Jason Sampson says Shinrone victory was a long time coming

THE honour of being the first Shinrone man to ever lift the Sean Robbins cup fell to corner forward Jason Sampson and he was still trying to take it all in on the field after the game.

He said this win was such a long time coming for Shinrone that it was almost impossible to believe it had actually happened.

“Very hard to put into words to be honest. It feels surreal. It almost feels like we didn't win, it's like an out of body experience at the moment,” he said afterwards. “It's a bit of shock. It's such a long time coming, waiting and so many hard defeats down the years. You would believe in yourself but at the same time you'd be questioning whether you were ever going to get there. Just to get there is a bit surreal to be honest.”

Jason played his part in the victory as he scored four points from play in the second half, a feat matched by his brother Killian.

“I hardly touched the ball in the first half, I think I was on the ball twice, which is poor, but in the second half, I got on a couple of balls, came out the field a little bit and got a couple of scores. It's not about individuals but at the same time Killer (Killian) was class as well and Ciaran (Cleary), he's after turning it around. He didn't hurl senior much last year, maybe near the end of the year, he's been such a target man and fulcrum for us up front and we are living off his breaks. His leadership up front is unbelieveable, he's really added an awful lot there this year.”

Ciaran Cleary won the first three balls in the air and went on to hit five points from play in a man of the match performance.

“It goes back again to belief again,” said Jason. “We knew Ciaran is winning his ball, Aido (Adrian Cleary) and Sean (Cleary) and Duck (Donal Morkan) in the half forward line were really on top, they were running at them. OK we got hooked once or twice, had a couple of wides, but we were creating those chances, we were there and to go up the two points before half time was vital.”

Kilcormac/Killoughey had early chances and missed two good chances of goals.

“They did have the chances and at the time it was worrying but really quickly in the space of a couple of minutes we turned it around. The backs did unreal to get back, hooked, blocked, and they are vital. We got out of jail I suppose in that period but from there on we drove on and took over to be fair,” the captain added.

Getting the last two points of the first half gave them a two point advantage at half time.

“Do you know what that did? That was more for belief. Going in two points up confirmed in our minds that we were there, that we could drive on and win in it. Any doubts that were in our head were put to bed at that stage,” Jason said.

Things then clicked for Shinrone in second half.

“I think we got two points straight away after their goal and that was vital, it nearly nullified the goal in a way. In fairness they probably had one or two more chances, a couple of scrambles, but the boys did really well to hold out. The one thing in the second half was that we were always keeping the scoreboard ticking over, that was vital and I that is what won it, keeping it ticking over.”

Shinrone now have a chance to celebrate before turning their focus to a Leinster Club Championship meeting with Naas in November.

“Even thinking that we are going into a Leinster championship is a bit unbelieveable to be honest. It won't be in our minds for another seven to 10 days anyway. Look we will treat that with absolute respect as well because Offaly teams always have in the past and gone really well. We'll look forward to that in time but not just yet,” the captain said.