‘The important thing is you learn from it’

THINGS may have not gone exactly to plan in Páirc Uí Chaoimh for Charleville captain Danny O’Flynn and his teammates last Sunday but the inspirational captain wasn’t to despondent with the draw that resulted from over 65 minutes of action.

“You’re disappointed not to get the win on the day, of course you are, but the important thing for myself and all the lads is that you learn something from it,” said O’Flynn just after the full-time whistle.

“We hit a few too many wides and of course Courceys put us under a lot of pressure when we were taking our shots, but we will have to work on that for the next day – we are a young team and this is all a learning experience for us - as a team and we will need to learn from this today.”

While O’Flynn was obviously disappointed that his side failed to see out the win he would have gladly taken a draw as the game sat level in added time.

“You are always hoping you will get that one chance, but it was a real dogfight there at the end. I think fellows were afraid there to shoot – fellows didn’t want to be the ones to is the shot and that is all understandable – we have another shot at this. We have another chance to play in a county final so it really could be a lot worse.”

While Charleville players may have been unwilling to shoot late on the attacking pack were not shy about having pops at the posts throughout the game, which saw them rack up sixteen wides on the day.

“We have been confident all year that those efforts were going over as we have been putting up big scores but this was a county final and it is a big thing and a new experience for a lot of fellas that haven’t got to play in Páirc Uí Chaoimh before so it is understandable that fellow were tight as it takes a bit of time to get used to the whole experience but hopefully that will all be behind us for the next day.”

While last Sunday’s encounter will undoubtedly not go down as a classic in the annals of history O’Flynn was clear that it is the result and not the manner of it that matters when you reach the showpiece games.

“Finals are there for winning. If it was two points to one we really couldn’t care less. Finals are just about winning – all we can do is learn from this and hopefully we will be better the next day.

“Maybe people expected this to be more of a high scoring game but Courceys are a really good team and they work really hard when they don’t have the ball. While we knew that was going to be the case maybe we didn’t help ourselves hitting a lot of wides in the first half but credit to Courceys they put us under severe pressure as we went for the posts. All that said, we are still in the county and still in the final.”

O’Flynn, and the other senior members of the Charleville camp, will need to get back to basics this week to bring their young Charleville side back to a position where they can again face up to, and hopefully this time beat, a Courcey Rovers side that are undoubtedly going to bring even more to the table this time round.