Dorgan hails outstanding year for Grenagh

An amazing year for Grenagh ended with a second county title and coach Donie Dorgan paid tribute to the massive effort put in by his players.

Yesterday’s final was their sixth IFC game while there were four Mid-Cork JAHC matches, three in the county and one provincial championship outing.

“It has been an outstanding year for the club,” Dorgan said.

“You can’t ask for any more than winning two counties in the one year. This was the 14th championship game they have played, including the one in Munster and I don’t know how they have kept going, to be honest.

“We knew if we could curtail Aghabullogue’s danger men we’d be there or thereabouts and we did curtail them. We probably hit the ground running a bit more than they did, the lads were battle-hardened after the year they had. We’ve been here before, the lads did this in 2007.

“My biggest worry was the legs might go at some stage but to be fair to them, they didn’t.”

Some good point-taking, and no little hard work, were the key ingredients, Dorgan felt.

“We kicked some great scores in the second half,” he said, “there were one or two points which were killer blows. DD’s point was one in particular, it was awesome.

“In saying that, from number 15 back to number one in the goal, we were working, working, working, we were still working with two minutes to go.

“We needed to do that, because Aghabullogue looked dangerous all the time when they came up the field, they were always capable of creating an opening and maybe getting a goal which would have turned it around.”

In their attack, Grenagh were able to utilise John Russell as a half-time sub and he showed no signs of jet-lag despite having flown home from the US.

“He made a huge difference,” Dorgan said, “he gave us a focal point inside, something to aim at.

“We had to bring that guy home from the States for this game and he was outstanding, like he was when he came home for the hurling final. It’s a huge reward for him.”