Feeney ‘proud’ of Carbury charges

FOR Carbury, this was a momentous year. Winning the Sligo Southern Hotel Super League with ease, before taking home the Glasshouse Cup, the Connacht Cup would have been the icing on the cake for what was a very fine year indeed for the club.

However, it wasn’t to be. And although they came so close, ultimately it wasn’t enough.

But, they can be proud of what they have achieved.

And manager John Feeney knows that. Speaking after their defeat, he said: “Penalty kicks are always a lottery.

“It’s unfortunate that we missed out because they were great penalties and unfortunately they saved one.

“I’m very proud of the team, the performance on the day was absolutely outstanding,” he continued.

Carbury were the better side on the day, and although they had the better chances too, they failed to put them away.

“Any other day I’d say we would have won it if we’d taken the chances that we had, I wouldn’t have seen us losing.

“Unfortunately we didn’t take all of our chances,” Feeney added.

Going behind so early on when the game had barely settled was, by Feeney’s own admission, ‘a disaster’, but Carbury did respond well, and responded admirably.

“That was a disaster. It was a poor goal to give away but the response to that was outstanding. We played them off the pitch in the first half. We deserved to be level at half-time, we put so much effort into that first half.

“We started to slow a bit in the second half and in extra-time, we were still playing well but we had lost a bit of our edge.

“If we had scored again we wouldn’t have lost the game. I really thought that throughout the whole game we were the dominant thing.

“They threatened on the break and they’re an experienced team with some good players but I thought we dominated possession. If we scored I don’t think we would have conceded again.”

Despite the initial disappointment, Feeney knows he can look back and reflect fondly on what has been an outstanding season for the club.

“It’s been a great season, we’ve won our league we’ve won the Glasshouse Cup. We’ve been unbeaten in all competitions, and in the Connacht Cup, losing on penalty picks so we weren’t beaten in that either.

“We can be proud of what we’ve achieved this season. We’re just unfortunate that it finished this way.

“No-one wants to finish their season like this. We can be proud and all of our players know that.”