THE controversy at the end of Warrenpoint’s long-awaited Down championship victory over Kilcoo has already been forgotten as they turn their attention to Sunday’s quarter-final showdown with Clonduff, according to ’Point stalwart John Boyle.
Referee Paul Faloon brought the game to an end a minute earlier than scheduled, forcing the Ulster champions into the back door and leaving them incensed as they trailed 0-10 to 0-9 in the dying moments of a hugely competitive game.
The fall-out from that decision threatened to overshadow a significant win for Niall McAleenan’s men but, with the Magpies still alive and kicking after seeing off Burren last weekend, Boyle insists it isn’t a game, or a result, the St Peter's have dwelled upon.
“People will say we were lucky and that’s fine. People are totally entitled to their own opinion,” he said.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of decisions before but you take it and you move on. At times it’s very hard to stomach but, for them, they’ve got another chance. In years gone by we didn’t get another chance.
“They’ll not worry too much about it come Sunday [when Kilcoo face Rostrevor], we’re not going to worry too much about it. It’s been and gone. They’ll look on it as fuel to their fire to go on again.
“We were happy to get over the line, if we’d lost we would’ve had to go again anyway so in the grand scheme of things now, it doesn’t really change a whole pile.
“A lot of people that have done a lot of talking about this ’Point team, but maybe don’t know a lot about them, said we had to beat them to get the monkey off our back - well they’re still in the championship so the monkey’s still there. Does it give us confidence? Of course, winning is a habit, but it was very competitive, very physical.
“When we haven’t played massive amounts of football, I think it’ll bring both teams on. We got a pat on the back for about 10 seconds but there were no more celebrations, we were in the huddle and that was it.
“Nobody was jumping around. Kilcoo are very much still there and still the favourites.”
The 34-year-old, who also plays soccer for Newry City, has witnessed at close quarters the rise of Warrenpoint across the last decade and beyond, with last year’s Down final appearance their first since 1978.
On that occasion they just came up short, losing out by a point as Kilcoo lifted the Frank O’Hare Cup for the seventh time in eight years. However, Boyle feels even reaching that stage has had a wider effect on future generations within the town, bringing a greater sense of pride in their GAA club.
“For years there has always been the talent pool in Warrenpoint - the application and what it really takes to become a top team hasn’t always been there, and I’m probably as guilty as anyone in terms of that.
“Over the last six or seven years, there has been a total change in mindset around the place from the young boys coming through. The senior team is always looked at in the town, and last year after getting to the final, people were going and buying club stuff.
“The amount of people and young kids about the town wearing club gear really hit home to me, that they felt they had a team to be proud of. There was a real feel-good factor.
“There’s a sense of responsibility with that; that you go out and make the people who follow you all the time proud, and you’re trying to get the young people buying into the club again.
“Winning games and being at the upper end of Division One in recent years has bred confidence. It’s not just ‘they have the ability, but…’ – that has started to change.”
