Maughan wary of dangerous Dunshaughlin
Of course, since they finally upended Rathnew, steps into the unknown has been the leitmotif of Dunshaughlin's journey. Their first Leinster title was won with surprising ease, as they dominated a Louth side that had swept each of their opponents aside.
"They made Mattock Rangers look like a very ordinary footballing team and I can't pay them a higher compliment than that," says Crossmolina manager John Maughan, who watched them in Navan a few days before Christmas. "There is absolutely no basis for our heavy favouritism going into this match.
"Alright, our players have the experience and the bigger names, but that doesn't count for a whole lot in club football, especially at this stage. If you look at the sort of teams that Dunshaughlin have had to beat to get to this stage, they are as justified as us in being favourites.
"The quality of opposition is much stronger in the Leinster championship than it is in Connacht championship. They have played more games than us and have played stronger teams, so when the ball is thrown in tomorrow, this is going to be a 50/50 game."
If things work out, next month's football decider in Croke Park may be the battle of the double-jobbers. Like Mickey Harte up North, Maughan has had to juggle managing club and county over the past few weeks. While he admits it hasn't been easy, Maughan says it has given him a different type of buzz in the last couple of weeks.
"It has been testing and demanding, but you can do it. All it calls for is good time-management, train the county one night and the club the next. It hasn't left me with a lot of free time, but that is a nice complaint to have on the eve of an All-Ireland semi-final. I think the fact the training with both teams is different too helps. Mayo are only starting the season, so we are going through doing a lot of heavy training, working on our stamina and weight-training.
"With Crossmolina, we are coming to the end of our season, so it is basically just a case of keeping everything fresh, keeping the appetite, just keeping things ticking over." The biggest headache in club duties has been the effort to sustain momentum from last Autumn.
"That has been the biggest problem, but I am sure every manager would say the same thing. How to keep the momentum has been the most testing part of the last few weeks, we have played a few challenge games against Westmeath and Donegal U-21s, GMIT and a Mayo selection. Looking back to when we won Connacht, we had built up a bit of momentum, things were moving along nicely and I hope the break hasn't affected that.
"Possibly, of all the teams left, Dunshaughlin would have appreciated the break more than anyone. They only won the Leinster title a few days before Christmas and that was after a few tough matches against Rathnew too. They played more games in Leinster as well, so the break probably gave them a chance to re-charge the batteries. But that's part of the challenge."
The break also helped Dunshaughlin get their house in order, with their appeal against their captain Adrian Kealy's suspension successfully upheld. That gives the Meath champions a boost ahead of tomorrow's clash, but Maughan believes one of the things that has helped Crossmolina cause is being able to name an unchanged side, which he does again tomorrow.
"That has been nice. There were a few niggling injuries in the past couple of weeks, but they have all cleared up," says the Mayo manager.
Dunshaughlin, despite not having the pedigree of the other three clubs left in the competition, represent a formidable obstacle for the 2001 champions. In Navan, a lot about their game impressed Maughan.
"Niall Kelly is going well in centre-field, he is a powerhouse, but there wasn't a player that didn't impress me. They are a very good club side in that they battle so hard for each other. There will be very little between us."
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