Rangers boss Mullally praises ‘special’ players
“How could I? It’s a final, and these things take time to sink in. Delight is an understatement. I think it’ll sink in when we go into the dressing-room and have the cup up on the table.”
As any manager does, he was looking for workrate from his players, and he got it.
“In fairness to our lads they worked very hard, they showed great spirit, and I don’t think they were ever beaten. They needed something to help them in the second half and I think Denis Murphy’s score (in the second half) helped with the belief.
“I thought we defended very well in the second half, at times in the first half I thought the breaking ball went against us and we tried to nullify that in the second half.
“Thankfully we did, but it’s the players who implement what we asked them to do. They were able to think their way through the game, pick off a couple of scores and whether we picked their pockets or not, overall I think we worked hard enough to deserve the win.”
Mullally said his side didn’t lack belief before the throw-in: “There was no point coming up here not thinking we could win. To me this is a special bunch of players. They pride themselves on doing it right. They don’t get carried away with success. They didn’t get carried away with the win over Ballyboden, for instance.
“The Wednesday after that win, training was a bit iffy but by Friday we were focused and the players were set on this game.”
His side are big and strong, but that only counts if you use it properly.
“There were a few balls we won and physique helped, but you use what you have. We mightn’t have the silken skills so we make up for it in other ways.”
Denis Murphy put over the crucial frees, too.
“He did, but he’s been doing that. Lads have won those frees, and that’s his job, that’s why he’s there. He’s been doing that all his life.
“Oulart were overwhelming favourites, and that kind of thing boils up no matter how much experience you have behind you. We’re not under any illusions. We knew we were underdogs and while we mightn’t have played great hurling today, our job was to win the game. That’s what we came to do and that’s what we did.
“When we started we wanted to get into the dressing-room still in the game, and we felt if it was in the melting-pot with 10 minutes to go that Oulart would start asking themselves questions. That’s only natural. But we had to have our players ask questions of them and they did.”
They also showed plenty of skill – take Diarmuid Byrne’s sideline.
“Obviously he’s practicing down in UL with [Anthony] Daly, but Diarmuid wouldn’t lack confidence. He’s 19.”
Now it’s a northern outfit in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“They were all down here watching us today. We didn’t discuss that before the game but they wished us good luck and said they’d be here.
“We’ll surely be underdogs for that! Winning a Leinster title is a huge honour for the lads. They could sense the game was there at half-time, we weren’t off the pace in terms of skill and so on, and we didn’t steal the game.”
It’s a good time for Carlow after recent comments in a certain southern county...
“John [Corcoran] is a good man down in Cork, there’s nothing wrong with that,” laughed Mullally.
“Everyone stands up for their own county. Edward [Coady] probably got caught on the hop when commenting on the Monday afterwards.”
If so, it was the only time Mount Leinster Rangers were caught in the last few weeks.
