Mullane hails team effort but Cushendall boss bemoans refereeing

VICTORIOUS captain John Mullane provided the best summation of yesterday’s mammoth contest in Parnell Park.

“What a fantastic game and credit to the two teams for putting up such a battle for the 80 minutes,’’ said the De La Salle skipper. “Full credit to our lads. We hung in, we never threw in the towel. We got what we deserved.’’

Giant-killing Portumna await them in the final and Mullane feels his side will benefit from the underdog tag.

He explained: “We are going to be in the same position as Cushendall — nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain. We were not even contenders to win our county title — and here we are in the 125th anniversary year of the GAA and we are going to be playing in Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day. That’s an incredible achievement.’’

Manager Owen Dunphy, an All-Ireland medal-winner there 17 years ago with the Waterford U21 team, was just as philosophical, commenting: “We were 1-4 today, we’ll probably be 4-1 or 5-1 the next day. We know what we will be facing on March 17. It is going to be a serious opposition.”

Dunphy praised his players for the way they dug deep to salvage a draw at the end of the hour’s play. “When it comes to the final 10 minutes, when it comes to the crunch we know we will hang in there. We know we won’t let anything away from us. That is what this team has — the belief in themselves.’’ Cushendall manager James McNaughton was high critical of the refereeing, believing there was ‘very little’ in the two yellow card offences which caused them to lose a player at the three-quarters stage.

“Decisions were going against us all day. The referee has to look at himself. Of course we made mistakes too, but his cost us the game,’’ he stated.