We never got going at all says Caragh boss
The Kildare Intermediate champions came up short in their All-Ireland semi-final clash with Crossmolina Deel Rovers
“It was a tough, tough game. They really did put it up to us. They got into the full swing of things fairly early and it took us a while to get into the game. To be honest with you, I don’t think we really got going at all and anytime we did get going they punished us down the far end,” the words of Caragh boss Michael Browne after his side’s All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final defeat.
Despite the obvious quality of Crossmolina Deel Rovers, Caragh trailed by just three going into half-time after the concession of a first half penalty. Two late points kept Caragh in contention, but Crossmolina were out of sight not long into the second half as they hit five scores without reply in seven minutes.
Browne said, “I thought when we came in at half-time we had a chance, three points down. When we went back out, if we brought the game to them, we probably could have kicked on, but as the game went on they got a few crucial scores. That made us come out of our shell, push up the field and concede a bit more than when we started being more open at the back. A tough game, tough conditions and we just couldn’t get out of second gear or get going after the break.”
The Caragh boss saw what most did in terms of his side's battling midfield performance with Kevin Connor and Dan Lynam doing well against formidable opposition and in particular inter-county star Jordan Flynn.
He added, “We did well in midfield, I thought their two boys inside, Fionán Duffy and (James) Maheady had really good games with crucial scores. Then obviously you have Conor Loftus driving forward with Jordan Flynn, they are really good through the middle. I thought we would have got a big of joy out on the wings, but they broke us down fairly easily and we gave away the ball an awful lot in the first half. You can’t turn over the ball against a team like that or you’ll get punished and punished very badly.”
Caragh's chief struggle was undeniably their passing on the day. The Kildare side struggle to build many meaningful with possession often being squandered via an ill-advised pass, whether a long ball to a diminutive forward and a poor quality of ball to someone coming short. Their giving up of the ball was always going to cost Caragh against an excellent Crossmolina side.
“They did really well defensively, but I thought some of our decision making with giving the ball in was kind of up in the air and we didn’t really favour our forwards. There were a couple of key mistakes. When we tried to drive forward and move in, we would lose the ball at a crucial time. One pass would go astray and it doesn’t really help when you are kicking the ball high to Jake (Corrigan) and Ronan Doorey inside. It’s not going to work when they have a sweeper set up inside either. Any breaking ball they were sweeping up too. It was a tough day, but I am immensely proud of the boys and it’s been a huge year overall. I thought we could have put up a bit better than we did and we are better than what we showed there today, but that’s football,” Browne said.
“It is a bit away yet (Senior Championship), we’ll take a few weeks off after this and reset. Then when we come back, we have to try and get out of Division 3 is probably the first task and kick on into Senior Championship after that.”