“This one really hurts” admits O’Hara as mistakes haunt Mohill

The hurt from last Sunday’s Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Final loss will take a long time to get over according to manager Eamonn O’Hara who admitted that had his team sneaked a late winner or equaliser, they would not have deserved it.

“What can you say, we’re bitterly disappointed,” was O’Hara’s first reaction before later adding “We had opportunities there, would we have deserved them? Absolutely not so you give huge credit to Carrick in the second half, they outfought us in every sense and credit to them, they were on the crest of a wave and we just couldn’t stop it.”

Mohill GAA Club News: Words don't come easy after County Final loss

What Eamonn found hard to understand was how Mohill’s control of the game evaporated in the second half: “Good first half I should say, not particularly great quality or anything like that. We got a fortuitous goal with Alan Tuthill, it gave us a bit of a base but we weren’t playing that smoothly, particularly upfront. Very good in defence, we forced them into a lot of mistakes in the first half, Shane Quinn was outstanding there, mopping up ball time and time again.

 “The second half, we just really just completely disappeared. We talked at halftime and said the only team that is going to beat us now is ourselves and that is exactly what happened. That first ten minutes we couldn’t get a grip, it gave them a little bit of oxygen, they started getting more and more belief.”

That was evident  midway through the second half as St Mary’s wiped out the Mohill lead: “We went through a period of two or three poor kickouts and  they were coming away with change all the time. We just couldn’t turn it over - scoring two points in the second half will never win you a county title.

“But it was funny, lads were looking at the scoreboard - it was showing two down when we were on that last attack and I think that was the consensus when Padraig had gone up on the edge of the square to create a bit of chaos yet all we needed was one point to equalise it. 

“We had five attacks in that last four or five minutes and we probably went too early in going for goal to claw back the two points rather than just keeping the scoreboard tipping over.”

St Mary's young guns becomes kings of Leitrim as second half blitz overwhelms Mohill

ST MARY'S KILTOGHERT 0-11 MOHILL 1-7

The lack of composure was huge as Mohill were unable to get the scores they needed: “We had plenty of chances, we just turned the ball over, there were two or three turnovers and all of those things, once they start piling up against you, the 50-50 balls they were getting their hand or their toe to it and you could see it slipping away from us. 

“That is hard to turn around, momentum is a funny thing and I just have to tip my hat to Alan and all their team, they are worthy winners - they stuck in the fight and we took the foot off the gas. Our shot selection was poor, Keith and Jordy had wild shots in the first half, the second half, we just didn’t get into the zones.

“But that last five minutes, we had five really strong attacks but we just forced it too much, chipping it into the edge of the square where we had three or four bodies whereas we could have just kept the scoreboard ticking. 

“Instructions were going in from the sideline from halftime, we were making them calls but in the heat of battle, fellas just default - they make decisions, and they are split decisions, and unfortunately for us, we’ve paid the price for it. We definitely had a chance to equalise, there’s no doubt about it.”

Crowds enjoy the action at Leitrim GAA County Final double header - GALLERY

Part 2 of Willie Donnellan's galleries of fan photos from Sunday's Leitrim GAA County Final double header in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada ... see who you can spot!

Mohill talked at halftime about getting the first two scores of the second half to kill off St Mary’s as Eamonn didn’t see the Carrick men getting a goal: “That was the note on the whiteboard at halftime - just get the next two points, it would make it then very difficult for them. 

“They would then have to get a goal and they didn’t really look like getting a goal despite one being marked off which was fortuitous for us. We never did it, we just left it behind us in the dressing room and that second half performance is one that we will never, ever forget because it is one that really hurts, we never turned up and you could see Carrick coming into it.”

Check out our fans gallery from Leitrim Senior and Minor Finals double header - GALLERY

Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was a very busy man on Sunday at the Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC and Newtowngore Engineering U17 Division 1 Finals, taking hundreds of photos of fans enjoying the action in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada .... see who you can spot!

Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was a very busy man on Sunday at the Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC and Newtowngore Engineering U17 Division 1 Finals, taking hundreds of photos of fans enjoying the action in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada .... see who you can spot!

Looking back on his first campaign in Leitrim, Eamonn was very impressed with the standard and paid tribute to his players and the Mohill club: “The League and Championship was great, I have to say I enjoyed it. I have to say the quality of football in Leitrim is there, Andy Moran will be very happy to see the individual players he’s got, a lot of the county players stood up this year, they really shone in games. 

“For me, Mohill is a great club, some really, really great people and the players themselves, I can only thank them for the effort they put in. They’re a hungry bunch, an ambitious bunch - this is their third final in a row so they’ve shown huge resilience to keep coming back but we’ve only come away with one title.”

As for the future, Eamonn said “This one is going to really, really hurt so we’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings for the group. I know a few lads are talking about going away travelling and that is going to happen in other clubs so we’re just going to have to wait and see what '23 brings.”