KIERAN McGourty has played in All-Ireland club football and hurling semi-finals in the past. He came off the pitch in Kinnegad on Saturday as Clonduff camogie manager just relieved to get over the line and into the final this weekend.
“As a player you think you can influence the play, as a manager you hope that the girls have taken in the things you have said at the breaks.
“But these girls are not only good players, they are good listeners and level-headed and they ground out the result in the end,” said the former St Gall’s dual ace.
Clonduff were outplayed for most of the first half and then again at the start of extra time, but the team leaders stood up.
“Look, Sara Louise (Graffin) was immense there today. Fionnuala (Carr) wasn’t far behind and the longer the game went on you could see the rest of the team really get stronger – and it took all of that to get us home.
“Clanmaurice were an unknown quantity for us. I mean, if they have won the Munster title, they had to be good. Munster is probably the strongest province.
“We only had one clip of them and you pick up a couple of things from that. But they came at us very strong at the start and we struggled in the first half. That sometimes happens in games. It happened against Eglish.
“In the two games, the Eglish game and today, we had to get the heads down and work our way into the game and, in that respect, Sara Louise was a real leader.
“It wasn’t pretty and it was a bit of an endurance test. After we went ahead in the last session of extra time, I kept looking at the stop watch and it didn’t seem to be moving at all.
“I would play a bit of soccer and you learn from that to play the ball in their half of the pitch and slow everything down. That is what we were doing after we got the lead.”
The pitch was white when Loughiel and Drum and Inch began their senior club semi-final at 1pm, but McGourty maintains that the playing surface for the second game two hours later was fine.
“I think they warmed it up a good bit for us,” jokes the teacher in La Salle in Belfast.
“We saw a little of their game as we came in. It looked to be hard-fought and that is what we were preparing for – a dog-fight.
“I didn’t get a chance to speak to them, but, as an Antrim man, I am very happy with what they have achieved. But I don’t think their result impacted on our game. We had to fight our own battle.”
McGourty couldn’t see much training being done this week ahead of the final.
“We are training tomorrow morning at 11am. It will be our only chance in daylight ahead of Saturday. But, after today, it will just be a recovery session.
“The other trainings through the week will be the same, fairly light. What really can you do when you only have a week to prepare?
“These girls have all played in Croke Park before. I can’t tell them any more about how to play the game, not the occasion.
“There are things from today that I would like to see improve. But as long as they play with the same passion as today, we are in with a good chance.”
