Tarbert ‘just fail to give in’ says
TARBERT Comprehensive could easily have bitten the dust in both the Munster semi-final and final and, indeed, in the recent All-Ireland semi-final victory over Ballymahon of Longford. Yet, as they face into a trip to Carlow this Saturday to face St Malachy’s Castlewellan, the North Kerry school are still standing.
Milltown / Castlemaine goalkeeper Cormac Leane, and Moyvane forward Martin Stack, are part of the management team, with Kieran Culhane and Martin Trench, forming a formidable back-room dripping with football experience. They have been enthused by this squad’s current odyssey.
“Going back to the very first game [in the Moynihan Cup] outside in Moyvane, we were very lucky to get over the line, by a point or two, against a good Gaelcholáiste team from Tralee. You lose that, and maybe the year goes differently,” stressed Leane.
“It has stood to us throughout the year then with a few close battles recently again. The boys have learned, and taken that experience forward in every game. It’s probably not something that you may have imagined at the start of the year, but results have gone our way, we are where we are now.” Stack concurs.
“In the Spanish Point game, you’re talking come down the stretch, with ten or fifteen minutes to go, we were down five or six points and looking like we’re going out of the competition. They just fail to give in, they never throw in the towel, and, thankfully, we just pulled it out of the fire.
“It was similar in the Munster final against Bantry, backs to the wall in the third quarter really, I don’t know was it three or four points that we went down again, and looking like the game was maybe slipping away. We had the rub of the green, and we came out of the right side of it as well.
“It’s hard to put a finger on it really, but I suppose they have been together so many times throughout the year, and it’s trusting in each other more than anything. It’s