Kildare GAA: Celbridge manager says sending-off did not lose them the game

Michael McDermott, manager of Celbrige admitted that defeat to Naas on Sunday has been one of the most difficult in his long, and successful managerial career.
“It is raw, very, very raw at the moment. As a group with emptied it out there on that field in the second half, we didn't play to our best in the first half but when the chips were down in the second half we were asked to battle and battle we did; we went a point up and a couple of decisions went for them (Naas) for frees while a couple of other decisions didn't go for us and maybe ultimately that decided the game in a tight, tight battle but that is what decided the game.”

Asked if he felt Celbridge should have got a penalty late on he replied “without seeing it back on the video I genuinely don't know but I thought there was big time contact as Deano (Dean O'Donoghue) was going for the ball and all of a sudden he was on the ground but without seeing it on video I don't know but I would have taken it because it was a great move, a great ball in and there was definitely contact as he was about to go for the ball he was taken out of it end of story.”

The manager said he felt the sending off of Paddy Brophy did not lose Celbridge the game.
“It (sending-off) did not lose us the game we were solid in defence and very difficult to score against and in the last three or four minutes we owned the ball, on the front foot every single time; one of their shots dropped short and we came back, owning, owning and the last play, the linesman saw no free but it was game over, it is tough to take the lads tried so hard and they have suffered a lot of pain over a long time and if there was ever a group that deserved a senior county title it is those lads, and this why I feel really, really sorry for them that they did not get over the line today.”