Man of the match says Kilcormac/Killoughey learned lessons from last year
CONOR Mahon turned in a man of the match performance in Sunday's county final as he scored six points from play in Kilcormac/Killoughey's impressive win over Shinrone. His three points in the first nine minutes set the tone for the day as Kilcormac/Killoughey went on to claim the Sean Robbins Cup for the fifth time.
The big centre half forward said they had learned a lot from last year's final defeat to Shinrone and were determined that they would put that right on Sunday.
“Last year gave us a lot of food for thought,” Conor said. “We started back in January and we put in good hard training over the Winter and built up a level of fitness and it was always in the back of our minds from last year just how much better Shinrone were than us. It is a testament to them, they were worthy champions last year and held it very well this year as well, but they were the mark we were trying to get to. Their workrate, their level of team play, that's what we were targetting this year. We kind of looked up to them from that sense and we wanted to match them and thankfully today it came off for us,” he said.
Getting a great start set the trend for the rest of the game. “Everyone was chipping in with tackles and there was breaks coming off everybody. James was breaking ball and Jack was getting stuck in and Charlie was getting stuck on on the half forward line, things were breaking around the middle, so if you got the body in and backed the break it was coming off for us and there were chances created but it was a collective thing there. It didn't matter who was on the end of them. We learned from the Rynagh's game late in the second half, just keep the scoreboard ticking and we just wanted to continuously tap the ball over the bar and the goals might come then, which they did. James took his well.”
Getting the goal just before half time put Kilcormac/Killoughey in a very strong position. “We isolated James on his own with the full back and you back him any day. He caught the ball and placed it well. He is a good target man, always was since I can remember anyway, and it was a sight for sore eyes seeing him come out with his two hands up, it was a lift as well,” Conor said.
Conor made his own mark as well hitting six points from play, a feat which earned him the man of the match award. “Again the boys were giving the ball out. I missed one that I probably should have got as well. You don't think about the ones you got, I'd be going to bed tonight thinking about the ones I missed. Everyone chipped in with scores, 3-26 I can see there still on the scoreboard, it's a great score in 60 minutes of hurling. It's the highest we have hit all year in any match and came at the right time for us too,” he added.
Kilcormac/Killoughey saved their best performance of the year for the county final when they really turned it on. “There were snippets of it in games up until now but that was the most complete performance we have had so far this year. Hopefully it keeps going now and we might get over the next day again. There's 42 players on our panel and the last few weeks we have had savage games at training, full 15 on 15, we even had 17 on 17 at times, it keeps lads interested and it keeps lads sharp and the mood in the camp is very very good at the minute,” the man of the match said.