travelling to a match takes it out of them,” he added. “Leaving the house maybe sometimes at around 7.30am and that means they have been up from 7am and sitting on a bus for a few hours, then sometimes they don’t start the game well and lose concentration. So from that point of view playing Limavady means we don’t have an early start and we only have around 30 minutes travel.”