Yvonne Brady feels the full force of Rachel Connolly’s challenge during Saturday’s Connacht junior ladies’ final between St. Mary’s and Tuam-Cortoon at Enfield. Picture: Michael McCormack
The St. Mary’s junior ladies were disappointed to miss out on a provincial title last Saturday, but manager Frank Kearney had no complaints afterwards and acknowledged that they had been beaten by the better team. He was also keen to emphasise that it had been a hugely successful year for the Tulsk-based club, and his players could be proud of their achievements despite last weekend’s seven-point defeat.
“They (Tuam-Cortoon) were a bit stronger and a bit sharper than us today,” Kearney observed, shortly after the final whistle at Enfield. “Our backs defended very well, and we had a few chances in the first half. But it just didn’t happen for us today.
“We have a lot of young girls. But I suppose they had a lot of young girls too. The standard goes up as you go up the ladder. But I think we’ve had a very good year. If somebody said to me earlier in the year that we were going to be as good as this, I’d have taken it,” he concluded.
The Tuam-Cortoon manager, Michael Hogan, was delighted with the way his side took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half. He admitted that his players looked a bit edgy in the opening period, and missed a number of gilt-edged opportunities.
It led to a few “harsh words” being said in the dressing room at half time, according to Hogan. But it certainly seemed to do the trick, as the Galway champions were a transformed side after the break.
“I didn’t know much about St. Mary’s so it was a case of just turning up on the day and playing them,” Hogan noted. “We just went 15 on 15. They (St. Mary’s) were a good, strong physical team, and it was a good game of football.
“We are a very young team. So I think the occasion might have got to them. We missed four or five goal chances in the first half. We got a few points alright. But there were a few harsh words at half time, and we got them tuned in again.
“I thought the second-half performance was much better,” he continued. “We ran at them and the St. Mary’s girls did not have the legs to stay with us. It has been 11 years since we last won the title. So this was very important because we’ve been struggling for the last five, six, seven, eight years.
“So to get back to where we are today took a huge effort. We have a young team and we’ve been ten months training, since the first week in January. Three times a week and that’s every week,” the Tuam-Cortoon manager informed.
Next up for the North Galway outfit will be an All-Ireland semi-final joust with the Munster champions. It promises to be a tough assignment. But Hogan was quick to point out that the club is in bonus territory now.
We’ll be playing the winners from Cork or Kerry,” he noted. “They are very strong down there and it is nearly the home of football for girls. But no-one expected us to have achieved all that we have this year, so anything after this is a bonus.
“We won the All-Ireland sevens up in Dublin. We won the Connacht sevens, and we won the county and the league title. So we’ve done a clean sweep in Connacht. So I’m a happy man. They are a serious bunch of girls. So we’ll enjoy tonight first, and take it from there,” the Tuam-Cortoon supremo concluded.
