Four points to the good at the break, St Brigid's manager Jerome Stack admits that he was a happy man heading into the second half of Sunday’s AIB Club semi-final against Castlehaven.
The Roscommon outfit would hold on for an impressive victory, beating the County Cork side 1-11 to 0-10 at FBD Semple Stadium, to progress to the All-Ireland final.
Derry side Glen will be their opposition in the final in two weeks’ time, and Stack admits that improvements will be needed if they are to be considered serious challengers to secure the title.
Glen accounted for reigning champions Kilmacud Crokes from Dublin in Sunday’s second semi-final and the Oak Leaf men will be looking to go one step better, having lost the final 12 months ago to Kilmacud.
But St Brigid’s manager Stack is looking forward to the prospect of taking his side to All-Ireland glory, while well aware that his side need to step up another level in the decider.
Stack was not too happy with his side’s second-half showing and will look to learn from their mistakes to be at the optimum level against the impressive Glen outfit.
"To be fair, we were quite happy at half-time," said Stack, speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game.
"In the second half, we lost a bit of momentum as there were one or two times early in the second half when we could have got scores.
"And to be fair to Castlehaven they went right at it, pushed on everything and they got change from it. So that is something that we have to look at, forewarned maybe.
"I’d be disappointed with our second half and there are things we need to work at, but we did the right thing at the end and got our scores. And we know that we have real improvement needed to be serious challengers the next day."
St Brigid’s have attracted plenty of admirers as they came out of Connacht and have now moved into the All-Ireland final, playing a brand of football that is easy on the eye.
And Stack admits that he wants to see his players express themselves on the ball, while also stressing the importance of effective football.
"Maybe too much edge of the seats once or twice there," said Stack, when asked about his exciting style of football.
"When it is all going well everyone is delighted with it and so am I, but I’d still say there were a couple of things I wasn’t happy with in that game.
"We all want to be able to play on the front foot when we have the ball. We want to play effective football and if it can be attractive, fantastic."
And Stack emphasised the importance of mixing up his tactics for the final avoiding predictability while having the ability to react and adapt to whatever situation presents itself in the final.
"I love to see good footballers express themselves, but when we need to knuckle down, we have to go about our business," said Stack. "You have to be able to adapt as the different elements of the game require.
"We have good finishers and that will work well for us, but even if we don’t start well, I think this team is adaptable and they will work around it.
"That’s the one thing we have learned in the year and a half that I have been here, you have to be able to play a couple of different ways, and I think that is crucial for any team that wants to progress in the championship."
