“This team is in a better place than it was last year”- Roche
ST JUDE’S manager Gareth Roche believes his side is better equipped, this season, to meet the huge demands of the Senior Football Championship as it moves into the business end this week.
The Templeogue side are gearing up to face near neighbours Ballyboden St Enda’s in the first of the two semi finals being staged in Parnell Park on Saturday evening.
Diarmuid McLoughlin could well play a key role for Jude’s in Saturday’s SFC semi final
Jude’s have been knocking on the door of Senior Championship glory in recent years, and Roche believes they are well capable of fulfilling that goal while, at the same time appreciating the huge challenge they face in surmounting a Boden side littered with top-drawer players.
“I feel this team is in a better place than it was last year” insisted Roche. “We brought some of the younger lads up through the ranks and the squad is stronger now.
“We’ve a strong panel of 30 players there now. Whether or not that’s good enough to see us to a county final, we’ll have the see because all the other teams have improved as well.
“We [Jude’s and Boden] know each other well and we’ll often reach out to each other for friendlies. So there’s a mutual respect there.
“Boden are such an athletic team. The whole team is strong and they have players who have been in and around the Dublin panel for the last three or four years at least now.
“The two Basquels [Colm and Ryan] you certainly can’t ignore them. Then you have the likes of Michael Darragh Macauley, [Declan] O’Mahony, [Darragh] Nelson. They’ve got such talented players everywhere.
“But we’ve just got to execute our game plan to a level that’s good enough to beat them. Do I feel we’re capable of doing that?- certainly.
“Our preparations have been good. We boxed off the quarter final and we moved on. We know the challenge that Boden will bring. We’ve just got to perform to the highest level that we can. That’s all I can ask of the players.”
While many of his players boast plenty of experience of good championship runs, Roche does not want his side to be viewed simply as the ‘nearly men’ of senior championship football.
“We’ve been making it to the semis alright, but the thing about that is you can start to be seen as just a top-four side” he warned.
“I suppose Jude’s have had a reputation of being a very defensive team. We’ve no reason to apologise for that. We’re very good defensively.
“But we’ve had to work on the more attacking side of things and over the last three or four years we’ve done that” he stressed.
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