Red mist was a stupid thing to do, admits Whelahan

EVEN for those of us almost immune the heartbreak of the losing dressing-room, it was one of those moments that get to you.

Into the final minute of this All-Ireland senior hurling club final, with Portumna ahead by 11 points, Birr and Offaly legend Brian Whelahan got into a jostling match with midfielder Leo Smith. Referee John Sexton had no choice but to reach for the red card and Whelahan, one of the finest servants hurling has ever had, one of the purest, made the lonely walk to the sideline.

He has been to the Portumna dressing-room where he congratulated them on their win and apologised to all for his strike on Smith.

He is on his way back to the sanctuary of his team-mates, when he’s met by the media posse. Any chance of a word Brian? And, as always, he accedes. The red card is mentioned, and immediately there’s a tear in the eye; in typical fashion, however, there’s no attempt at blame-shifting.

“Yeah, I’m very disappointed in that. It was a stupid, stupid thing at this stage of my life. I meant to give him a dig but I didn’t mean it to be where it was.”

He then took time to praise the new All-Ireland club champions.

“They were very impressive, it was made look very easy at times. You can’t afford to stand off a team that plays the running game, you can’t afford to give them possession and we gave them possession and then tried to take it off them. We got a great start and knocked them for six but then we stood off them.

“You can’t to do that against Portumna, not with the kind of game they play. You have to be so tight, stay so close to them. Once they got possession they were able to inflict their running game on us and we weren’t able to come to grips with that. We just stood off and it was so, so frustrating. I’m not going to stand here and take anything away from Portumna; as I said to them in the dressing-room, they came up today with a job to do, they did it in style and made it look very easy at times. A lot of young lads played out there today (for Birr) for the first time in Croke Park – I know they can take very little away from the game but I hope they now realise the level they have to reach to be able to compete out on that field. There are no hiding-places out there. I’m very proud of them, I know the effort we’ve put in, I’m just disappointed for everyone.

‘‘There is no blame game here. The best team won. It is just disappointing we didn’t make a better game of it after getting the start we got. We didn’t build enough on the goals but was what worrying was that every time we got a goal they got points straight afterwards.”