GAA.ie talks to Wicklow Manager Johnny Magee ahead of the start of the Leinster Senior Football Championship as his side prepare to face Louth in Parnell Park on Sunday (throw-in 3pm); can the Garden County defeat Louth? Magee gives his views about pre-match preparation ahead of the game. Tickets for Louth vs Wicklow are available from selected SuperValu and Centra stores nationwide and from the venue on matchday - U16's are just €5 with adult tickets priced at €15/20 - visit http://www.gaa.ie/tickets/where-to-buy/ to find a SuperValu and Centra store closest to you!
By William Dunne
Since former Dublin footballer Johnny Magee took over as Wicklow manager at the end of 2014 the Garden county haven’t won a Championship match.
Prior to this year’s Allianz Football League Magee’s aspiration was to come out of Division 4 and stay out of it, but after only registering a single victory this spring Wicklow sat in seventh place with only London behind them.
Wicklow travel to Parnell Park this Sundayto face Colin Kelly’s heavily fancied Louth side and in spite of their disappointing league endeavours Magee is ‘quietly confident’ ahead of the fixture.
“It’s been a difficult League campaign so it’s good to look forward to something with the Championship coming up so trying to put that to bed so it’s great that we have something fresh to look forward to.
“Preparations are going well, training is going well so look we’ll be quietly confident that if we perform on the day that we could beat Louth. So it’s a huge incentive for the lads”, the Kilmacud Crokes man remarked.
Losing in the League can be demoralising and potentially disruptive to a player’s well-being when they attempt to return for the Championship preparations and Magee feels that the players have been well rested.
The Wicklow boss said: “The lads played club football for two weeks so it was a nice break for the lads just to kind of recharge the batteries a small bit. Go back with their clubs and enjoy a bit of club football.
“We came back in with the focus, it was then just concentrating on Louth so it was nice to have that two week break to get kind of get lads to refocus the minds and concentrate on something different than Wicklow.”
Magee isn’t shying away from the ‘underdog’ tag and believes that training hard and focussing on their own display gives them hope of progressing in this year’s Leinster Championship.
“History shows you that Wicklow are generally the underdogs every time they go to play Championship so look we’ll concentrate on ourselves.
“I’m confident, that if we come and play to our potential, that we are good enough to beat them.
“I know the League campaign can be frustrating, but we showed at different stages against Westmeath and Wexford that we were good enough to have a chance at winning either of those games, but it’s just being consistent.”
