This article is from page 78 of the 2011-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 78 JPG
SIXMILEBRIDGE manager Christy Chaplin would have had every right to be smug on Saturday as his significant alterations and introductions paid off to earn his side a first county final appearance since 2002. But that isn’t Rusty’s style and instead he was magnanimous in victory after crushing Cratloe’s dream of a third successive final in this, the ultimate O’Garneyside derby showdown.
“We are over the moon. At this stage of the championship last year, we lost out to Crusheen and it hurt a lot. So we started out at the beginning of this year with everything geared to getting that one step further.
“We knew what Cratloe were go- ing to bring to the table, they are a super bunch of lads and are super fit. I know a lot of them personally, we all do as the clubs as so close but out on the field, there is an great rivalry there and today was going to be no different. We shaded it today, on other days Cratloe have shaded it and there was never going to be more than a puck of the ball between the ‘Bridge and Cratloe.
“We have 27 honest lads there and we can ask no more of them because they give us everything they have in the tank. Last year, to be honest, we made a few mistakes near the end and Crusheen punished us. Today we made a few mistakes and we got away with it as Cratloe missed a few frees and had goal chances but didn’t put it away and these are the small things that can win or lose games. We got the goal before half-time and we built from there.”
And despite not knowing at that stage who they would be facing in the final, he was only concerned with improving his own side ahead of the final in a fortnight’s time.
“We have to go back to the drawing board because we still have a lot of work to do. No matter who we play, we know we have nothing won yet. We got over Cratloe today and are in a county final for the first time in a long while but we have a lot of work to do.”