Mitchelstown footballers look to push on from league title: I'm a firm believer there's no such thing as peaking

Early season silverware always provids a pleasant boost, and for Mitchelstown, it’s meant the extension of a competitive unbeaten run to ten games.

The north Cork club ended last season’s championship as beaten quarter-finalists, falling to eventual beaten finalists Ilen Rovers, losing out 2-12 to 1-10. Since the start of the new year, they've managed to go the entire league campaign without defeat, before rounding out their Division 5 league with an emphatic victory over Canovee in the final.

“Unbeaten in the league is a great achievement,” Mitchelstown manager Denis Reen said. “But we never set out targets to be unbeaten. Every game, we just wanted to play at a certain level and see how good our efficiency was against teams.

“We got very, very consistent, which I like, I think.

If you look at the Premier League or look at any other sports, teams that are consistent usually do very well. 

"The culture in the club before was, maybe trying to peak for championship and stuff. But I'm a firm believer there's no such thing as peaking.” 

Six wins and three league draws certainly support Reen’s point, though they’ll be a greater force again come championship with Cork footballers Seán Walsh and Cathail O’Mahony back in the fray. The two certainly made their presence felt in the victory over Canovee.

“No, no break [for Seán], and same with Cathail as well. It's great to have the two boys. It's great for lads,” Reen explained. “It's actually our second game this year having them. We had them for Bantry as well.

“We had Sean for half an hour for Bantry, we’d Cathail for the full game.” 

The presence of both on that day yielded a 5-16 to 2-18 league win, and they’ll be key in the run before the start of championship.

“Especially leading up to championship, it's nice to get them in, you know, playing with the boys as well and playing to a certain structure as well that they probably wouldn’t be used to it.

Deep

“We make clear in this group, we have no individuals,” Reen outlined. “We have a 42-man squad and they're all biting their head off each other. And all the lads that came in brought a massive intensity and kept up the second-half performance.

“The level of the second half was exceptional, but it was brilliant. It was very good to watch.

“We train really hard. We train for 64 minutes every night without a break. The level of fitness has gone up, we look very toned. 

It's the first time ever we've brought in an S&C in the off-season before I came in last year. And the lads made a huge commitment to that.

“The S&C is brilliant, and they haven't come through me through the league, they know when to step away as well. I like S&C to be done in the winter, and then it’s all ball work then when the league starts.” 

The squad’s conditioning really shone through in the third quarter, as they put the game to bed and punished Canovee with plenty of turnovers. It bodes well for championship, but given Mitchelstown’s history in the Intermediate A Football Championship – having lost four finals in the last nine years – Reen is not looking any further than the opening round.

“I just worry about Gabriel Rangers. After the league final, my full focus is on Gabriel Rangers.

“Gabriel Rangers played Mitchelstown last year in the first round and beat them by five points,” he said. “So, in my eyes, that's an uphill battle already. Once we stay really tuned in and the effort is there, ourselves and Gabriel Rangers will be very, very close on the day.”