Newcastle West captain Stephen Nix not taking final spot for granted

Newcastle West captain, Stephen Nix says that his team feel “privileged” to be in their second county football final in three years.

It will be a clash of West Limerick on Sunday in the Gaelic Grounds as Newcastle West face off against Adare for the Fr Casey Cup and Nix believes his side can draw from their experience of winning it in 2015.

“We were under serious pressure after losing a few and the joy it brought to ourselves and family, friends and the club itself, it was unreal. That was the big one to win after losing so many, it was like the monkey off the back and it’s great to be back there again now.”

Nix insists that the three- time final winners are determined to make the most of being in a county final, knowing how competitive the championship has become.

“There’s only been a few champions in Limerick. You have to take these opportunities when they come along but at the end of the day, you can’t control what’s going to happen, all you can do is control what you can do as a team. But definitely, they don’t come around that easily and we’re privileged to be in our second one since 2015”.

Adare are playing in only their third ever final but Nix doesn’t imagine his side’s final experience will play a role in the game. He stresses that the team have dismissed any pre-match tags that have been placed on them.

“Whether it’s your first one or you’ve been in a good few of them, you’re going to feel pressure anyway. It’s just trying to control that pressure and get a performance, that’s all you can do”.

“We won’t be taking Adare for granted at all, even though people call us hot favourites. You have to just blank out that and play your own game. We’ll worry about ourselves and not who we’re playing.”

Nix is facing a battle of his own before the game to come back from a hand injury that saw him miss out on their semi-final victory over champions, Monaleen.

“It’s out of my hands, it’s just time now. Whether it’ll be healed in time is another thing, I won’t know till closer to the day”.

Should he have to sit out, leadership will not be an issue with Nix insisting they have vocal players all over the pitch who will step up on the big day.

“I’m not the only voice in that dressing room, there’s plenty of leaders. That captaincy, it’s just a title. Them boys are driving it on, every player, even the young boys are driving the whole thing on. You don’t have to be roaring and shouting at lads, they’d be nearly setting the standards.”

He is hoping that the type of football that will be on display on Sunday will draw in a crowd to the Gaelic Grounds, something that can often be missing on football final day.

“When you look at the two teams, you’d be thinking a fast, open game. A good brand of football, there’ll be no blanket defences or anything like that so hopefully it’ll draw a big crowd.”

While Nix admits that nerves are part of the parcel of preparation for a final, he believes that the easiest way too cope is to maintain the same routine, as if it were any other match.

“You try to blank out the people on the street talking you up and concentrate on your own game. Not get to nervous, that’s probably easier said than done but keep it as simple as possible and treat it as another match, that’s what we’ll be doing.”