New Maguiresbridge Manager Ciaran Carey has had little time to put his stamp on things after he replaced Matthew Teague towards the end of the league but he is hoping that his side can play to their potential and feels they are capable of springing a surprise.

The Aghadrumsee man only took over for the final game in the league, and he admits that there are a number of unknowns for him ahead of the championship commencing.

“I was only appointed late; I got the last league game against Newtown, but I can take no credit for the performance that day as I hadn’t even taken a training session.

“There is no doubt that it is a bit into the unknown, as I’ve not had much time to get to know the players, but the one thing I would like to think is that we will play to our potential.

“We are the number eight seeds but I would hope that we can spring a surprise or two,” he commented.

The O’Rahillys are first up for Maguiresbridge and Carey knows they are coming up against a side in form, with Belcoo having secured promotion in the league.

“Belcoo had a brilliant finish to the season in beating Teemore and getting promoted, and then in the final I thought they were unlucky as they played some great stuff after half time, but then the Irvinestown goal swung the momentum of the game completely.

“Obviously, they will be favourites, but we will go out and give it a go and we will know better about where we are after the first game,” he added.

Belcoo Manager Barry Hanrahan said they will continue to use the same approach that has served them well in the league – simply taking it one game at a time.

“We are approaching the championship in the exact same way as we did with the league. It’s just one game at a time. That approach has served us very well this year, and has resulted in our promotion to Division One next year.

“We are coming into the championship in good form. Our goal was to gain promotion and we’ve achieved that. We said we would deal with championship as and when it arrived, and we are doing just that now,” he said.

Belcoo won the league meeting between the sides early in the season, but Hanrahan isn’t reading anything into that and says it will be two different teams that face each other this Sunday.

“Maguiresbridge is where our focus lies right now. We managed to turn them over in the league but that stands for nothing when it comes to championship.

“They will be a completely different animal on match day – but so are we. We have evolved in the past four months since we last faced them, so they are facing a different Belcoo from the league also.

“We are ready for the game. The squad are all fit, we have no injuries. They are all battling for a jersey. Team spirit is at an all-time high and the lads can’t wait to get going,” he concluded.