'Sport is cruel at times' - Slaughtneil's Paul McCormack

It was impossible to properly second guess the thoughts in Paul McCormack as he stood in on the pitch in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat in Newbridge.

All four teams – as did the rest of Ireland – knew the All-Ireland race was wide open.

The Slaughtneil manager took a few minutes to composure himself before unloading his emotions with sheer calmness, a total contrast of a Helter-skelter finale.

“I’m trying to find the words,” he eventually offered. “Cruel is one adjective I suppose.

“Heartbreaking, it’s just the reality that it's over. That's the thing, it’s…that's it now, it's real.

“It's not where we wanted to end,” said McCormick of an All-Ireland campaign that stormed into life in their replay win over Cushendall.

For McCormack, the story just didn’t have enough chapters.”

“We were determined to win this match and go to Croke Park, to represent Slaughtneil in Croke Park.

“It was a one-point game,” he said of Sunday’s 0-18 to 0-17 defeat. “It wasn't a pretty game but we were in it. Nobody could tell me there was any difference between the two teams.

“It's just so cruel, sport is cruel at times. You put in so much and then you fall off, fall short just by one or two small wee breaks of the ball or incisions or plays. They've done their best; they couldn't have done any more. They represented themselves so well again.”

McCormack, in his first season as manager, agreed that it was a huge opportunity. That’s where the hurt came from

“We knew there was going to be nothing in it,” he said. “We needed to turn up and we did. They (the Slaughtneil players) turned up.

“Was it the best performance? No, but they turned up and they just gave everything, like, so as a manager, that's all you want from your team.”

Trailing by a point at the break, the dressing room was calm and collected. Shane McGuigan and Cormac O’Doherty started the second half at midfield there they controlled much of the play.

It steered them into a three-point lead with Meehaul McGrath and Ruairí Ó Mianáin also landing point.

“We needed the scoreboard to go another one,” McCormack said of the need to push four points clear. Would it have been enough? We’ll never know.

“You're playing against a top-quality team who have inter-county Cork experience,” McCormack said.

“We're talking, and that's not being disrespectful, we're talking Derry hurlers against Cork but you wouldn't have seen that out there.

“I’m just so proud of them boys and the way they kept at it, right to the very end.

“The shot (Mark McGuigan’s goal chance) at the end, it easily could have been a goal and it's a different result.”

McCormack outlined that illness forced Conor Coyle out with Sean Cassidy coming into the side.

They lost Meehaul McGrath to a dead leg with Ruairí Ó Mianáin also replaced with injury.

There were so many margins and the Slaughtneil were “harshly” on the wrong on some of referee James Owens’ decisions.

“It was nearly like a polar opposite, the first half and the second half, but it was the same for both teams, I suppose,” he said.

McCormack admitted not having a view of the incident that saw manage of the match Jack O’Connor miss a potential red card for a late challenge on Cormac O’Doherty.

The other contentious decision was not to award Shane McGuigan a free in the last play after winning a vital possession before appearing to be impeded as he broke the tackle. Instead, Sarsfields were awarded a free in for too many steps.

“He had the momentum coming out, the momentum coming through,” McCormack said of the “harsh” decision.

“He (Owens) was blowing a lot of those in the first half. It's different in football, your hands are wrapped around it. His (McGuigan) hands are here (gesturing to them being tucked in and he can't get his hands up to play a ball, and there's two men around him.

“The first ball that Shane O'Regan got was carbon copy of last week He got the ball, goes to goal, eight, nine, 10 steps, hand in, and then…,” McCormack said of a free in.