This article is from page 74 of the 2011-07-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 74 JPG
PATRICK Murrihy smoked a few cigarettes on the sideline. Not as many as Cesare Menotti did in his day, with his ready stash of smokes underneath his sideline bench, but there were still plenty of plumes wafting in the Cooraclare air.
It was no wonder. It was a final after all. A Kilmurry Ibrickane v Doonbeg final at that. One that Patrick Murrihy didn’t want to lose – his first final day out manning the sideline for Kilmurry Ibrickane after his job of journeywork in making footballers out of these players when they first learned to kick ball.
“Beating Doonbeg is a good day for Kilmurry Ibrickane,” he says drawing breath seconds after Michael Rock’s final whistle. “We haven’t won the Cusack Cup that often and to win another one and to win it by beating Doonbeg in the final makes it all the more sweeter. Any day you beat Doonbeg, you have a good day’s work done. We have a good day’s work done in winning this Cusack Cup final.”
“I suppose that we had a chance to try and kick further ahead when we went three points up a few times. This Kilmurry team always gets enough possession – it just depends what you do with that possession when you get it.
“We used that possession very well at times, but there is room for improvement from our own point of view. If we can convert the possession that we’re winning into more scores, that will be great. When we didn’t get a few extra scores we left them in the game right until the end, but we’re delighted to have held out.”
With it Kilmurry landed their third Cusack Cup and first since 2008. Important where bragging rights back west are concerned, but you sense that beating Doonbeg was just as important, if not more than that, especially when Murrihy allows his mind drift back to last year’s county semi-final when Doonbeg ambushed them at the death.
“The lads were very, very hurt last year. They knew they had the capability of winning that county semifinal against Doonbeg last year. You have to give credit to Doonbeg – they kept going until the final whistle and won. That’s why beating them today was important.
“The Cusack Cup has been good for us. We have brought new players in. John Willie Sexton, Seamus Murrihy, Niall Hickey and these lads. That’s what the league is there for. There is no point waiting until the second, third and fourth rounds of the championship. The guys stood up.
“We had the same team there for two or three years, but now there’s real competition for places. These lads have brought a new freshness into it and training will be very good from now.
“We are very pleased. We are where we want to be at this time of the year. We do have a few injuries but hopefully we have lads coming back and we’ll get stronger from here.
“At the end of the day, later on in the year this Cusack Cup win will be forgotten about. It’s fantastic to win it, but it’s all about championship. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Championship starts from here.