St Brendans left bereft by red card decision
SENTIMENTS on the St Brendans side of the equation were, understandably, quite raw after last Sunday’s semi-final.
It’s a game they feel they feel they could have won. It’s a game they feel they should have won. It’s a game they feel they would have done had Rory Horgan remained on the pitch until the last.
“It is very disappointing for the effort they put in,” Ger Hussey, St Brendans chairman said after the match.
“We really thought coming in today that we’d a good chance. We’d put a massive effort in since the Abbeydorney match. Look I thought for three quarters of the game they were the better team, a decision went against us and I think it changed the whole structure of the game and it was an uphill struggle after that.
“Lixnaw seemed to get on top after that and had an extra man, played the ball around a bit better and we were kind of chasing it. We started it very well, probably should have been up more, should have been up more at half-time and after the slow start to the second half again we took off and I really thought they had the momentum again and these things happen.”
Injuries to key players also cost the blue and white.
“Jerry [Wallace] got the knock against Abbeydorney,” Hussey explained.
“We lost Fionnán [Horgan] on Friday night. Fionnán was an awful loss to us. He was playing his best hurling that I’ve seen all year and losing Rory then you can’t be losing the calibre of those players in the full-back line. Lixnaw were able to pick off their scores at a vital time.”
Lixnaw coach Mark Foley, meanwhile, was as relieved as he was delighted, fully cognisant that his team had been through a battle.
“Yeah [we dug deep],” he commented.
“To be fair we didn’t play well all through the game, looked a bit off the pace and you can do all the training you want and play all the challenge matches you want, but the reality is we haven’t played championship in a long, long time and
I think that showed today.
“We were probably a bit off the pace, but to be fair to the players they probably took that on board and they still showed great character against the wind to still come out with a result.
“To be fair they [Michael Conway’s] were really top class scores, because for one of them he wasn’t even looking at the posts, he hit it on the turn over his shoulder, it was a great score. Michael’s been struggling, he hasn’t trained with us for the last three weeks. It was touch and go up to today whether or not he’d be playing. He did the warm up and said he felt okay.”
REFEREE: Cathal McAllister (Cork)
MAINMAN
Acouple ofcontenders here. Shane Conway, John Griffin and Brendan Brosnan for Lixnaw. John Egan and Darren Dineen for St Brendans. In the end we’ll just about go for Brosnan who scored two from play and played the role of extra-man brilliantly.
KEY MOMENT
Probably the red card, but you could also make a case for Brian McAuliffe’s goal... of course there’s an argument that one followed from the other. That with Rory Horgan on the pitch, St Brendans would never have given a goal away like that.
TALKING POINT
Again the red card – was it or wasn’t it justified? What effect did it have? All questions being asked in the aftermath of this game.