I never felt we’d lose it, says Curran as he expects to face Kerry champs

He might have been kicking the odd sideline flag in frustration towards the end of the game but Paul Curran was never in doubt his Ballymun Kickhams team were going to come away from Mullingar with the Leinster title.

Even when Portlaoise picked off three points in four minutes to make it a three-point game heading into the last 10 minutes, the ex-Dublin star had the utmost confidence in his players.

“Yeah, we just needed to get our hands on the ball around the middle of the field,” he recalled. “We were losing the breaks and they came at us. But we’d expect that from Portlaoise. They kicked three or four wides at crucial times that might have brought the margin down to two or even one. But they were difficult chances, from far out.

“I never felt we’d lose it, I have to say, because I know the quality that we have. We just needed to get on the ball and we got on enough ball in the end to close it out.”

Yesterday’s shutout meant the team advance to an All-Ireland semi-final against either Dr Crokes or Tír Chonaill Gaels without conceding a goal in Leinster. In fact, they only coughed up two over their six-game campaign in Dublin.

“I don’t know what the stat was for scores against from play — three, four [it was four] — but the defence have been superb all year.”

Portlaoise manager Mark Kavanagh pinpointed his side’s failure to maximise their promising start as the reason for their downfall.

“If we had of taken our chances it would have been six points all at half time and you’re hoping in the third quarter that you come out, which we did, and move on from there.

“Games aren’t won in the first 10 or 15 minutes but sometimes they are lost and unfortunately that’s where we lost the game.”

Kavanagh graciously accepted the better team had won on the day, although Curran will do his damnedest to keep his players’ feet on the ground ahead of what he believes will be a clash against Dr Crokes in two months’ time.

“The Kerry champions are always going to bring a certain amount of talent and class. But when the time comes, we’ll knuckle down and prepare.”

Curran expects Dublin boss Jim Gavin will take a look at a number of his players as soon as Ballymun’s interest in the All-Ireland club SFC is over.

“I think there are seven of them already in the initial squad, there might be one or two more bought in but I think he [Gavin] is cutting that from 50 to 30. There will be four or five certainly, there were four on it last year, maybe one or two others.

“Dean Rock is a certainty, Jason Whelan as well – the way he has played for us this year has been terrific.”