AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship final: Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny) 1-22 Cuchullain’s Dunloy (Antrim) 1-15
FLANKED by his two young sons in the media room after yesterday’s gut-wrenching All-Ireland final defeat, Gregory O’Kane stood in front of a dozen or so reporters and told them nothing will change in Dunloy.
For them, hurling is a way of life whether they win titles or finish runners-up.
Yesterday, the Cuchullain’s finished on the losing end of an All-Ireland final for a fifth time - while success breeds success down in Ballyhale Shamrocks as they reaffirmed their place at the top of the roll of honour list with a ninth title.
“The boys have put in a huge effort and they’ll be sore,” said O’Kane. “But hurling’s our life, it won’t change a thing. We’ll still be playing hurling come the first league game because that’s what we do.”
Antrim champions five times in the last six years, Dunloy didn’t reach the heights they wanted to against the raging hot favourites but they were always in this game up until stoppage-time.
Ballyhale tagged on an impressive eight points in the last 10 minutes of yesterday’s scrappy All-Ireland final and won by seven, which slightly flattered them.
Ronan Molloy hit the net for the Dunloy as early as the third minute but couldn’t hold onto that slender lead as Eoin Cody raised a green flag for the Kilkenny men in the 16th minute.
Dunloy never allowed Ballyhale to escape them and narrowed the deficit to just one point in the 51st minute but probably just ran out of gas as they pushed forward in search of a goal.
“We came here today knowing that we were a match for anybody and probably going down the home straight we dropped three or four balls into the keeper’s hand and at that time we needed the energy,” lamented O’Kane.
“I think there was a point in it and the game just turned at that stage, and then the lads were out on their feet in injury-time when they got a few scores.”
The poor state of the Croke Park surface was a major talking point, especially for yesterday’s hurling final. Players struggled to get the ball from ground to hand on so many occasions – but O’Kane wasn’t about to make excuses.
“Look, it’s the same for both teams. You get possession and ball to hand is everything in modern-day hurling but we’ve no issues…
“A few balls broke and normally we’d be gone out of the tackle but we just couldn’t break that line. To be fair to Ballyhale, their half-back was superb. They are the inches, the millimetres when you add them all up in an All-Ireland final.
“The Ballyhale half-back line sit deep and they probably killed the space but, in saying that, we probably should have gone in at half-time level [instead of two down, 1-9 to 1-7].
“And to be brutally honest their goal and other scores came as much from our mistakes as what Ballyhale created. That said, we had as many chances as Ballyhale but we probably didn’t execute them as well as we should have.”
He added: “Ballyhale were brilliant at closing the space and then they used the ball smartly. I couldn’t be more proud of my players coming here today and what they gave us. They’re an absolute credit to themselves and their families and the Dunloy club.”
While there are a few players on the wrong side of 30, this Dunloy team are still young enough to reach the All-Ireland stage again.
“A team like that is always learning,” he said:
“Ryan McGarry at full-back, 22-years-of-age, outstanding on Colin Fennelly. The spine of the team is so young. In terms of experience of those games like that, sure it can only stand to them as a team.”