Glenealy captain visibly shaken
GLENEALY captain Danny Staunton cut a disconsolate figure in the immediate aftermath of his side’s defeat to St Patrick’s Ballyragget in the Leinster Intermediate club hurling final in Nowlan Park on Saturday evening.
Staunton could barely speak after the crushing defeat but generously offered his thoughts during what was an incredibly difficult time.
“There’s not a lot I can say really. I want to thank all the supporters who came down. Everyone from Glenealy and I know there was a huge contingent from Rathnew as well, I’d just like to thank them and thank Gary for managing us this year. We probably got to bonus territory, where we would have been expected to get, not much more I can say, once we got here we wanted to win it.
Looking at it as a whole, Staunton had to be proud of his men for their efforts not only in Nowlan Park but all season.
“Everyone has been fantastic the whole year. The few subs that came on there in matches, the thing doesn’t drop at all, everyone keeps the thing going, we were hurling very well as one unit and that’s what matters, it means a lot to get here but you want to be winning it,” he said.
What about the ending of the game? Was he feeling hard done by?
“I won’t comment on that,” he said.
Staunton, and Glenealy, had an excellent first half given the standard of opposition and the zero chance the Wicklow champions were given coming in to the game. What was said at half-time in that context?
“Nothing much, we knew we could up it again, tweak a few things for the second half and we did that and we were nearly there, it just didn’t last out until the end. It was taken, that’s the word for it, taken,” he said.
It was not the place or the time but we asked Danny for a few thoughts on a magical year as Glenealy captain.
“It was a fantastic feeling to be asked to be captain this year. It’s great once you’re a winning captain, it means a lot. It means a huge amount to captain Glenealy.
“You grow up your whole life playing with these lads and you get to captain them, you get the reward of getting the cups at the end but everyone has hurled fantastic the while year and I’d just like to thank the players and the management.
“Hopefully, we’ll get back to it next year and see how next year goes as well,” he added.