Coláiste Bhríde fall at the final hurdle

A clearly emotional Bob Fitzgerald emerged from the Coláiste Bhríde Carnew dressing room where he had tried to somehow assuage the hurt being felt by the wonderful camogie players within after their defeat to Cashel CS in Heywood on Saturday.

When asked his thoughts on the game overall Bob Fitzgerald said the slow first half from their point of view and the standing off of the Cashel side were key to them building that wide firsthalf lead.

‘Slow, very, very slow first half (from Coláiste Bhríde). There was a very strong wind there but we stood off them. We knew coming in that they were very good hurlers, but we stood off them far too much and gave them the space that allowed them to hurl. Their second goal was a serious move. If it was in Croke Park everyone would be talking about it. But, at the same time, we let them do it, and the girls stood off them and didn’t lay a hand on them and they went the whole way up the field untouched and that usually doesn’t happen. Every so often, those things happen,’ he added.

The Annacurra native said that changes were made during the first half and at the break as they tried to get their match ups right having viewed the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents.

‘We were being caught for pace in places, and we felt that we needed to rejig it. After getting a look at them we wanted to get our match ups right. I suppose we probably did. Their number 10, the Maloney girl, we moved Ciara Wafer over on her, and Ciara, for a girl who wasn’t even on the panel last year, to come in there and she silenced their best player, hats off to her.

‘We just needed to get our match ups right and we got them right in the second half and we had all the momentum and I suppose the scores just didn’t come free enough. They were sitting back and they could afford to sit back and block it up., If it was the other way around, we would have done the same thing. We were aware of that and I warned the girls that that was going happen when we were chasing the lead but, look, they had a hell of a go.

‘Maybe, we had four or five