Skipper happy with big squad

CITY of Derry’s David Funston admits if he under performs this season, then the captain’s armband won’t save him from the chop.

Funston knows this season’s squad is very competitive and he wants to play his part in whatever success they have this campaign.

“All the boys in the squad wanted a situation where no one players position is safe,” admitted Funston.

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“We need guys to be pushing each other in training and even myself as skipper I’m being pushed by other guys and I know if I’m not performing I would like to think that I will be dropped to the bench or the Seconds, so you have to keep your standards high.”

The skipper like everyone connected with the Judges Road club wants to have a successful AIL campaign and Funston feels if that is to happen then they need to get off to a good start, something which they didn’t do last year.

“Our goal this year is to get promoted to AIL 1B,” he insisted.

“But it’s obviously going to be a challenge; we have tough fixtures and once you get to the AIL there’s no real easy games, so you have to be on top of your game every week, but we have a good squad of boys at Judges Road.

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“We had a bad start to our All Ireland campaign last season, so we’ll be looking to get off to a good start.

“I think it’s vital that we get off to a winning start against UCC (University College Cork) this Saturday, because we have a tough game in Dublin against Seapoint after that, but we are carrying momentum at the minute.

“We are unbeaten so far this year and hopefully we can carry that form into the UCC game.”

Like coach Mark Nicholl, Funston feels the Derry squad is going to play a big role for the forthcoming season.

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“It’s obviously a big year, we have been training really hard and working on our conditioning a lot and the new guys who have come in have been doing well so far.

“We have a squad of 30 men and we are trying to have 30 men capable of being able to step in whenever called upon.

“He (Mark) has been rotating the squad quite well this year and the guys who have been coming in are doing well, so because of that it really is a big squad for us to choose from.

“This season will be all about not just the 15 or the 22 players who take to the pitch, because there will be injuries and some weeks boys won’t be available, so it’s going to take a wider squad effort to reach our goal.”

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Funston is telling his team-mates that despite doing well in the Ulster Senior League, things are going to get a lot tougher with the AIL season getting underway this Saturday.

“We have been doing well in the Ulster League, but that counts for nothing when the AIL season starts. It was nice to get a run out against Queens, because they play the same type of rugby as UCC, they throw the ball about and like Queens, UCC will be a young fit side.

“We have a lot to build on and we are all looking forward and excited about the AIL season starting.

“We have guys who are capable of filling in. We have the likes of Richard McCarter and Stephen Corr back and they are two key players for us, who came back into the mix from injury in the Queens game, so it will be good to get them two boys fit again.”

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