Scoreboard doesn’t do Allen Gaels justice says James Flynn after Connacht Gold SFC Quarter Final exit
Connacht Gold Leitrim Senior Championship Quarter Final reaction
A humbling scoreline at the end of Sunday’s Connacht Gold Leitrim Senior Championship Quarter Final didn’t adequately reflect the effort and contribution of Allen Gaels believes their manager James Flynn after a tough day in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada.
The 2-23 to 1-12 defeat was a harsh lesson for last year’s Intermediate Champions to absorb, Ballinamore outsourcing them 2-12 to 0-5 in the second half but James insists Allen Gaels went into the quarter final intent on competing with last year’s finalists: “We did absolutely - we expected to take the game to them too to be honest with you. We knew we had an absolute free shot because nobody outside of our dressing room gave us a chance in hell and for long periods of that game, it was so tight. We just couldn't get that first goal for too long - if we had got it a bit earlier, more questions would have been put on them but when they got that goal from the kickout, that was just the dam opening.”
Tom Prior’s impact was felt by the Gaels according to the Gaels manager: “We knew that Tom Prior was going to come out today and look to perform because, by his own standards, he wasn't in the game against Fenagh at all. We just felt at half-time he was getting too much easy ball on his own and could get up pace before he was on you. I watched him in the stands there for Leitrim, anyone in the country finds it hard to stop him when he's running at full tilt. Unfortunately, he picked today to have a good game.”
It was the first time that Drumshanbo men had been cut adrift all year despite competing in their first year in Senior Championship and division 1 football for some time: “It's a testament to the lads that we came up from Division 2 League, we came up from Intermediate and we competed in and stayed up in both the League and Championship at senior level. Nobody got an easy game against us. I know the last ten minutes there, the scoreboard probably doesn't do us justice but we can't really let that scoreboard tell the story of our year. In the whole League, with ten games in the League, as I said with so many key players missing and the most we were beaten in the League was four points.
“Again, in the Championship we felt a couple of things against Leitrim Gaels could have gone our way. Again, same story down in Manorhamilton but it is what it is.”
The absence of Radek Oberwan for virtually most of the campaign along with season ending injuries to Kieran Kilcline and Jake Tobin hit Allen Gaels hard: “Radek is like two men - he's such a good voice on the field as well, regardless of his ball skills and everything else. Right from the very word go, we'd lost Karl Foley who has been our best player for the last three or four years. We lost Jake Tobin a couple of weeks ago, just blocking a ball, and then Eamonn Moran is gone as well. Shane Walsh out all year and then Kieran Kilcline went out. It just felt like it was one blow after another and they were all key players for us. It's not like they were squad players or anything.”
Even keeper Conor Flood overcame injury to playing a starring role on Sunday: “Conor's a great lad, credit to him. He got a bit of a bang there on Thursday night, there was no giving in on him. By God, he wouldn't know it there today. He's brilliant. All the lads have been a credit. It's been a good few years now, but they've been absolutely brilliant so credit to all those boys.”
Yet for all that, James sees a bright future for the Gaels: “There is a bright future absolutely with Daire, Senan and Mark Nolan. Even Rhionn Gallagher came on there at the end for Caleb. He's a phenomenal talent coming up as well. He had a very bad injury at the end of last year and he was rehabbing the whole year until a couple of weeks ago so he could put himself in position then. There's lots to come from them lads surely.”