Wicklow ‘getting there’ says Burke
‘YEAH, could have and should have won. Plenty of opportunities. Just disappointing overall. Disappointed in the result. I thought the lads worked very hard tonight. I’ve been very impressed with the lads with their application, work rate, I thought it was immense,’ was Wicklow manager Davy Burke’s immediate reaction following his side’s defeat by Carlow in Netwatch Cullen Park last Saturday evening.
‘Look, some of the of failings of finishing came back to haunt us again – we haven’t eradicated that in the six or seven weeks or 10 weeks or whatever we’re back. That’s obviously a work in progress. But the attitude was spot on and that’s a start isn’t it.
‘Since day one, this has been a smashing bunch of lads. We don’t get any messing, ‘can’t make training’. The work rate every day is the same. Their application and work rate are phenomenal. They want to play for Wicklow, they want to work, they want to tackle, and that’s my dream. I love players that get involved like that,’ added Burke.
Burke took major issue with the performance of match referee Brendan Cawley.
‘I’d be very disappointed with the officiating. I don’t know what the final free count was, but I thought Brendan Cawley was extremely one-sided there. If you touched Sean Murphy, if you touched Brendan Murphy, if you touched Jordan Morrissey it was a free. Dean Healy get no luck off everybody. I thought Brendan, as a fellow Kildare man – it didn’t work out very well for me, did it?’
Davy Burke believed that his side handled the sending off of Paul Broderick well and that the two-point deficit at the break and the fact that Carlow were relying on frees was a positive reflection.
‘(Carlow) went down to 14, which obviously you can’t plan for because you don’t expect it, so early, maybe a black card but not for the whole game. But I thought we managed it very, very well. Came in at half-time, we have a free player, 0-5 to 0-3, five frees,
Carlow are heavily dependent on frees, that’s their game: drive forward and jump on the ground. That’s how you find Carlow like to play and I think Brendan (Cawley) fell for a lot of that today.
‘I’d be very frustrated. I’d say that free count was three or four to one there today, I don’t know, I haven’t got the final count on it, but I’d say it’s something like 30 frees to 10 or something along those lines.
‘It’s very tough. We’re battling; those lads are training as hard as any other team in the country, any other team, I promise you that. They’re giving it every day. We’ve a brilliant set up here, management, backroom, County Board, everyone’s progressing, we’re trying to push things on. All you want is a fair crack and I didn’t feel we got it there tonight,’ he added.
Wicklow goalkeeper Mark Jackson had a relatively quiet night between the posts but his main job of work was on the frees and 45s and it was a difficult night for the Baltinglass man. Davy Burke says Mark Jackson will be 100 per cent in future games.
‘Mark’s an excellent player. He’s the vice-captain, he’s a very, very important part of this team. I think you’ll find few keepers better than him in the country in my opinion. Mark will be 100 per cent. We’ve to readjust tactically in a couple of areas but overall, we’re not a million miles away.
‘That’s a good Carlow side, very experienced.
‘They schooled us a bit out there today. In brain, not in football, I thought we had the better footballers. Just the frees, cutting across at the right time, grabbing the arm, jumping on the ground, making a meal of it, the referee slowing things down.
‘That’s the schooling we got. But I think there were 17 new players brought into this panel this year, really nice young lads, athletic young lads, but they don’t have the experience of a team who won Division 4 two years ago or whatever it is, and a team that went on a good run in the qualifiers.
‘But I can tell you one thing – we’re getting there and bringing Waterford to Aughrim next week, that’s happy days,’ he added.