SHORT two key forwards in Willie Hickey and Paul Coady the pressure was on the Rangers attack to produce the goods.
“Two very big players on our team who can score three or four points between them,” said Derek Byrne afterwards.
Hugh Paddy O’Byrne has been around a while but the Carlow intercounty player sometimes struggles to hold his place in this high achieving team.
On Sunday he delivered in spades. His 39th minute high catch and strike in addition to his late effort put three points between the sides on each occasion. He confessed both were hard earned against quality opposition.
“They had six hurling backs, not stoppers. It wasn’t as free fl owing as we would have liked but the second half we tried to open it out a bit,” the corner forward said.
He praised the contribution of his team’s own back line who limited a much feared Emmet’s full forward line to two points from play.
“For our backs it was like hurling off a wall. The ball was coming straight back at them. Only for them. Karol Lawlor came out with a mountain of ball. You cannot say enough good things about them,” Hugh Paddy enthused.
It is the mark of a good team who refuse to panic when a match appears to be slipping away from them. Rangers were in that position when their three-point lead was eroded in two minutes with only eight minutes left on the clock.
Unlike their opponents who shot from distance only to see so many balls bounce harmlessly wide in the first half the eventual winners adhered to their pre-match gameplan.
“The wind never wins anything for you but we were fortunate they hit a lot of wides in the first half. We knew the work we put in in the first half would have to be equalled if not doubled in the second half. It is all about work rate and holding your shape. You could very easily found yourself being pulled out the field and ball drifting out over the end line,” he said.
The injured Paul Coady watched with his arm wrapped in a sling. “I never want to be on the side line again. It was tense and the nerves were going.” He referred to the mood in the dressing room before they took the field.
“We spoke about doing it for one another. It was an emotional dressing room,” he revealed.