Brian Doyle knew St Joseph's players wouldn't give up

St Joseph’s may have been wondering what might have been after last Saturday’s Gotham Dry Wall LGFA Senior A Final but manager Brian Doyle was so proud of the resolve and fighting spirit his players showed in the 2-8 to 2-4 loss to Glencar Manorhamilton.

St Joseph’s had gone seven points to no score behind early in the second half before a furious fightback saw them draw level just as the game ticked into added time before two late goals for Glencar Manorhamilton took the title away from them.

For Brian, nerves may have played a part in his team failing to score for so long but he knew his players wouldn’t give up: “I knew they wouldn’t give up. You saw them earlier in the championship and they don’t give up and they didn’t give up today, just a couple of little things didn’t go our way today. 

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“It was a tough day for football, it was obviously a game of two halves for us. We defended immensely in the first half, four points isn’t a big lead. We were happy at halftime but they got a couple of scores at the start of the second half but we were playing nervy but then we came into the game, got well back into it and got a couple of great scores. Fair play to Manorhamilton, they didn’t get it easy.”

Bronagh O’Rourke’s first goal seemed to inspire St Joseph’s felt Brian: “The first goal released a bit of tension and we started playing more like we can. If you analyse all our games, the players would be very critical of themselves but I’m very proud of them, they gave it their best today and that is all we can ask of them. 

“On other days, they could play better, but if we could have got a score early on, it would have settled us a lot sooner instead of waiting until the second half.”

The impact of Muireann Devaney for Glencar Manorhamilton was most evident in the game defining goal: “When you have a player like Muireann Devaney to come off the bench, she is an exceptional talent but we still didn’t hang the heads and fought to the bitter end.

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GLENCAR MANORHAMILTON 2-8 ST JOSEPH'S 2-4

“Look, it is no disgrace - four points is nothing at halftime, it was more like a soccer game than a gaelic game but there was a lot of endeavour, a lot of heart and a lot of hard work out there from both teams. I knew that coming into the game that we wouldn’t be found wanting in terms of hard work.”