Trim Celtic look set to claim another trophy

If Trim Celtic are to win the NEFL Challenge Cup final at the MDL on Saturday, 5pm they may have to contend with more than just the expected spirited challenge of opponents Kentstown Rovers.

They will also have to deal with the reality that they are favourites - red-hot, odds-on, unbackable, sure-fire - favourites to take home the coveted piece of silverware.
It’s a reality that suggests one of their biggest foes they face - an overwhelming sense of complacency. 
After all in the lead up to Saturday’s final it can only be expected that the Trim Celtic players will hear people saying to them that all they have to do is show up and the trophy is theirs.
It would also follow that the players would, despite their best intentions, absorb some of this idle talk, however unconsciously. They are human after all. 
Manager Alan Murphy will no doubt be warning players to ignore such talk; to cast aside any feelings of complacency, that this is a done deal.
As a man who won two FAI Cup medals with Longford Town (2003, 2004 and lost one in 2001) he has a deep, unique insight into the distinctive pressures of cup final day.
He knows how strong favourites - particularly those taken in by the hype - can be made to look foolish by the whims of fate. 
And yet no matter what way you look at it, the odds are stacked high - skyscraper high - against Kentstown Rovers, who are guided by joint managers Noel Walsh and Stephen Laverty. 
For starters the Rovers - who finished mid-table in Div 1 - are seeking to clip the wings of the Trim Celtic side who are Premier champions.
The Tully Park-outfit have turned winning into a regular occurrence and who demonstrated their ruthless power with a 8-0 trimming of Parkvilla in the last four.
Murphy has crafted and honed a group of talented players into a highly competitive, tight, united unit that not only clinched the Premier title but also secured some impressive results in the Leinster Junior Cup and the FAI Junior Cup competitions in recent weeks.
It was revealing that in a chat after the Parkvilla game Murphy was somewhat irked by the fact they failed to win the Kilmessan Shield (both they and Morhevnamor were dismissed from the competition after incidents in their game). 
Trim Celtic is a team packed with talented players with a supporting cast on the bench that would be the envy of any manager.
Conor Walsh, Callum Ennis, Sean Fitzgerald, Jack O’Keeffe, Brian Faulkner, James Goggins were impressive performers in that defeat of Parkvilla.
They were augmented by the others such as amateur international Colm Carney who stepped off the bench and scored two goals with the nonchalance of someone involved in a training spin.
Another talented substitute Cillien Corcoran also vacated the bench to find the net - and scored. 
Kentstown - who also chalked up an 8-0 win over Slane on the way to the final - have their own talented players such as as Derek Bowens, David Bowens, Andy Lynch, Colin Lynch, Keith Walsh, Colin Walsh, Dylan Doyle (nephew of Graham Geraghty), Ronan McDonnell, Paul McDonnell.
Youth and experience mixed. There are strong family ties in the team too, cousins and brothers. All brothers-in-arms. That suggests a robust, battling spirit. 
Laverty spoke after the semi-final about the “massive challenge” his team faces, but he was defiant too insisting that if his side can dig in, survive the expected early onslaught, get a piece of luck, there might, just might, be a chance.
The history of cup competitions are packed with tales of how an unfancied underdog took down the colours of a highly fancied opponent.
The Challenge Cup is no different - Kentstown Rovers caused a shock when they defeated a highly-fancied OMP Utd in the ir last appearance in the decider in 1998.
Yet even the most optimistic in the Kentstown Rovers camp will surely go into Saturday’s showdown more in hope than expectation. 
However, Kentstown Rovers won the Challenge Cup final in 1998 in what was the first decider played the this year’s venue, the MDL.
Going into that game the Kentstown players were also unconsidered, but emerged with a 4-1 victory. 
Kentstown also achieved another ‘first’ when they won the Challenge Cup for the first time in 1990, on that occasion Kentstown won a replay, the first time one was required.
A victory on Saturday for the Rovers would represent one of the biggest shocks ever in the Challenge Cup and it’s impossible, despite the threat of complacency undermining Trim Celtic’s cause, to see it becoming a reality.
Murphy’s Men to complete an NEFL league and cup double.