Fawl guy has sights set on final
The Clareman was in charge of Sixmilebridge when they garnered the glory in 1996, and the same Jim Fawl guided Patrickswell to their county title win on Shannonside this year.
Now his sights are firmly set on even greater things, all the more so after his charges had dethroned the reigning provincial kingpins, Mount Sion, in the second of the semi-finals at the Gaelic Grounds.
Fawl described the victory over the Waterford champions as “a very serious win’’ and one that will have done everyone in the club “a power of good.’’
Clearly annoyed, however, by what he believes to be a lack of respect for their achievement this year within their own county, the Patrickswell manager said some people had suggested that they didn’t deserve to win the county title.
“Some even said that we are just an average team, but out there today everyone proved themselves, and we beat a very good side in Mount Sion,’’ he said. “We did all our talking out there on the pitch and proved a lot of people wrong.’’
The ‘Well manager said that while he would be reluctant to single out any players, he just had to mention the performance of Paul O’Grady in the middle of the field. “Paul was something else out there today and was undoubtedly the man of the match.’’
Asked about their chances in Sunday week’s final against Cork kingpins Newtownsdhandrum, the Patrickswell manager said it promises to be some game in what will be a first ever meeting of the clubs.
“Rest assured we will be giving it 110%, and while I’m not making a forecast, what I will say is that the ‘Well will be there or thereabouts at the end,’’ Fawl said.
Meanwhile, his Mount Sion counterpart Jim Greene had disappointment etched all over his face.
Greene said they had missed far too many gilt edged scoring chances over the hour as exemplified by their wides tally (15).
“In the end we paid the supreme penalty for that prodigal wastage,’’ he said.
But the Mount Sion supreme praised Well’s second-half fight-back from four points down when the game seemed to be ebbing away from them.
