This victory is for ‘all of our little village’

HE picked up the Man of the Match award for a mature and confident display all through the game.

Before the game that was a million miles from ‘Bosco’ O’Neill’s mind. All year the message from Garry Laffan has been to get to the final and take it from there.

O’Neill says that is what they stuck to all season.

“Garry and the lads came up and they said first things first, we have to get back to a county final. We haven’t been in a county final for two years, Carnew and Bray, so the first target is always to get to the final and take it from there, so we got the first bit over and then we juist build from there,” he said. .

“Getting to the final was the plan and the next plan was win the first half, whether you’re against the wind or with the wind. We were against the wind so you know to slow the game down a bit if you can, one or two lads got a few injuries there to slow the game down we’ll see how he is tomorrow.

“That was the game plan, to break the game down and win the first half. I know we were a point down. We got a great goal. If you can get a goal up the hill in Aughrim, there’s always a gale in Aughrim in October. You seen it here four weeks ago, the pitch was immaculate, lovely for hurling, a few weeks rain now and the ball dies, everyone’s touch was not as crisp, it’s winter hurling and it ends up with a lot of muddles and whoever wants it the most comes out of those muddles and I just think we were just that bit hungrier on the day,” he added.

In the second half, Bray played John Henderson as a sweeper against the wind. O’Neill says that it gave his side an extra man so it worked both ways.

“They decided to play the sweeper and if you’re going to play a sweeper you’re going to play the best hurler and that’s John Henderson. We tried to push John Manley on to him, they kept having two on one, we were trying to mark him but when you have the two, but it also means that we have someone spare at the other end, so it works both ways,” he added.

‘Bosco’ was presented with the Man of the Match award. However, in his mind, he had another candidate for the gong.

“Ah, to me Warren (Kavanagh) was unbelievable, that second half performance, to me he is my man of the match. He just came out, every time the ball came up around the 45 he just seemed to be on it and driving through the tackle nd letting the ball on. To me he was unbelievable and I just think that that’s his position (centre-half back), with John Henderson he’s the best stylish hurler we have. He’s brilliant,” he said.

So, what does a win like this mean for the village of Glenealy.

“It’s unbelievable. We’re a small little village, we’re three hurling clubs, we got to the Junior final, we’re in the semi-final of the Intermediate, we’ve won the Senior, it’s what we do in Glenealy. We don’t have a football team, you see the young lads going through the village and they always have hurls. And that’s what It’s all about, our little village. And we have the best supporters around. When we’re not winning, they can be a bit on top of you because they know there’s more in us. They’re like ourselves, you know, they don’t like losing, so this day is for the whole village,” he added.