We're not afraid of anybody

“We’re not afraid of anybody” – Kilkelly


REACTION
Daniel Carey


MAYO League manager Declan Kilkelly heaped praise on his side after a courageous victory in dreadful weather conditions – and insisted: “We’re not afraid of anybody”.
Mayo’s 3-0 win over the United Churches League puts them into the Oscar Traynor Trophy semi-final, where they will meet top Dublin outfit Athletic Union League. The AUL beat the reigning champions, the Desmond League, 2-0 in Limerick on Sunday.
Speaking before the identity of the opposition was known, Kilkelly said: “I don’t care who we play, to be honest. The AUL, if they have 20 internationals, they can only play 11. They’ll be hot favourites but we’ll turn up and give them a game … We’re not afraid of anybody. We’ll prepare the same way and when we get on the pitch we’ll give it our all. It’s all about winning when you’re playing in these competitions.”
The Castlebar Celtic boss, who kept goal in many Oscar Traynor matches himself, said the way Mayo had played – in ‘driving rain and gale-force conditions’ – was ‘absolutely fantastic’. He also praised the work-rate of the side, saying: “Everybody fought for one another and it’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been involved in a Mayo team where everybody is together, one to 22. Everybody is in there for the one cause – to try and win the Oscar Traynor.
“We put the ball down on the pitch and we played football at all times. We actually played better against the breeze than we did in the first half. In saying that, if we took all our chances in the first half, we could have been out of sight by half-time. Two-nil in front at half-time, we still had a big task ahead of us and to a man, they were absolutely fantastic.”
Meanwhile, Athletic Union League manager Gerry Davis is adamant his star-studded side are not looking beyond the semi-final, writes Gavin Earley.
Having watched Mayo on Saturday before his own side’s victory the following day, Davis believes his side are in for a big test.
“Mayo were very impressive and that is going to be a very tough game for us,” said the AUL boss, who managed the Dublin Amateur Football League to the Oscar Traynor Trophy in 2007. “They battered the UCFL and have a very good player in the middle of the park and one out wide, so they have quality that will be a threat. [Because] they won that game and performed so well on the very same pitch they will play us on, it will be nothing for them to come back all the way up to Dublin and perform.
“The clubs play summer football down there and they are out of season, but they were as fit as the UCFL from what I could see, so I don’t see that as a factor either … I know well how easy it is to motivate a team to play against the AUL, because we are the biggest league in the country.”