IN ANOTHER GUISE, Eddie Harkin is the head coach of the Dunfanaghy Boxing Club.
In his role as the manager of St Michael’s, he’s hoping to see The Bridge boys deliver a knockout blow to the heavyweights of Donegal, St Eunan’s, in Saturday evening’s semi-finals.
On Sunday, Harkin takes a batch of young boxers to Buncrana for the Donegal Novice and Donegal Open Intermediate Championships.
Their hopes and dreams are somewhat in contrast to a St Michael’s side that Harkin feels just has to deliver this time.
“We have been knocking on the door for a while now, but we just haven’t got across the line,” he says.
“We just need to do it. The ifs and buts are ok for a while, but there comes a time when you just do away with the excuses.
“These boys have been on the go for a long time now. To get a win and get over the line would be a massive thing for the club – we’ve only ever been in one final, after all.”
Their only appearance marching behind the band on county final Sunday was in 2011 when they lost out to a Michael Murphy-inspired Glenswilly.
Since winning the Donegal Intermediate Championship in 2003, St Michael’s have established themselves as one of the big-hitters although their sword remains without one of the more significant scalps, aside from when they lowered the colours of the then champions, Naomh Conaill, in 2006.
Their problem has been backing up the big results. They looked set to put St Eunan’s out in the subsequent semi-final in ’06, but Ross Wherity’s late goal denied St Michael’s.
Their next visit to the penultimate fence in Donegal’s steeplechase was in 2011 and they sank Glenfin to reach the final, only for Murphy to weave the magic wand to prise Dr Maguire away from St Michael’s reach.
Last winter was another long one around Sheephaven Bay as the natives recalled a 1-14 to 2-10 semi-final loss to St Eunan’s.
“It’s when we come up against the big teams that the pressure has come on,” Harkin says.
“St Eunan’s have been winning titles down the years and we haven’t – that can make a big difference.
“We just have to talk it up to the boys that we’re every bit as good a team, if not better, than they are.
“Past years count for nothing now. It’s a mental thing, but the boys just have to step up and perform. When a bad time comes in a game or we get a bad run, we just have to handle that.
“We’re really looking forward to it. There’s a bit of a buzz around the club now and we expect a good support. It’s what everyone is talking about. The supporters here are hungry for success at this level.”
In an attempt to give them the missing percentages, St Michael’s have recruited Declan Bonner, the former Donegal senior and minor, and current under-21 manager, to their backroom staff.
“We think Declan can give us that wee boost when we need it,” Harkin says.
“Declan has added a lot. We’ve been very impressed with what he’s done. He’s got stuck in from the off and he’s been very hands on.”
Michael Langan is a doubt for this weekend’s big game having been down with mumps in the week while Martin Breslin is a long-term absentee because of the broken collarbone sustained in the group game against Four Masters.
St Michael’s had 10 points to spare on Four Masters and Cloughaneely in the group and they pressed their feet on the pedal against Malin in a one-sided quarter-final they won 3-15 to 1-5.
“We expected a harder game from Malin, so that’s why we hit them with what we had early on,” Harkin says.
“That gave us the belief that when we go at a team and play with confidence we can hold our own.
“One thing we weren’t good at was putting a team away. We have been working on that this year. We came out against Malin with the same intensity in the second half that we had for the first half.
“We have been trying to be ruthless from the word go.
“We want to keep driving that into the players and, in fairness, the young lads have matured physically and mentally.”
As a mark of that new-found maturity is the fact that Andrew Kelly has been their player of the summer so far.
St Michael’s are at the top of Division One of the All-County League having not had the services of Colm McFadden, Christy Toye and Martin McElhinney for the most part.
“We’re a better all-round team this year. We’re maybe not as dependent on the county men as we once were. Other options are showing up now.
“We’ve played a lot of games without the county men. We had a few players missing so the team we had out just had to step up to the mark.”
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