Bray Emmets are Senior hurling champions
Carley’s charges power past Glenealy
BRAY Emmets manager Paul Carley paid tribute to his young stars in the immediate aftermath of his side’s superb victory over defending champions Glenealy on Sunday in Aughrim.
Having performed superbly all season the Bray men proved far too strong for Garry Laffan’s men in the end, winning by 10 points and the Glynn-Barntown man said the fact that his young stars were a year older than last season was a big help.
‘With young lads a year is a massive difference. You’ve young Cian Lohan there who didn’t figure at all last year, then comes in and plays every game at wing back for us.
‘Davy Maloney is still only 18 but was brilliant and was unlucky to be dropped but he’s played every other match for us. Ciaran McKay didn’t get a run today. We have excellent lads who have really pushed on the older lads. Up until Thursday night when we named the team, nobody knew who was going to play. If you had said to me last year that Peter Kiely wouldn’t start in a county final I would have said ‘you’re mad’. It’s not that he’s doing anything wrong. I told the lads that. I can’t go to a sub and say ‘you’re doing this wrong or that wrong. It’s just lads are playing that bit better.
‘You won’t win anything without a panel. Last year I found that we had 13 lads on the team every day and seven or eight were fighting for two positions, but the 13 were starting every game. That doesn’t breed competition. Lads get comfortable in their positions,’ he said.
Carley says the win is huge for Bray and that it will hopefully prove to his charges that they are as good as any hurlers out there.
‘It’s huge. I’m on to them lads all the time, they’re as good as what’s out there. I’ve been in Dublin, I’ve been in Wexford, and it’s all about belief and confidence. I just completely focused on hurling. At times the Wicklow championship is too rivalry built. Now, you could also go the other way, I think Wexford is a bit too nicey nicey but you have to find a balance somewhere and hurling wins out most of the time and I just kept focusing on that the last couple of years and this year especially, when you have hurlers use them,’ he added.
The Bray boss also paid tribute to Christy Moorehouse who delivered a stunning performance before picking up a red card.
‘He’s like a man with a new lease of life this year. He struggled in patches last year but this year he’s a different animal. It’s kind of given him the freedom to just go and hurl, you know. But you seen him out around the wings today, his legs are good. And when he moved, he was excellent’.