McGarrity fit

McGarrity is passed fit to play

Daniel Carey

RONAN McGarrity has been cleared to play in next Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland Club Football Championship semi-final. The Ballina Stephenites midfielder has recovered from the ankle ligament injury he suffered three weeks ago and he is expected to line out at midfield against Nemo Rangers.
“Ronan is fine,” Ballina manager Liam Higgins told The Mayo News lasy night (Monday).
“He came out of his injury all right and he’ll be fit to start. James Devenney and Shane Melia are coming on from their injuries and they could be options for us as well.
“Hopefully Ger Cafferkey will be okay on Sunday too. He’s come a long way, he’s got plenty of time, and it just remains to be seen if he’s fit to take his place on Sunday.”
Higgins confirmed that ‘a few fitness tests’ may be needed on Friday or Saturday before all squad members are given a clean bill of health. At this stage, however, he’s not definitively ruling any panellist out of contention on injury grounds. Asked what the plan is for the next few days, the manager allows himself a chuckle.
“I suppose the heavy work is done now! We’ll train Wednesday night and I suppose some of the lads are out doing their own bits and pieces – free-taking and stuff like that. It can be a pretty relaxed kind of a week. We’re hoping to be ready for the big one.”
The Stephenites’ last competitive action came on November 25, when they beat St Brigid’s in the Connacht final.
However, he praises trainer Martin McGrath for keeping their sessions ‘lively and interesting’, and says they have ‘learned a bit’ from games amongst themselves as well as challenge matches against Mayo and Sligo IT.
Their most recent meeting with Mayo saw Ballina go down heavily to the county team but midfielder Pat Harte sees a silver lining in that cloud.
“I thought we were going well in training and in general until the wheels came off against Mayo last week,” he commented. “But it’s better that it happened in a challenge game rather than against Nemo Rangers. That poor performance will bring us all back to earth and we know we’ll have to produce a bog performance, for the full hour, if we’re to win next Sunday.”
The Stephenites are 3/1 with Ladbrokes to win the competition outright.

Fixture
ALL-IRELAND CLUB
SFC SEMI-FINAL
BALLINA STEPHENITES V NEMO RANGERS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 AT 2PM
CUSACK PARK, ENNIS
REF: M DEEGAN (LAOIS)