Super defence

ST PAT’S legend Paudge McWalter described the feeling of winning back to back championships as weird given how the county final had panned out last sunday in the county grounds.

‘It’s a weird feeling. I’d always be a bit critical but I’m actually a bit disappointed with the way we played.

‘I thought we started the game really well but just couldn’t put it on the scoreboard.

‘And then we were up by two at half-time but you’re a bit pessimistic in the dressing room because you know you’ve left the team in the game and we know how strong they can come, but our defence was fantastic, and it has been for a good few years.

‘Our forwards get a lot of credit and Tommy’s had a smashing year but today our defenders stood up,’ he said.

The impact of Ciaran Hyland was a talking point in the Pat’s dressing room at half-time and the loss of Paul Earls had added to the AGB defender’s infleunce on the game accoring to the former Wicklow star.

‘We talked about it at half-time because Ciaran was so good that we had to try and move the ball closer and not these long passes.

‘I thought that was one of the reasons for Earls being in there and he started really well before he pulled his hamstring. That could have been a bit of a decoy for Tommy,’ he said.

McWalter said that there is a difference in personality in the Pat’s team this year and that that helped them find a way to win it in the face of such a tough challenge from AGB.

‘It felt like the game was going away from us and we found a way to win it and that’s coming from last year, getting over the line last year.

‘I think we’ve a different bit of a personality about ourselves.

‘The second half, it looked like neither team wanted to win the game, and then it felt like if we could get the two in front and we coudn’t get the two in front and then we did at the end and they needed a goal and the way our lads were defending it wasn’t going to happen,’ he said.

McWalter couldn’t speak highly enough about his defenders.

‘Ffrenchy is brilliant. When we were winning the group stages with Ffrenchy in Australia we knew he was going to make us stronger when he came back and hopefully, he gives the county a good shot because he probably never got a fair crack of the whip.

‘And Matthew Traynor who hadn’t played for us all year, went in full-back when Niall Donnelly