'We left everything out there' - Naas boss Tom Mulally after Leinster defeat

Naas manager, Tom Mulally spoke to the press just after addressing his players in their dressing room following the side's five point defeat at the hands of St Martin's of Wexford in Newbridge on Sunday.

“A disappointing result” said the manager, quickly adding he felt “you are not playing in the midst of summer at the minute so conditions were not as good as the day of the county final, probably allowing for a slower game and St Martin's are a physical team, they defend very well, are able to break very quickly but I think (Naas) left everything out on the pitch, sometimes that is not good enough and it certainly was not good enough today but the players' attitude and how they represented the club, and indeed the county, was commendable.”

The manager added that at the end of the day “we were beaten by placed balls, that's a compliment in the way we restricted their options from play but the opposite of that being they converted and converted at a time when we didn't need it; the penalty just put the nail into the coffin, we were working things back but there was balls intercepted, some decisions come with that pressure but to be fair to St Martin's they are well prepared, probably one of the better coached sides coming out of Wexford in the last couple of years and to be fair to them you could see they have an ambition to try and put Wexford club hurling on the map in Leinster and that was evident they way they brought full respect to us today and we brought the same to them.”

The manager said that this championship was a very drawn out championship, we lost Conan Boran to a cruciate in the county final, along with Johnny McKeon and Peter O'Donoghue, Peter made it back but Peter has been injured for quiet a while so as a club trying to break the mould you need a lot of things going right for you and whilst we have a big panel, we have a lot of young players who are learning their trade but they will be a huge benefit to the club going forward but this year it has been a learning experience for them.”

The manager added that he felt the Kildare championship was drawn out (opening round first week of June) and while I realise the final was later due to the re-opening of St Conleth's Park, you will always find a reason but fixture-wise that did not help us, not an excuse, Martin's were the better team on the day.”

The manager added that the game today was a tight game, they (St Martin's) got ahead, possible if we were a more dominant force within Leinster I think some of the decisions might have gone our way in the first half in particular and that is not giving out in any manner, shape or form about the referee, just saying you “need that bit of luck, in the first and the second half and we just didn't get that, maybe a bias opinion but it still an opinion.”