Delighted Tullamore captain Declan Hogan relieved to get over the line

DECLAN Hogan had the honour of lifting the Dowling Cup alongside Michael Brazil after Tullamore captured their 29th Offaly senior football title with victory over Ferbane on Sunday and afterwards he savoured the sweet taste of victory.

“The overall feeling is relief,” he said intitially. “Unbelievably tough conditions out there today. The wind was so blustery and it was changing and obviously the underfoot conditions were so tough. It was a bit of a dogfight early on, I think everyone understood that as soon as the ball was thrown in and you had the first passage of play. Overall just delighted to win and get over the line.”

The conditions were very difficult for both teams and he said “you can't really prepare for conditions like that. Leading up to this the weather hadn't been too bad so both teams were probably practicing in decent conditions and then when you get a day like today all of that preparation goes out the window. Just holding onto the ball was very difficult and stringing passes together was tough, and getting from one end of the field to the other with a foot pass or a kick pass was tough going. It was very much a game of kick outs, winning breaks and any chance you did get to shoot, one score is worth nearly two. The goal we got in the first half, it turned out on a day like today that it was worth more than three, it was just so hard to get scores so that goal was massive.”

On such a bad day mistakes are going to be a factor but Declan said “you just have to deal with it. One thing we would have talking about is about reacting to mistakes. It is one thing to make a mistake but how do you react to it, are you going to win the next ball or stay standing? It is one thing that is mentioned throughout the whole year in our camp, mistakes are going to be made but it is how you react to them and I thought we reacted very well to our mistakes today.”

Looking at the game he said “it sort of developed in a way that there was a lot of physicality out there so players always have a sixth sense, so they know their job, given the conditions it was going to be tough to get any sort of free so that led to a lot of safe hand passes and safe play because a turnover on a day like today was energy sapping because of the ground was just so wet underfoot. Overall I think we got the goal at the right time. In the second half when there were no real scores John Furlong got a point and obviously the last free to win it and I think we kept Ferbane to three points in the second half, so even to do that is impressive.”

In a tight game when one late slip could change a game, he was asked how they deal with that. “In those closing minutes you are trying to keep communication with the guys around you, so obviously in the full back line, there is clear communication with Paul McConway, Aaron Leavy was back at that stage and Corey White, and you are trying to keep communication clear, keeping in the back of your mind that a ball could hit a post or come off someone's head, you are looking for lads to throw their bodies on the line, you are trying to keep as calm as you can in that moment. We are used to it at this stage and any county final we have played over the last few years has gone down to the wire. You become more comfortable in those situations the more experience you get.”

Steeped in the traditions of the Tullamore club he was asked how it felt receiving the cup in front of all their fans?

“Unbelievable. I have fantastic memories of Cathal Daly and Ken Furlong lifting the cup in 2007 and I ran on to the pitch there like a lot of the youngsters today and I remember hugging Shane Dooley and he didn't have a clue who I was at the time. That's a memory I'll always have hopefully there's a couple of more memories being created there for younger lads.

“I work in a school in town and the teachers and students have given me massive support. Overall the support has been unbelievable, not just from them but the whole town. The town is blue and white and driving up the town, it gives you a boost. When you get a score near the end it is almost like a 16th man when you hear that Tullamore roar, so delighted to get over the line,” he added.