O’Shea and Glenbeigh / Glencar vow to keep their eye on both prizes on offer in weeks ahead

GLENBEIGH / Glencar manager Aidan O’Shea felt that his team went into their shell a little following their great start to the game.

“It was a tough game,” he said.

“It was hard fought, we got off to a great start and got a few good scores early on, we probably thought that the game was going to be a little one sided after that and we went through a barren spell for 10 or 15 minutes where we missed a lot of chances and failed to drive the initiative home, the lads seemed to go back into their shell a little bit and play like there was only 10 minutes to go. Gerald Griffins were giving as good as they got, we got a few scores near the end to settle things down a small bit, but every score we got was hard earned.”

O’Shea felt that the pitch conditions were tough for the players.

“The pitch was extremely tight, very small, it’s winter conditions, pure winter football, a few weeks ago in the County Junior final it was like a summer’s day, you are after changing a couple of seasons in the space of two weeks so it’s hard to adjust, but we are just glad to get out of here and move on to the final,” he continued.

With the Munster Junior final scheduled for two weeks time, O’Shea was happy that his side had the Mid Kerry championship next weekend.

“Look we have Mid Kerry championship next weekend [against Beaufort], it’s big for us, we went 35 years without winning it at one stage so we won’t be easing up, we have a few knocks and bruises from today but we won’t be throwing the game or anything like that, not a hope in hell,” he said.

“After that we will concentrate on the Munster final, we will do our homework from here on in and try and get as well prepared as we can for that one.”

Meanwhile Glenbeigh/Glencar’s star centre-half back Pa Kilkenny felt that the victory was very much a team effort.

“It’s a team game, we have a very strong bench, it’s pushing the fellas on the field because there’s lads that are very close to the starting 15, so it’s pushing the team on,” he said.

“Gavan O’Grady is a massive player for us, but other fellas like Daniel Griffin, Kieran Courtney, and Darran O’Sullivan have all stepped up, so we are not as reliant on him as much as before, even though he had a massive game for us today.”

Kilkenny said that the team had spoken about making a strong start to the game.

“We put a big emphasis on the start as obviously this is uncharted territory for us, so we threw everything at them for the first 10 minutes, but we got a bit complacent then, got a bit sloppy, but look we are delighted to come out with a win.

“Aidan, John and Peter focus very much on skill with us, it’s all ball work, we try to play Kerry style football, moving the ball fast and through the lines, and thankfully we have the players that are able to do it.

“It’s great to be looking forward to a Munster final and hopefully we can go all the way now.”