G’wan the Munchies... Cavan champions Munterconnacht face Armagh’s Clonmore in Ulster junior championship quarter-final
SINCE his roots on both sides are in Connacht, Mayo to be precise, it was fitting that Enda O’Shea captained Munterconnacht to the Cavan junior title earlier this month. ‘The Munchies’ were able to get past Down champions Ardglass with few alarms in last Sunday’s Ulster Championship opener and, with that victory fresh in their minds, the Cavan champions now face Armagh winners Clonmore at the quarter-final stage. Clonmore came through a final replay against Middletown last weekend and they will have their hands full against a Munterconnacht side that hit 6-19 against Ardglass at Kingspan Breffni last weekend. However, the Cavan men had benefited from a three-week break before they met Ardglass and had home advantage at Kingspan Breffni. Skipper O’Shea expects a tougher challenge for his club at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday. “It’ll be a different story going up to Armagh,” he said.“I don’t think any of us have played there so that’ll be a different element we have to deal with.“Then again, none of us had ever played in Ulster Club before last weekend so it was a good experience and it brought an element of freedom that we had the monkey off our back after winning the county championship.”Munterconnacht’s one-point win against Kill - substitute Shane Hanly scored the winner in injury-time - secured the club’s first title in 31 years.The O’Shea family wasn’t around for that 1994 success. They swapped Mayo for Cavan around the time Enda was born and he and his brothers Cian and Eoin have been stalwarts for the Ryefield club this season. “There’s great buzz in the community but we’re on to a new competition now,” says O’Shea.“In recent years the Cavan teams have done well and Arva (All-Ireland champions in 2024) were probably an exceptionally strong team for a junior level.“In fairness to them, they went all the way and they won the intermediate in Cavan last year, so that shows you how strong they were. “It’s good to get to this level ourselves now and hopefully we can continue on that run but we’ll see how we get on. We know Clonmore will be strong and hopefully we’ll come out the right side of it but I’m sure they’ll be well up for it too.”
