Dowling and O’Shea content with result

THE general emotion from both managers at the end of yesterday’s thrilling All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final in Limerick was one of relief.

In a game that could have gone either way in the closing minutes, Crokes manager, Pat O’Shea and his Moorefield counterpart, Seamus Dowling felt a draw was a fair result.

“A draw is a bit of an anti-climax to such a great game of football but I feel it would have been a heartbreak for one of the teams to have lost out there,” said O’Shea.

“Obviously there are aspects of our game that we will have a serious look at in the coming days. We seemed to have the game in safe keeping but let them back into it. At the same time you have to give Moorefield credit. The came storming back in the last quarter and deservedly got the draw and we’ll both have to do it all over again in the replay.”

He added: “At this level of competition and in an All-Ireland semi-final in particular, you can take nothing for granted. Anything can happen in a split second to change the course of a game. You have to keep plugging away and hope that at the final whistle you are in front.

“I feel we had enough chances going down the stretch to put the issue beyond doubt, but it didn’t work out that way for us today. The bottom line is we are still in the championship, and it’s all to play for again.”

Moorefield coach Seamus Dowling was of a like mind.

“It was heart stopping stuff out there and I’m delighted to be still in the title race,” said Seamus.

“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half and you could put that down to the lack of a competitive game for us. Today is our first outing in 10 weeks and there were signs of rustiness among some of our lads. However once we got into our stride I thought we played some fantastic football.

‘‘We were completely on top for the last 10 minutes and should have put the issue beyond doubt.

“In several instances we didn’t have our shooting boots on and that is one area we will have to improve on if we are to win the replay. However I cannot fault the lads for heart and commitment. They have both in abundance.

“Midfield was the one area that troubled us most. It was only in the last 10 minutes we began to win possession out there. Had we being do it a lot earlier who knows how the game would have panned out?

“Maybe we showed Dr Crokes a little too much respect. They certainly have the big name players in Colm Cooper and Eoin Brosnan, but once we got into our stride we were every bit as good as them and with a little bit more self belief could have stolen it at the death.”

Man of the match, Crokes midfielder Brian McMahon, was another with few complaints about the result.

Said McMahon: “There were times in the game when we looked as if we would win it with something to spare, but in the final analysis we can count ourselves a little fortunate to come away with the draw. It was intense all through and must have been a great game to watch.”