We dug it out against the odds says Carrigallen manager Niall Mulleady
Carrigallen’s resilience and ability to compose themselves in the final stages was crucial in their Corrib Oil Junior A Final victory over St Mary’s Kiltoghert last Sunday according to manager Niall Mulleady.
“We looked like we were playing good stuff, particularly in the first half,” Niall told the Observer, “We got a couple of scores after halftime but Carrick got their purple patch and five or six minutes to go, it looked against the odds but we dug deep and dug it out and I’m very, very happy.”
Carrigallen dominated long stretches of the game but poor finishing, particularly of goal chances almost cost them, a point Niall agreed with: “Fully agree with you there, we had four missed goal chances and particularly in the first half, we snapped at points there when we should have been taking them.
“We carried the ball a bit too far, particularly with the wind, we should have been shooting earlier. This is a very inexperienced team, a lot of youth mixed with a bit of experience and they haven’t been in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada in a final in a long time and nerves do tend to take over.
“But I’m delighted with how we composed ourselves later in the game and dug it out. Carrick are having a clean sweep at the moment, they are a fantastic club and doing well and they had the momentum but we dug it out.”
Niall agreed Eoin Ward was a worthy man of the match winner but stressed the overall team contribution also: “Eoin stood up, he has been carrying an injury from the very first round of the championship, we’ve been minding him with kid’s gloves and cotton wool.