FAIL TO PREPARE, PREPARE TO FAIL: Castlehaven left no stone unturned for this Munster final. The team travelled up on Saturday and stayed in the Greenhills Hotel, only one kilometre away from the Gaelic Grounds. Mark Collins revealed afterwards that James McCarthy and his management team visited the Limerick stadium during the week, and again on the morning of the game. He said: ‘They came back to us to tell us the wind would be blowing into the town goal off the right-hand side so we knew that coming in.’ And then Castlehaven also had the pre-planned switch of goalkeepers for a penalty shoot-out, if needed. They had all their bases covered.
HAVEN HEROES: Castlehaven have their share of big-game players. It was no surprise that Brian Hurley, barely moving on one leg by the end (cramp), showed his class with 0-7 or that Damien Cahalane was a powerful presence in their defence, carrying the ball so well in atrocious conditions, and then we had Cathal Maguire. He kicked 0-4, including two at the end of extra time to keep Haven alive and force the penalty shoot-out. He worked tirelessly all day, never stopped running, with Damien Cahalane noting: ‘Cathal had the game of his life in terms of taking the game constantly to Dingle.’ James McCarthy feels there is more to come from Maguire, too.
SPIRIT OF THE HAVEN: You have to tip your hat to this group. In recent seasons, they kept coming up short in Cork, but their belief never suffered, and they made the breakthrough this year. Against Dingle, they twice trailed by three points (huge leads given the weather conditions, especially in extra time), lost the in-form Michael Hurley to injury in the first half, were down to 14 men in the second half, and Dingle had a penalty to win the shoot-out, but every time Castlehaven found a way back into this remarkable Munster final. They never know when they’re beaten.
