Breheny: playing New York "a step into unknown"
May 05, 2012Currently in charge of the Sligo minors, Breheny led the Yeatsmen to a comfortable victory over the Exiles on their last trip Stateside in 2007 en route to an historic Nestor Cup success. He recalls, however, how a lack of knowledge about the opposition had him seriously worried beforehand.
"You approach that game with a little bit of trepidation. It's a step into the unknown and we would have prided ourselves on our preparation like having a file on opposition players. That information just isn't available over there," he explained to the Irish Independent.
"You're getting on a plane and you're away together and because you're expected to win, complacency can set in. We went to Gaelic Park on the Friday and Saturday at the same time that the game was due to throw-in, but we were still a little worried.
"But I remember we managed to get a hold of the video of the game Roscommon had the year before and we watched it and after that, everyone knew what would happen if we weren't ready."
Despite his concerns, Breheny is confident that Sligo can get the result tomorrow and go some way towards atoning for last year's disastrous championship campaign.
"Last year I think there was a serious hangover from 2010," he continued.
"We beat Galway and Mayo, but losing the Connacht final to Roscommon meant they found last year very difficult. When they needed to get a few results in the league they did and that was encouraging. There's a lot of players still there from 2007 and some of them are at the latter end of their careers, so this is a big year for them. They have responded well this year and I know there's plenty of optimism for the season ahead." Tweet
