Aughnasheelin were that little bit hungrier says Annaduff's Joe Cox

If there is one thing you get from Joe Cox it is passion. But closely following is a searing honesty as Annaduff’s manager admitted that Aughnasheelin were just that little bit hungrier than his team in Sunday’s Smith Monumentals IFC Final.

Coming out of a quiet dressing room in the bowels of Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada, Joe got straight to the point when he chatted with the Observer: “To be honest, I never thought we were settled in the game, we never got a foothold in the game. We were trying to go after it the whole time to get a bit of domination but to be honest with you, we couldn’t.

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AUGHNASHEELIN 0-11 ANNADUFF 1-4

“That’s down to Aughnasheelin, their workrate, their attitude was excellent - ours was too, our boys attitude was excellent too, you couldn’t fault them but you could see that Aughnasheelin were just that little bit hungrier. They got five or six dirty balls in the first half that we didn’t get. 

“There were four points in it at the end and they were full value for it - the scoreboard never lies in football. You have to compliment Aughnasheelin, they won the game - it was there for them and they went after it.”

For Joe, the disappointment was in Annaduff not showing what they are truly capable of: “It is very disappointing, we did a lot of work mentally, physically trying to get these lads prepared for today, to see them not producing it - I’m not overly worried about the scoreboard but to see them not perform to their best, not being their best on the day is tough.”

Neither did Joe seek solace in the notion that his team is that bit younger than Aughnasheelin: “I wouldn’t say it was down to them having older players, I’d just say it was they were a little bit hungrier. We have Dillon, Kenneth, Conor, Deano, they’re all 26, 27, 28 .

“Our average age is about 24-25 which is a really good age to try and achieve something, to get them to play football because their skill levels have developed to a really good level, you can get them physically fit enough - they are only maturing physically up to 22, 23 years of age.”

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THE LAST POINT

Joe also paid tribute to Man of the Match Aaron Hoare, Terence Reynolds and Aughnasheelin for the way they attacked Annaduff’s strong points: “Aaron is a great gasun and his workrate and attitude to work is excellent. 

“We prepared really well for it and had done a good bit of stuff for it but we didn’t get enough out of the game, didn’t get enough out of all the lads on the field - it is as simple as that. They attacked our halfback line that was so dominant against Allen Gaels and Terence has to take huge credit for that and they got their homework right. We did our homework but it just wasn’t as effective as theirs.”

After another final defeat, will it be hard for Annaduff to come back? The answer is a resounding no! “No. We’re back training on Wednesday for the Junior semi-final regardless of what happened, that is always what we do. You have to get up and get on with it. We have an unreal club - everything in it is geared towards our players playing football. When you do that, we’ll keep stepping up.”

Building that resilience is key to Annaduff’s future with lessons from the past: “Resilience is something you can get into people - I saw it with the old fella back in 2000. He got a group of lads back then that became outrageously resilient and they went on and it became their platform.

Aughnasheelin celebrate third Intermediate Championship success in style - GALLERY

There were wild scenes of joy in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada as Aughnasheelin won their third Smith Monumentals Intermediate Championship title after a hard fought 0-11 to 1-4 victory over Annaduff. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there to capture the scenes of celebrations ... see who you can spot!

“Their mantra that they were the hardest team to beat and they were the hardest working team every time they went onto the field and that is just what we have to do. We brought in a lot of young lads today, they got a huge lesson there today.

“I thought we had a lot of our lessons learned in the senior league this year but obviously not because we were making the same mistakes towards the end of that game and that is just for us to go back, to get better physically and mentally, that’s the job isn’t it!”