Relief for Stacks boss Quillinan after Páirc Uí Rinn set-back

A MIXTURE of relief and emotion and a sense of achievement at the end of a roller coaster season were the overriding feelings of the Austin Stacks Team Manager Wayne Quillinan.

“I went over to Liam [Hassett] afterwards and we said, the season is long enough, let’s go for the penalties and in fairness to the County Board they agreed. Thank God we came out on the right side of it.

“It’s hard to sum it up, it was just a pure battle, Rathmore are just battlers, they never say die. We try to instil that in our team too. It was two really good sides going head to head. You only learn about yourself in defeat, it was hard for everybody in the club a month ago [defeat to Nemo Rangers].

“I have learned about myself, and the players have learned about themselves. This team has a huge amount of heart, it might be young, we might be learning, but the one thing we never lack is heart, and the one thing we said to the players going out today, is to show as players that you have the ability never to give up, and that’s what they did today.

“It was up to our guys to up our game by ten per cent when you are without leaders like [Greg Horan, Conor Jordan and Barry Shanahan], but probably the biggest leader of all stepped up again today with the number five penalty, and did it again.

“What can you say about [Kieran Donaghy]? It’s been a great year, we are happy with it, we are satisfied. To be honest we get a lot of criticism, and harsh criticism, that’s part of the GAA. It’s hard to take sometimes, but you have got the true supporters, always there, always behind The Rock, and again today when we got our first score, you just knew we were well supported, and the team appreciates that hugely.”

Speaking on behalf of Rathmore, Donal Murphy, a former chairman of the club and a current county board delegate, strongly questioned the time it has taken to complete the competition, resulting in a final at this time of the year, but he didn’t in any way offer it as an excuse, offering his full congratulations to the winners on their success.

“It was a dramatic finish, a captivating game, but my honest opinion is it is total lunacy to be playing finals, dragging players out in the middle of December. They will be starting again in January to be ready for the club championships in April.

“An awful lot of the club’s year really rests in the month of April, there’s an awful lot at stake that you have to be ready for that. I don’t know what we are at. I think it’s madness, but congratulations to Stacks, overall they probably deserved it, even though Rathmore missed chances in the second half.

“Maybe it was a cruel way to lose on penalties, but both sides agreed to it, and it’s over and done with now. It was a good game, it was very cold, awful conditions, very very tough on the players.

“It’s madness to be playing football in cold, wet days, the players deserve better. If you finish on top of the table you deserve the shield [but] that’s not in any way taking away from Stacks victory today, they were up for the game and fair play to them.

“Maybe we punched above our weight for a long time, we have been senior for twenty years, which is great going, and we are very proud of that. We are very sorry that we are gone down to Intermediate, but that’s the way the cards fell for us this year.

“We had injuries at a bad time of the year and that’s it. We will now start in early January and concentrate on the Intermediate championship.”