O’Shea pleased with response after slow start

MAYBE it’s to do with the nature of success in the county itself that even if you win well for a finish you want to know more about why things went wrong at any stage during a match.

Glenbeigh/Glencar manager Aidan O’Shea found himself in such a position when asked to explain why it started so badly for the Mid Kerry side in Ennis last Sunday?

“Maybe it was the early throw-in but we just didn’t seem to be at the pitch of the game in the way we wanted. We had a small warm-up area as well which wasn’t ideal but I don’t know if you could say it was a factor,” he said of their poor start.

O’Shea acknowledged the quality of Louisburgh’s score-taking early on.

“Everything they seemed to hit was going over and when a team gets a run on you like that it can be hard to get to grips with. We had to show a bit of bottle and we’re happy that the players responded to the situation in the right way. We were happy that the changes we made worked and while our aim was just to be back in the game before half-time it was a bonus to be in front on the scoreboard,” the Glenbeigh/Glencar boss said of the turnaround in fortune. While managers can be keen at times not to heap too much individual praise on players, O’Shea did feel that Darran O’Sullivan deserved credit for his efforts last Sunday.

“Inter-county players get judged to different standards and rightly so. However it can lead to them being criticised at times when it comes to playing in club games but Darran was inspirational I thought today in what he did.

”Caoilm Teahan was impressive as well and we were happy with Colin McGuillycuddy when he managed to get a hold of the ball in midfield because it allowed us to turn the game in our favour.

“Kieran Courtney took his two goals well today and while he has been in and out of the starting 15, we’ve gone with him in the last three games and he is taking his chance. He’s a very dangerous player when he

gets on the ball and has a great brain when he gets in for goals and that’s a player your always happy to have,” he said.

Now that it is staring them in the face, the conversation can now begin about heading to GAA Headquarters on February 19th. O’Shea is keen to stress the prize as opposed to the occasion when it comes to thoughts of Croke Park.

“You have to treat it like any other pitch when it comes to winning a trophy but we will work on preparing the players for the day in the meantime. Rock St Patricks have been here before, they have their own hurt from losing an All-Ireland Final there before which will stand to them but we intend to keep the focus on ourselves in the build-up.” WHEN he started out playing Football, Pa Kilkenny never thought he would be going to Croke Park to play for his club even if he has experienced Croke Park before in an inter-county context. Eight minutes in last Sunday, Croke Park looked a pretty distant thought however with the start that Glenbeigh/Glencar had in Cusack Park.

“It’s probably the worst possible one (start) that you could have to go seven points down straight away. It’s been a long build-up to this over the last two months since we won Munster, maybe it was a bit too long of a gap for us in one way but we knew from what we were able to learn about Louisburgh beforehand that they were fast starters and they had some impressive players out there today in fairness,” Kilkenny felt.

Kilkenny acknowledged the contribution of his team-mates to the turnaround.

“In fairness to Kieran (Courtney), he is always good for a goal and our forwards generally tend to feed off each other well. Colin (McGuillycuddy) is a great fielder of a ball and the ‘Mark’ rule is of big benefit to him I think now with his abilities. Darran (O’Sullivan) was working very hard, zipping all around the pitch and once he got the chance for his goal I think there was only every one place the ball was going to end up,” he said. At half-time Kilkenny said the team were conscious not to restart like the way they had commenced proceedings.

“Half-time probably came at the wrong time in one way because of all the momentum we had built up at that stage. Still we knew we had the ability to pick up from where we had left off and thankfully we managed to power home in the finish,” Kilkenny said. What of three weeks’ time now and the big day for the club on Jones’ Road? “I think we just have to enjoy this in the short time that we will have to do so. Everyone knows about the journey we have had to get to this point (Croke Park) and we will be looking forward to the challenge from

here.”