Captain Sinead Tighe hails "phenomenal" Kiltubrid group
Captain Sinead Tighe highlighted the special bond in the Kiltubrid camp as she talked of the faith and trust in each other in the aftermath of Saturday’s heartbreaking Connacht LGFA Intermediate Club Final loss to Charlestown Sarsfields.
Kiltubrid put in an immense second half effort, drawing level with the Mayo side with just over a minute to go before falling to an injury time winner as Sinead found the words to express her team’s disappointment: “It is disappointing, we had every ambition to win here today but it didn’t work out.
“I’m hugely proud of the girls, the group, the work they put in, nobody lay down, everybody fought to the end, that’s what we’ve done all year - it didn’t work out, you win some, you lose some and that’s the way it goes.”
Kiltubrid’s second half surge was down to the belief and faith within the group; “It is a phenomenal group of people, never mind just the players, some unbelievable people in there and they will always bring that intensity, that heart, that fight.
“We’ve a really special bond in that group, we all have each other’s backs and we always will. I suppose that is what it comes down to - there is huge faith, trust and belief in each other and every day we go out, we go out to perform for each other.
“We had to bring it, step it up and try to improve on that performance but it wasn’t enough to get the job done today.”
Analysing the game, Kiltubrid paid the price for an underwhelming first half: “Definitely the first half was hugely disappointing, we didn’t play, we didn’t perform. I don’t know if it was nerves or whatever it was but we just didn’t perform. We were jittery coming out of defence, giving away stupid balls.
“But look, we regrouped and came out stronger in the second half, just not enough to get across the line. They’ve a great team, some quality players inside and it is just narrow margins.
“Charlestown were efficient with the ball when they got a turnover and I suppose that settled them as it would if it was the other way around, they had a very strong first half to build on whereas we were always coming from behind and trying to get back on level terms. That start made it more difficult.”
Looking ahead, Sinead and her teammates will be targeting the Leitrim Senior championship: “The year has seen progress I suppose, we hadn’t been happy with the last two years and it is nice to get a title. A Senior championship is our ambition, our goal and we’ll be back working towards that again next year.”