Tyrrell: I probably lost the run of myself

JACKIE TYRRELL admitted that he thought he’d cost James Stephens their chance of the Kilkenny senior title when he was sent off in yesterday’s county decider.

Tyrrell and opponent Colin Fennelly got the line on 35 minutes, and the James Stephens captain had no complaints about the decision.

“I’d been booked earlier – we’d just won a free and I probably lost the run of myself. I didn’t intentionally head-butt Colin Fennelly but our helmets clashed. I deserved another yellow.

“I saw him (the referee) reaching for another card and I knew I was gone. It definitely warranted another yellow.”

Was the captain too pumped up for the replay? “Normally I’m able to keep my emotions in check but clearly I lost the run of myself here,” said Tyrrell, “There’s an element of that. It’s a huge occasion, the last thing I wanted, but it happened.

“I’ve only been sent off once before and when something like that happens things start flashing through your head, ‘I’m after losing it’.

“I didn’t realise Colin Fennelly had been sent off until the linesman was trying to put me up in the stand, and he said, ‘I’ll have to put Colin up there as well’. I asked if he’d been sent off as well, and he said he was.”

Tyrrell paid tribute to his teammates: “Tommy Keogh was unbelievable the last day, and then to come up the field today for that point – that’s what happens to some teams when a lad is sent off, they step it up a bit.

“I have to give credit to the lads – I thought I’d lost the game and I have to thank them. They stepped it up and I owe them all a drink tonight.”

Was it better than the All-Ireland win with Kilkenny? “It is for me anyway, it’s unbelievable – after all that went on this week, and getting sent off ... I don’t know what it was like. A nightmare. The boys just responded and pulled it out of the bag. It’s a sweet feeling – one of the best for the Village.”