‘It’s very hard to put it into words’
‘IT’S very hard to put into words to be honest. It’s bittersweet. I’ve been with these lads the last two years and we worked very hard. You seen what we’ve gone through. We’ve been to hell and back. This is redemption for a lot of these lads,’ was the reaction of Dunlavin manager Jonathan Daniels after guiding his charges to the Promised Land of Senior football following their superb victory over Kilmacanogue in the county final in Aughrim.
However, as sweet as the victory was for the former Blessington and Wicklow attacker, it was tinged with a slightly bitter aftertaste give his history with the Kilmacanogue club.
‘It’s bittersweet. I’ve got a lot of friends in Kilmacanogue, I don’t have any enemies up there. Every one of them came up and gave me a pat on the back on the sideline before the match, gave me a wink. It’s brilliant,’ he added.
Daniels said that his young side had been rewarded richly for their huge efforts this year and that getting the match-ups right and weathering the storms of Kilmac’s purple patches were key.
‘I’m delighted for the lads. They’ve worked extremely hard. They’ve probably worked harder than they’ve ever worked before. You know yourself, you get out of it what you put into it. You work hard and you get rewards.
‘I thought we got our match-ups perfect. I thought we controlled the game (in parts). We lost control of the game for about 15 minutes before half-time. We just kept turning the ball over, we kicked ball over the sideline, we were carrying into the tackle and losing possession.
‘We felt Kilmacanogue would kick the ball at the start but then they would revert to the running game and once we kept turning it over, we gave them a lifeline and they started running at us. We spoke at half-time that we wanted to tag runners, we wanted to make sure they weren’t getting in behind, getting beyond us, but we just lost control in the second half for 10 or 15 minutes and they got on top, they dominated, but we just weathered the storm, we found something.
‘The one thing we have is a big squad, and we’ve a good bench, and lads came on and made a huge difference. You go to games and teams make subs when someone gets injured, we made changes to day to make a difference.
‘We seen Simon Doyle, especially with their running game, as a major threat. The one thing Simon does is he gets in behind people. He makes things happen. He stays in the game. He doesn’t lay it off and stop, he stays in the game. And we felt we needed someone to match him for size and speed. I think Simon makes them tick, along with Rob Conan, so we felt that if we could take Simon’s influence away from the game that we would have a big chance.
‘They’re leaders among men. They’re big men, athletic men. I don’t know if they were maxing themselves out over the last few years, but they maxed themselves out today and that’s the main thing,’ he added.
Leinster is next, but Daniels said he might not mention that for a few days.
‘It’s going to be a long party and a long week. I think if I speak about the Westmeath champions, I’ll be ran out of Dunlavin this week,’ he said.