Tributes paid To Carnew
REACTION
BRAY EMMETS captain Marc Lennon paid tribute to Carnew Emmets in his post-match speech following his side’s successful defence of the O’Donoghue Cup.
Lennon said that scoreline didn’t reflect the toughness of the game and he wished them well for 2021 and the future in general.
‘That was a serious game of hurling, lads. I know the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that. You’re a young team and your Minor team were in the ‘B’ final, so just keep going,’ he said.
Lennon was tremendous on the day, leading his side from the coalface of the middle third where the clashes and collisions were ferocious on occasion.
He thanked all the supporters from both sides and the families of all the players. He paid tribute to them for allowing the players the time and space to enjoy the game of hurling to the level that they do.
To his own colleagues he offered huge praise, saying that after the Glenealy defeat they had got the show back on the road.
‘Everyone was back training properly. Jackie showed up again, but, no, serious effort there. We have a massive squad, and three lads who couldn’t play today through injury and Karl (Lacey), he’s been our most disciplined hurler over the last two years but unfortunately, he couldn’t play today.
‘I want to thank both backroom teams, I want to thank you for everything you have done for both teams,’ he added.
Bray’s Padraig Doyle says that he sincerely hopes Carnew can keep going and get back to more county finals in the coming years after both sides engaged ina tough battle on Sunday with Bray galloping away in the end.
‘Carnew showed up again. It’s going to be us and them for the next few years by the looks of things. They’re an unbelievable outfit.
‘As Marc (Lennon) said in his speech, the score line doesn’t reflect the game. I
‘ know these lads, all the way growing up. I’ve lost a lot of championships to them growing up. It’s very hard to keep these championships on the run but hopefully
they can keep coming back and be back contesting in more finals in the years to come,’ said the Bray attacker.
Bray Emmets have had to evolve their hurling given that teams are now approaching them differently. It’s an evolution that has been largely successful so far.
‘A lot of the time, we were saying in training there, last year it was me and Michael (Boland) on the inside line and our game was based around kind of quick ball into the forward line, very like the first year we won it in 2014 with Mikey (Lee) and Christy inside.
‘And we just noticed that teams are starting to compact their defences and it’s very hard to playing the forwards like that.
‘Myself and Paul (Carley) were talking and he said to come out to the midfield and pop off a few points from the midfield and then teams are forced to press up on you and then hopefully it leaves a bit of space open.
‘Oftentimes we try to stay in the game until half-time and then someone has to go and win it and then when they go, we just try and counter back. And experience has a lot to do with that.
‘In the semi-final we were very calm at half-time. We knew Pat’s would bring that intensity and we just had to believe in ourselves,’ he added.
Doyle has high praise for John Henderson who led a ruthless defence on county final day.
‘In the first half I was thinking they were after getting a goal and they were looking to press the game up on us. We weren’t expecting that as much, we thought they’d sit more. Again, we just had to match them and keep them at bay.
‘Our defence has been keeping very low scores all season. We trust all of them and John’s just a Bray Emmets hero at this stage. I would never say that to his face, but he actually is. He’s class, and a great guy as well. He’s a real leader, he doesn’t say much but his actions are unbelievable. He’s brilliant for me and the lads and all the young lads coming through, he gives us some amount of some of confidence.
‘I won’t say that about Christy (Moorehouse), he gets enough plaudits,’ he joked.