‘You are always disappointed to lose a final but we are very proud of the lads’ – McGrath

GARY McGrath has had his share of good days on the line with St Brendans College.

Some disappointing ones too, of course, and it’s probably those days that you learn the most about yourself and about your team and even in a defeat, even a disappointing defeat as this undoubtedly was, McGrath was still able to find plenty to be proud of in his bunch of talented young footballers.

“You are always disappointed to lose a final but look, we are very proud of the lads,” he said.

“They showed their true battling qualities again there in the second half. The mountain was probably just that bit too high to climb at half-time, nine points. We brought it down to just one, but Tralee were always going to have a purple patch in the second half, and unfortunately from our point of view, their purple patch resulted in two goals late on for them and that was the difference.”

McGrath had no doubts about the key factor in the game.

“The wind was strong and I suppose we didn’t do justice to it earlier on. We just couldn’t get to grips with the game. We were

THE GAME IN 60 SECONDS MAIN MAN

Devon Burns gave an exhibition of goalkeeping, while Seán Quilter was an enormous influence all through. Seán Kennedy was awesome on his introduction, but Tralee’s Conor Hayes was a constant probing menace. None of his goal chances were easy but he buried all of them with aplomb. For the Sem, Evan Looney, Michael Lenihan, and Dylan O’Callaghan all impressed.

KEY MOMENT

Conor Hayes scored three goals, but his 49th minute point was as crucial as any of them. The Sem had just kicked nine points in a row. Tralee’s seemingly unassailable lead was now extremely assailable at just 2-10 to 1-12. Had the Sem scored the next point, momentum might well have carried them over the line. As it was, great work by super-sub Seán Kennedy gave Conor the chance and his calmly executed score saw the Green kick for home.

TALKING POINT

struggling with our kick-outs to get the ball beyond the half-way line but actually, when we took stock at half-time we looked at it – we had fifteen chances in the first half and they had sixteen so we were okay in terms of the game, but we had missed a lot in that first half. The gap was just that bit too wide at half-time and fair play to them, they never gave in.”

Gary has faced many Tralee teams down through the years – the rivalry was always strong but never once bitter and the Sem manager didn’t hesitate to wish the victors all the best going forward as Kerry’s representatives in the Hogan Cup.

“The best of luck going forward to Tralee. They have been knocking on the door for years. We beat them back in 2017 and they have been trying and trying for years. I’m obviously disappointed from our own perspective but I’m delighted for Mike Tim, he’s brought so much to Tralee. Look, fair play to them, they are going to be a big threat in this and hopefully they can go on now. I’d love to see them go on and win a Hogan Cup.”

There were fantastic players on the field on both sides, so much so that it won’t be any surprise to see some of them wearing Kerry jerseys at various grades before too much longer, but the one player who had everybody talking afterwards was a complete surprise. Seán Kennedy only came on at the three quarter stage and, because he was wearing no. 31, it took a while to ascertain his identity.