‘A big improvement from the last time we played Causeway’ – Fitzmaurice

THE Lixnaw manager Fergus Fitzmaurice was fulsome in his praise of the characteristics, which helped to fashion a win, somewhat against the odds. Experience, workrate, leadership and individuals like Shane Conway were all key to the eventual outcome.

“Just delighted we got the result, our fellows played very similar to the Ardfert game, just showed sheer workrate. I know, it’s a kind of a cliché in the GAA huge workrate and we got a few scores as a result of that workrate.

“A big improvement from the last time we played Causeway, because, as you know we were an embarrassment that day and we were questioning ourselves, but the management knew that the lads have great stuff in them.

“We knew that they were coming, and we knew that if we questioned them they would answer it. The defence was excellent and this isn’t a throwaway remark, but it starts with the forwards.

“They put fierce pressure on the ball and you are only as good as the ball coming into you and the ball that was coming into the Causeway forwards wasn’t as good as it was the last day because of that pressure from the six forwards.

“He [Shane Conway] was excellent again. He has grown into a real leader in the group, as have a lot of players who have come out of minor and that’s great to see, but Shane will be the first to say he is only as good enough as the balls he is getting, but, obviously, his finishing was outrageous today.

“Experience tells a lot, Causeway are a young team, as Maurice [Leahy] said in the dressing room, they are a coming team. Tight games inside here in Tralee when there’s a big crowd around you, you can’t buy that experience and maybe that gave us that extra ten, fifteen per cent today.

“As we said in the dressing room, we have four, five sessions between here and Sunday week and whoever is playing well will be the fifteen which will start. There are players that didn’t get in today and it isn’t a cliché again, but they are chomping at the bit.

“We will keep our feet on the ground, and whoever comes through between Ballyduff and Kilmoyley will, I suppose be favourites, but we will have a good lash at them and see where it will take us.”