‘I’m so proud of them’
HOLLYWOOD manager Keith Burke was a relieved man after the final whistle that heralded a wonderful victory for a community enduring the loss of a very popular member. With emotion never far from his voice, Keith Burke spoke about the game and what it would have meant to the late Julieanne Bell.
‘Glad it’s over. We were 0-7 to 0-2 up at the break and we felt we hadn’t done a huge amount right. I think at full-time we probably did a fair bit ok in the first, but we didn’t do a whole lot in the second and that was down to Avoca not letting us and at times we struggled to get back up the pitch.
‘I’m just delighted for the group of lads, knowing what they’ve put in over the last four or five years, it’s not a this-year win, it’s a multi-year win for everyone who has been involved and as you can see here on the field it means a lot to our little community.
‘It’s great to see the kids in front of the photographs because they’ll have something to remember but we’re just delighted to have gotten over Avoca who really pushed us all the way.
‘It’s been a sad 24 hours in the community. Gareth Bell is a pivotal part of this club and has been for 10 years now or more. He’s a really central part of every group in all the positive ways, and Julieanne was no different. She’s been at as many Hollywood matches as I have, and she was the type of girl who, after you were speaking with her you walked away feeling warmer than you had before. I know that she would have been the happiest person going if she had been here today, and it’s sad that she’s not, I’m thinking a lot of the Bell family, because I know how much enthusiasm they have and how much they would have got out of today.
‘In terms of the group, it was a challenge to get the heads right, clearly we had texts flying around in the last 24 hours, ‘are we playing’, ‘are we not’, ‘why are we’, all those kinds of things. We kind of had to. Also, it’s just a challenge to bring some of that emotion and turn it into energy, but I thought our lads handled that additional hurdle very well today and I’m so proud of them for that while at the same time so sorry for what the Bells are going through at the moment,’ he said.