Graham ‘gutted’ as Macroom give all

De La Salle manager Eric Graham expressed his disappointment at the end result in yesterday’s Corn Uí Mhuirí decider but insisted he was hugely proud of his players after their courageous second-half fightback.

“We’re very proud of that bunch of players. Another team would have thrown in the towel at half-time, being seven points down in a Munster final. But they showed great character and belief.

“We’re obviously very disappointed. There’s nothing like getting to a Munster final and then being beaten. I’m gutted for the lads really. Having gone in at half-time seven points down, we asked them to dig deep and show belief that the match was not over.

“I thought they did that with the way they played in the second-half. They tried their level best and for a time there, I thought they were doing enough.”

Graham paid tribute to the performance of Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, in particular their control in the first-half.

“Credit to Dingle, they settled near the end, came back and got the few vital scores.

They were fully deserving winners. You have to look at Dingle in the first-half, they really were very strong.

“They won a lot of possession around the middle and we found it very hard to get into the game, particularly playing against a very strong breeze. They looked very good in the first-half but I think the wind had a lot to do with it. You can pin a team back into their own half when you’ve the wind, get a lot of possession and get a few scores.”