ALL IRELAND CLUB QUARTER FINAL 2007

Busted by Gooch

GAA AIB ALL IRELAND CLUB QUARTER FINAL

By John Collins (Irish World)

Dr Crokes........2-12

St Brendans......0-5

St Brendans’ All Ireland sojourn came to an abrupt end in Ruislip on Sunday, as Colm Cooper and the rest of the Killarney brigade, ravaged their dreams with a blistering second half display.

Having gone in at half-time just three-points behind, a rousing second half performance from Munster champs saw Pat O’Shea’s men safely through to an All Ireland semi-final against Moorefield.

Most would have regarded this game a something of a mission impossible for St Brendans and while it was a difficult task a disappointed St Brendans’ manager, Peter McNally was magnanimous in defeat and full of praise for his charges.

“I thought at half time we were in with a great chance” he said immediately after the game. “We thought that if we could work the ball better down the field we would have a great chance of coming back to win the game.

“I think a few of the decisions went against us, a few harsh penalty decisions and we have no qualms at the end of the day, no qualms whatsoever. The best team won.

“We were always in the game until we conceded the first goal and it was always going to be a mater of how we responded to it.

“I said to the boys in the dressing room that they were a credit to the club, they stuck to what they were told and they stuck to the principal of playing football and at no stage did they let their heads down.

“They were a credit to the club and a credit to London. They carried on in the tradition of the club.”

Meanwhile, Crokes defender Eanna Kavanagh was quick to recognise that his side did not have it all their own way through the game and told me: “We came in at half time and the 15 of us were very down on ourselves and we weren’t playing anything like we could be.

“The Brendans put up a massive first half and they were first to every ball. We were two or three yards off them at the back and the forwards were hassling us.

“Pat got us together and he had a lot to say. We had a lot of talk in the dressing room at half time and I think we came out a totally different team in the second half.”

Meanwhile, man of the match Brian McMahon acknowledged that maybe Crokes got heir approach wrong in the first half and allowed St Brendans to make life difficult for them and said: “We looked for the long ball inside early on and we forced it a bit and we tended to pump in long reckless ball. St Brendans carried the ball very well and their half-forward line caused us serious problems. We didn’t know anything about them and we had to learn as we went on.

“This was an All Ireland quarter final and if you aren’t ready to die on the pitch here then you can forget about it” he concluded.