“The girls showed huge character”
St Andrew's players show their delight at winning the Tellab Intermediate ladies football championship final against Kildavin Clonegal Photo: Pat Ahern
While the St. Andrew’s players celebrated their Tellab intermediate championship win on the Netwatch Cullen Park field on Saturday evening, a proud figure stood on the periphery, letting his players enjoy their moment.
For manager Brian Murphy, the primary feeling after his team’s 2-11 to 3-7 win was that of relief.
“I think relief is probably the overriding feeling,” he said.
"I think the girls showed huge character. I think we were five points down in the second half, playing into a strong wind, and they really just dug in.” Laura Mahon scored the winning goal for Andrew’s to down Kildavin-Clonegal six minutes from time, and Murphy lauded his team’s professionalism to close out the game from there.
“Once we got that goal, in the last six or seven minutes, we tagged on a couple of points. Once we got ahead, we never looked like giving up the ball.
“I mean, we held the ball for about five minutes near the end to close the match out, which showed huge composure. So, I think the biggest overriding thing for me is the honesty that they showed, the effort that they showed, and their never say die attitude.” Murphy had high praise for Kildavin-Clonegal and had no doubt that they’ll be back at the same stage again in the future.
When asked about St. Andrew’s opponents, he replied, “I genuinely feel bad for Kildavin-Clonegal, because they’re a really good team. They’ve been so close over the last few years, and I suppose we came out the right side of it today.”
While Murphy acknowledged his team were quite wasteful in front of goals at times – particularly in the first half, where they had nine wides playing with the wind – they took the chances they really need to in the end to get over the line.
“If you had told me before the game that if we gave away three goals, would we win, I’d have said no. That’s just being honest,” he admitted.
“They never gave up, and there is goals in us. As I said, we could have had four in the first half. We didn’t have any. They got the goals in the end, and that’s what matters.”
On his players, Murphy cited how young the team is, and how the best very well may be yet to come for St. Andrew’s.
“Hopefully, the future is bright. Laura Mahon, who got the goal, she’s only 15. An awful lot of those girls are only 17, 18, 19, early 20’s. I think they have an awful lot of development they can still do. There’s a lot of football in them.
“They’ve done it now. We won’t talk about senior for a while now, we’ll enjoy tonight and they’ll probably enjoy the next couple of days. I’m just delighted, because at the end of the day. They’re the ones that put all the effort in.”
Amy Fisher, Roisin Lillis, Orla Bolger, Hollie Sinnott, Laura Mahon (1-0), Leanne Carroll, Roisin Collins, Katie Tunstead (0-1), Sinead McCullagh, Ebony Darcy (0-1), Rebecca Kelly (0-2), Eimear Lillis, Aine McCullagh (0-2), Eve Sinnott (1-2), Alice Hickey (0-3, 2f) Subs: Kate Coogan for Sinnott, 30; Zoe Clarke for Lillis, 39; Sophie Walsh for Darcy, 41.
Claire Murphy, Caoimhe Byrne, Megan Doyle, Ellie Kirwan, Sophie Byrne, Nicole Robrts, Caoimhe Redmond (1-0), Niamh Cox, Aoife Carroll, Katelyn Sheppard, Orlagh Hickey (0-2), Annie Shepherd, Chloe Leybourne (1-4), Hilary Fitzgerald (1-0), Isobel Cronin (0-1) Subs: Ellie Roberts for K. Sheppard, 46; Sarah Cox for Sheppard, 48.
Jonathan Murphy.
