Mixed emotions for ‘proud’ O’Mahony’s boss Craven

PRIDE and disappointment are not happy bed-fellows and Alan Craven admitted he was emotionally torn following Sean O’Mahony’s defeat to Rhode on Sunday.

‘It’s a mixture emotions,’ he said. ‘There’s great pride in that dressing room about what we have achieved and if people had said at the start of the year that our club would be in this position, no-one would have believed it.

‘But at the same time there’s a devastation in there. Rhode are a super team, but we were happy with the way we played and I suppose the difference was that we didn’t take our chances the way we have in the past. But in saying that the better team won on the day and we have no complaints.

‘They’re a super side and our centre-half [Kurt Murphy], who was man-marking Niall McNamee, said if there’s a better footballer in the country then he’s retiring.’

Despite playing catch-up for most of the afternoon Craven was heartened by his team’s typical never-saydie attitude, but on this occasion the opposition were just too good.

‘The one thing about this team is that they have tremendous character. We were four points down in the county final and turned it around. So going behind wasn’t a concern, it was more how do you break down a team as good as that was the bigger issue.

‘I suppose there was some consolation with the first penalty because we did take the point, but we knew against a team like that you really have to take every opportunity.’

Overall Craven was happy with his side’s performance but he felt they could have offered more in attack.

‘We were happy with our match- ups and we were excellent at midfield, I think the stats were 10-2 at half-time or something like that. But Shane Sullivan was excellent and Conor Crawley would have got a lot more joy out of any other full back. The quality of ball coming in might have been slightly better, they were hanging in the air too long and it wasn’t that diagonal ball that really worries a full back.

‘We were possibly a little one-dimensional in the first-half too and we maybe should have got our corner forwards more involved. But we tried our damnedest and it was probably their quality that was the difference in the end.’

With his players heading off for a hard-earned break, Craven reluctantly conceded that it won’t be long before they’re back plotting a defence of their Louth crown.

‘It’s early yet and these guys have been on the road for the guts of three years. They need a good break and they need to re-charge the batteries, but I’m sure retaining their title will come into their thoughts somewhere down the line too. We’ll re-group, take this defeat and enjoy the end of season and the break,’ he added.