Mits Blues got out of jail
value for their lead, McDonnell felt the Blues could also have been closer at half-time.
‘It was a big wind to be honest and Robbie Carr had a goal chance that he’d normally bury and they went down the other end and put it in the back of the net. That was a six-point turnaround, so instead of going in at halftime level we were six points down.’
But he insisted the Blues never lost hope and hailed the performances of the substitutes who helped turn things around in the closing stages.
‘We knew we had the panel there to make a difference. Ian Connor hasn’t really got a run of it, but he was brilliant when he came on and he drove us forward along with his brother Alan, Jamie [Kelly], Hugh McGinn and Robert Carr kicked a vital score and could have got a goal.
‘But with two minutes to go, three points down, did I think we would win it? No, there’s no point saying I did, I thought we were dead and buried. But the belief the lads showed. Conor Branigan was brilliant the last 10 minutes. He won the ball before the goal and set it up for Ross and then after John Kermode made a bad handpass he dispossessed the corner back and kicked the winning point. He was brilliant.
McDonell now has three senior medals, but he admitted that winning back-to-back titles is special.
‘The team in ‘00/’01 were the last Blues’ side to do it and then you had Pat’s and Mattock in the noughties. We didn’t talk about it, we just treated it as another match, but a good team wins one but a great team wins two. There’s plenty more in the tank and we need to bring that forward against the Carlow champions now.
The Louth star also paid a warm tribute to Naomh Mairtin.
‘Commiserations to the Jocks lads, I know all about what it’s like to lose finals. They’ll be back, they’re a great team and club.
‘They have a few top young players like Callo, Sam, Conor Whelan and Conor Healy and hopefully we can get some of them guys into the Louth set-up. New management in and we’re raring to go next year. They’re a great young team with a few ‘oul lads like JP, who’s been a great loyal servant. They’ll be there or thereabouts over the next few years. We’ll hopefully see them tomorrow for a drink or two and have a nice day with them.’ ROBBIE Carr insists the Blues will be taking nothing for granted against Carlow champions Eire Og on Sunday week.
After securing Louth title number 22, the champs host Carlow’s most successful club at the Gaelic Grounds on November 11th and Carr wants the Blues to put last year’s defeat to Rathnew firmly behind them.
‘We’ll give Leinster a good crack because I don’t think we did ourselves justice last year against Rathnew, we gave the kind of performance that we produced here today to be honest.
‘Louth lost to Carlow in the Championship and they’re a coming team, so we certainly won’t be taking anything for granted. We’ll enjoy tonight and a bit of tomorrow and get back at it on Thursday night now.’
As the enormity of two-in-arow started to sink in Carr was still pinching himself to check if the Blues did actually manage to wrestle Joe Ward back from Naomh Mairtin’s grasp in the dying seconds
‘It’s a bit surreal, I don’t think anyone can actually believe we won that game. For most of the match the Mairtin’s were probably the better team, but we just knuckled down and never gave up.
‘The lads that came off the bench made such a difference. I thought Ian Connor was nearly man-of-the-match and he only played about 15 minutes. We just kept going and just got there in the end.
‘I think over the year we probably deserved it. We probably were the best team. We didn’t perform to half what we were capable of today, so we’ll need to sit down and take stock for Leinster.’
The attacker didn’t actuallyv start the game, but was among five Blues’ changes, all of whom made a considerable impact when introduced and he paid tribute to strength in depth in the panel.
‘We’re so lucky with the amount of young lads coming through, but the old heads like Hugh McGinn steady the ship. The lads pushed on when we had the star games because we were missing five county players straight away. Lads get chances and trying to keep your jersey in that squad is so hard. There’s five or six lads there who didn’t get on who can make a difference too.’
Robbie now has the bragging rights in the Carr household as he equalled his father’s three senior medals, but Robiie and his brother Kevin now have a two-in-a-row.
‘No my dad doesn’t have that. I’ve the same number of medals as him now, he won three too, so hopefully it won’t end there and there’s a few more to come.
‘People always say a good team wins a championship and great teams put it back-to-back, but we’ll go for the third one now. That has to be the aim now and I think only two teams have ever done that.’