Morrissey at a loss to explain poor showing

IT’S never easy trying to get quotes from a losing dressing room, but Newtown coach Simon Morrissey was ever gracious, and had little to say.

“I can’t put a finger on what went wrong out there for us today,” he said, “but we simply never got out of the blocks.

“When you put in the effort that the lads did, it’s bitterly disappointing not to at least perform on the big day, and that is the most upsetting thing for me right now.

“I’m not making any excuses, but we were made firm favourites by the media, which didn’t help.

“Having said that we are experienced enough to be able to handle that. I’m at a loss as to why we didn’t play to our potential and that’s something we’ll have to have a serious look at over the coming weeks.

“Losing a player of Jerry O’Connor’s calibre so early in the game didn’t help, but we knew in the lead-up to the game he was in trouble.

“Jerry’s a big player for Newtown but his loss should have spurred on the others. It appeared to have the opposite effect and the lads seemed to lose heart. I don’t really know what happened to them.

“I don’t ever mind being beaten and I’m not offering any excuses, but we went into the game with three key players carrying injuries.

“Ironically, it was the three O’Connor brothers and you need every player fully fit to be competing in a county final.

“Sport can be cruel sometimes, but that’s the way it goes. We’ll go home and lick our wounds. Wondering where it all went wrong is for another day, not now.”