Derrygonnelly Harps manager Sean Flanagan is not expecting an easy time on Sunday when they face Roslea Shamrocks to decide the destination of the New York Cup.

The Harps will be favouirites as they look to secure a fifth title in a row but Flanagan feels this one will go into the closing stages before it is decided.

“I think it is a game where you have to expect it to go down to the last ten minutes or so. I think it will still be there to be won at that stage.

“They (Roslea) are very experienced and they will have great levels of motivation going into playing Derrygonnelly.

“In many ways, it is nicely set up for them, we have to accept that we will have the favourites tag but you look at the mentality of those Rolsea, players, they are very good at the way Roslea play and they will relish getting an opportunity to take a title.”

Roslea will provide a different test for Derrygonnelly than both Devenish and Belnaleck, but Flanagan stresses, that for both sides, there won’t be any major surprises on Sunday.

“This is our third opponent and their game will be different but, and this cuts both ways, we know each other very well. Even though Roslea are a different type of opponent to Belnaleck say, it is not as if each side doesn’t know how the other side will go about their business. We have a good level of familiarity about all of Roslea’s strengths,” he said.

Roslea’s game plan to date has saw them get men behind the ball and then look to counter quickly with the ball more times or not finding the hands of Sean Quigley to score.

Flanagan though states that there is a lot more to the Shamrocks game.

“A lot of people are happy to talk up Roslea’s compact defending on the break but there is more to them than that with Sean, Nigel Cosgrove, Shane McMahon and the Sherlocks, there is scores in that group. We’ll not be getting lulled into charging everybody up because if we don’t mind the house we’ll be in trouble,” he said.

It has been a tough year for the Harps as they have been badly hampered over the course of the season with player unavailability and injury and it is testament to their resources that they are into the championship final and also the league semi-finals.

“Throughout the full season we have really had to use all the strength and depth that we have in the group. That’s no bad thing in the long term. In the short term it has been quite tricky at times but in the long term we will be the better for it and we have done well to get to the point we are now, in a championship final and in a league semi-final. It has been a good achievement by a group of 30 plus guys.”

And what does he feel is going to be the key for his side to come out on top in Sunday’s showdown at Brewster Park?

“From our point of view, we have had quite a lot of attacking opportunities but our percentage return of those has not been high enough and I think we might have less opportunities in this game so I think it will be critical that our return percentages are good on the chances we get,” he stated.