Ricken must face the music in home parish

SPARE a thought for Keith Ricken this morning.

The Cork IT coach saw his team lose by the narrowest of margins to Carrigtwohill. Bad enough until you realise that Ricken lives in east Cork. Carrigtwohill, to be exact.

“It was a great final, a great advertisement for Cork hurling,” said Ricken.

“Cork hurling is far from dead and I’m delighted for Carrigtwohill – the parish that I live in. I’m delighted for the people there because I know the work that they put in.

“Equally, they know the work we put in outside in CIT. It’s a final, and somebody has to lose. I’m hugely disappointed for the players for the effort they put in.

“On top of everything they put in all year with their clubs they still put in that huge effort to come together for us. It’s not about us as management, it’s all about the players, so our hearts go out to them, but our congratulations go to Carrig.

“They got the scores at the very end, and that sums up how they played all through – they were taking their chances.”

CIT’s shooting had been wayward in the first half, something the management addressed at the break.

“We’d taken a few silly shots in the first half. We didn’t do that in the second half, that was fine, but you need a bit of a break. You can talk rubbish but it comes down to a small bit either way, and Carrig had that today.”

The narrow margin at the end didn’t surprise Ricken.

“We knew it was going to come down to a point or two. We’d been saying that for the whole week.

“They got the run of luck at times, they got a couple of good decisions that they mightn’t have went their way another day.

“That’s not a criticism of the referee, now, I thought he was very good, but we were very unlucky.”

CIT tried dual star Aidan Walsh in several different positions, trying to get him into the game, but Carrig’s defence worked hard to shut him down. Ricken wasn’t inclined to focus on particular players.

“I don’t like to name individuals, because one thing lads will tell you about CIT is that whether you’re playing Freshers 3 hurling or with us, boys or girls, everyone is treated the same.

“We don’t expect anything from any player other than they give their best. Aidan, or any other player, when they shave in the morning and they look in the mirror, they’ll know they did their best.

“They mightn’t have played their best, but they’ll know they did their best, and if the people coming out of CIT can say that as they go out into the workforce, then we’ve done our job.”