O’Carroll: ‘This is great for the club, we had a tough week’
FERMOY football captain Darragh O’Carroll strode from the pitch in Templetuohy last Sunday afternoon delighted that his side had booked their place in the Munster Intermediate Football Final.
The north Cork native knew that his side were favourites heading into Sunday’s battle with Moyne-Templetuohy, but was also well aware that the opposition were not just there to make up the numbers.
“Coming down to mid Tipperary here today we knew it was going to be tough. Moyne-Templetuohy won their championship here a few weeks ago, they were down four or five points in the last few minutes that day and dug deep to win so we knew they wouldn’t give up.
“They are a good team, they are well able to hold the ball and run with it, but we knew we probably had the better players. Of course, we were missing four key men today in Tomás Clancy, Ruairí O’Hagan, Brian O’Sullivan and Eoin Clancy, who is only back to us, so of course it was always going to be tough but look we got over the line anyway and that is the main thing.”
O’Carroll knows that the win was the most important factor from the day, but was also well-aware that his sides have failed to put two solid halves together in the last two outings.
“The Cork championship was so difficult that we got into a habit of going ahead quick and then trying to consolidate a lead in the second half before trying to hold on - and maybe when you are coming down to places like here and you are five or six points up you start to do that again – try and hold onto the ball.
“It is also difficult when the teams you are playing play very defensively – they sit in deep so if you are five or six points up you are not going to take the chance to kick the ball away into a defence like that.
“All that said overall we are happy to come away with the win by four or five points at the end, that was the objective coming up the road.”
While the team leader will look back at this game and his side’s performance all eyes will turn to the showpiece game and the Kerry opposition that awaits.
“Look it is a Munster Final now. At the start of the year our objective was to win the county title and we did that. After that we set a new target of the Munster championship and now we are in the provincial final but now the real hard work will start again.
“We will have to knuckle down and get our game plan right again. There can be no complacency when you are going to face the Kerry champions. We know they will come at us and we will try to go at them so hopefully we will start to take our scores a little more, especially in the second half, but overall, we are all still very positive.
“This is great for the club, we had a tough week with Ronan O’Callaghan burying his mother and to be honest it has brought us all together so we are just delighted to win it for them.”
Fermoy will look to take down the Kingdom’s representatives in the coming weeks and with a host of absent players likely to be back in action for Fermoy O’Carroll will likely lead an even stronger fifteen into action next time round.