BY TOM LYONS
Man-of-the-match Donncha McCarthy said Kilmacabea have blown ‘hot and cold’ all summer but found the right time to put a performance together.
‘It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing what this team can do. I suppose the goal rattled us at the very start but we knew how to respond and there was no panic. I thought we played great football in the second half and got well on top. The two lads at midfield, Ian and Marty, were fantastic. It’s not hard to keep going with this bunch of lads, they drive each other on.’
Thoughts on Saturday were all about Carbery success but now a shot at the county awaits.
‘I have four SW medals now but I don’t know if that is a good or a bad thing, the county is still missing. We haven’t looked that far ahead yet. It was all about winning tonight and we did that. We were probably blowing hot and cold all summer but really got it together tonight. There’s some unbelievable football in this team. Last year we lost by a point to Barryroe but people said it was one of the best finals ever, so we’re always there or thereabouts. Tonight, we got it over the line.’
Kilmacabea captain Diarmuid O’Callaghan paid tribute to Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas who refused to relent throughout Saturday’s final.
The goal at the death was the only opportunity for Kilmacabea to get some breathing space over the hour and O’Callaghan commended their opponents.
‘They were a tough, hard team,’ he said. ‘You don’t get to these finals easily and you certainly don’t win them easily. The early goal was a sucker punch, alright, but there was no panic as we have a lot of experience in the team. Martin and Ian midfield, you won’t get another pairing like that in junior football, and with Donncha and Ruairí as the link men, it works very well. I think we were much more relaxed this time coming into this final than last year. We owned the ball in the first half but didn’t put away the scores and should have been further ahead at halftime. We got it together in the second half and Liam’s lay-off to Ian for the last goal was the icing on the cake.’
Diarmuid O'Callaghan captain of the Kilmacabea team raises the Mick McCarthy Cup after his team's victory over Diarmuid Ó Mathúna in the Bandon Co-op JAFC final at Dunmanway on Saturday night.
O’Callaghn admits he was unsure the veterans on the team would carry on after last year’s heartbreaking loss to Barryroe.
‘I was a little bit afraid that the team might have broken up after last year’s final defeat but the likes of Donncha there, 40 years of age, and Ruairí coming down from Galway every week, stuck with it and kept it going. And I can’t say enough about Donie in charge, fantastic.
‘This is a great recovery from last year’s defeat and I think we have Douglas in the county now. We’re as good as any team left and there’s no reason we can’t drive on from here. Four SW medals is enough for any fellow, we have to move on. Every team has its highs and its lows, if you don’t have the losses, you can’t appreciate the wins like tonight. We’ve been on both sides of the fence, so we’ll really enjoy this one before setting our sights on the next game.’
