*Evan Cahill goes to ground with Micheál Flanagan giving chase. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
ST BRECKANS have expressed disappointment with some “questionable calls” during their three point loss to Kilmurry Ibrickane
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One of the big moments in Friday’s second round tie was the decision of referee Chris Maguire to disallow a converted two pointer free from Padraig Kelly with twenty six minutes played.
Kelly was deemed to have stepped over the arc when taking the free and a throw-in was then awarded. Kilmurry Ibrickane kept the ball in their attack from here and made it 0-10 0-5 whereas Kelly’s free would have had the scoreline reading 0-9 0-7.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, St Breckans manager Patrick O’Neill acknowledged it was a big moment in the game. “It was questionable alright, I think he overstepped the mark is what we were told but I’d have to look at it again on the footage, that came at a crucial point, when you have those two points on the board and they are taken off you it is heartbreaking but look PK is PK, he is an exceptional talent, we’re disappointed but what can we do”.
O’Neill continued, “There’s no point looking back at it now, what’s done is done, we’re disappointed with some of the calls but that is the game of football, sometimes they go with you and sometimes they go against you. There was serious heart shown out there, we were dead and buried two or three times and we clawed it back, unfortunately it just went against us”.
Falling 0-6 0-1 down inside the first quarter left the North Clare men with a tough hill to climb. “The first half we couldn’t keep to Kilmurry Ibrickane’s pace, they were working the ball very fast, I think we were slow off the blocks, I think we came into it, in the last thirty or forty minutes of the game I think we were the better team, we weren’t clinical enough, we missed two golden opportunities in the first half of goals and against Kilmurry Ibrickane you have to be taking those”.
2023’s beaten finalists will take learnings from their first loss of this year’s championship according to the Lisdoonvarna man. “We’re obviously disappointed, we can take a lot from today, we were dead and buried three times in the sixty minutes and we clawed our way back, we brought it back to a point and Kilmurry Ibrickane did what Kilmurry Ibrickane are good at, they know how to see out a game and put you to the sword, I’m very proud of the lads they never gave up once, I can’t but be happy for the performance they put in but obviously the result is disappointing”.
Trailing by five points when Jamie Stack was shown a black card with thirty eight minutes played, the Spa outfit dug deep when they were without their marksman and by the time of his return to the field, they had closed the gap to two points, not long after he was back in attack the deficit was just one after Rowan Danaher split the posts. “We brought it back to only a point and we had only a minute or two left for Jamie (Stack) to come back in and I thought we’d have a real shot at it because we had built up serious momentum, we came back from four or five down at that stage, I thought we’d serious capabilities of finishing the game off but Kilmurry Ibrickane do what Kilmurry Ibrickane do, they finish off games well and are an exceptional team”.
Tristan O’Callaghan’s kickouts were a big plus for St Breckans, O’Neill maintained. “Our kickouts were exceptional, Tristan (O’Callaghan) was unbelievable in goal, leadership I’d take a lot out of that, a lot of teams would just fold and three or four times in that game we didn’t, in the past we’ve folded on them occasions but today we didn’t, our heads can be held high going out the door. We’ve Miltown in two weeks, we can’t be dwelling on it too much”.
That clash with St Joseph’s Miltown will determine who finishes in second place and qualifies automatically for the quarter-finals. The loser will end up in a preliminary quarter-final. “It’s winner take all really, Miltown have some serious forwards so they’ll take some handling but we need to put in a sixty minute game, you can’t win the big games with a thirty or forty minute performance, that’s what killed us today”.
They won’t be able to call on defender Cian Burke for that game, he has missed the entire year with an ankle injury. “It is very unlikely that Cian will be ready, if we were lucky enough to get into the latter stages I think that’s our only hope, Cian is very unlikely to be back”.
