THE aftermath of their All-Ireland intermediate semi-final loss to Annaghdown meant the O’Donovan Rossa dressing-room was a difficult place to be.
‘Everyone is completely devastated,’ O’Donovan Rossa coach Derek Tobin admitted.
‘In fairness, they gave it everything. Annaghdown are a fine side and we knew coming up to play them on their home pitch that it was going to be hard.
‘In fairness, credit to the girls, as the saying goes, they died with their boots on. We couldn’t ask any more of them.’
Tobin’s assertion is correct. Although things didn’t go their way, O’Donovan Rossa fought back in the closing stages and reduced the deficit to a goal following Allie Tobin’s injury-time green flag.
Yet, the West Cork club simply left themselves with too much to do and had to accept their fate. Bronagh Quinn’s goal minutes after the second half restart proved a game changer. That and a wide count of 11 misses made for frustrating viewing.
‘The goal did affect us a small bit, I suppose,’ Tobin said.
‘We didn’t settle right during those first couple of minutes after half time. We probably should have had a score down the other side just before it. We had a couple of chances out there today that on another day we might have executed better.
‘The girls expended a lot of energy in the first half against the wind as well. Credit to them though, the work they’ve put in, fitness-wise and everything, all year has been phenomenal and they kept going to the end.’
Whatever about the heartache of failing to make another All-Ireland final, missing out on a chance to play in Croke Park only added to O’Donovan Rossa’s disappointment.
‘It would have been nice to be heading for Croke Park in a week’s time, but look, that’s life,’ Derek Tobin stated.
‘Fortunately, I think, it (semi-final loss) will make them stronger as the years go on. Senior football is going to be a big test next year, but I think that the girls have matured so much in the last couple of years.
‘Credit to them, they are just an unbelievable bunch to be involved with. Everything we have asked of them, they did it. They trust the systems, they do the right thing all the time, and, in fairness, again, you couldn’t ask for any more of them today.
‘That’s life, isn’t it?’
