Liam Rafferty of Galbally Pearses, Tyrone, pictured ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Football Intermediate Club Championship Final, which takes place this Sunday, January 15th at Croke Park at 3.30pm. The AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships features some of #TheToughest players from communities all across Ireland. It is these very communities that the players represent that make the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships unique. Now in its 32nd year supporting the GAA Club Championships, AIB is extremely proud to once again celebrate the communities that play such a role in sustaining our national games.
By John Harrington
Galbally Pearses have looked like a very tactically smart team en route to Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Final, which is no surprise really.
Their backroom brains trust wouldn’t look out of place on the sideline of an inter-county team, with former Derry manager, Paddy Crozier, calling the shots with Tyrone coach and two-time All-Ireland winner, Joe McMahon, alongside as coach.
“Yeah, it's great to have boys like that and the backroom team they've built around them,” says Galbally star, Liam Rafferty.
“The experience that they bring is great. Joe as the coach, his training has been unbelievable, it's just of a great standard and it's always different every night which keeps everyone engaged.
“They’re great men and we're delighted to have them.”
Their tactical nous was very much in evidence in their All-Ireland semi-final victory over Dunmore McHales last weekend when they identified and attacked a defensive weakness that saw them score four goals.
“It worked very well for us on Saturday," says Rafferty. "I suppose we had seen from the way they play how we could get at them and go for goals. Ronan Nugent was very good at that, he got a hat-trick in the first half and that was great for us.
“We were against a strong breeze so to be going in leading was a great lift. But, looking at the second-half, it wasn't great and something to look at going forward.
“We made a lot of mistakes, missed a few opportunities. Our shot selection and execution wasn't great with the wind at our backs and we sort of let Dunmore back into the game and they nearly pipped us only for Daniel Kerr got us a fourth goal near the end.”
Tyrone coach Joe McMahon also coaches Galbally Pearses.
Galbally play a brand of football that has become synonymous with Tyrone. They defend in numbers, but also attack in them at great pace. They’re careful with possession too, preferring to dictate the play in that way rather than take too many risks with the ball.
“Yeah, I think how we can control the game has worked in our favour,” says Rafferty. “Settling the play when we need to and managing the game. We're also getting big scores at big times which is what we did in the semi-final and that's really helped us.
“In our first round game in Tyrone against Pomeroy we were down and hadn't scored in 15 minutes or something like that but then young Barry Carbery came on and got us a goal that got us back into the game.
“We've had a couple of moments like that coming through the season and big, big plays like that have really helped us. We just have never given up. Even in the County Final against “Edendork when we were behind we just kept at it. And at the weekend we went behind with five minutes to go but we still never thought we were going to be beat.
“So I think that character of staying in the game and getting the big scores at the right moment has really helped.”
Tyrone county star Rafferty is a key cog in the Galbally game-plan, playing in what looks like a free role that gives him the licence to drop deep and dictate play by initiating short-passing attacks.
“Yeah, that would be part of my role as part of the middle eight. We've a lot of good skilful players so it pays to be patient and play smart. The experience we've gained through the run has helped us.
“There's good communication throughout the field and that helps with spotting and fixing things on the field if something's not working. That's what we've been good at, fixing problems, and coming up with an alternative attack.”
The Galbally Pearses team that will contest Sunday's AIB All-Ireland Intermediate Football Final.
As good as Galbally have been on the way to Sunday’s Final, they’ll probably go into the match against Kerry and Munster champions, Rathmore, as slight underdogs because their opponents looked so good throughout their provincial campaign and in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Fethard St. Mogues.
Rafferty is keenly aware of the quality possessed by a team that includes Kerry stars Paul Murphy and Shane Ryan, and knows he and his team-mates will have to bring their ‘A’ game on Sunday.
“I'm definitely expecting a game of football,” he says. “They'll not be playing defensively, I would imagine. They'll be kicking the ball in long and early, I'm definitely expecting that.
“They've a lot of quality, skilful players and we will need to up our game for these boys. They've been beating teams all throughout by a fair amount and we're going to need to look at that and see where they're getting their scores from and hopefully curb the influence of their bigger players.”
