McGrath tribute to exhausted troops

Cratloe boss Joe McGrath paid tribute to his warriors yesterday after their Munster club final defeat.

“The extra time, it was our second session of extra time in the space of seven days, so that was always going to be difficult, but no excuses and no regrets.

“The way the match was going, anything could have happened at any time, both teams were creating chances at both ends of the field, but fair play to Kilmallock for coming up with the win. They’re magnificent champions and I hope they go on and do themselves justice.”

They might have lost but they kept going to the very end, said McGrath of his charges: “These guys have tremendous character. The legs might have been getting heavy and tired but there’s one thing you can’t fault our guys for, and that’s heart.

“The couple of extra matches in the last couple of weeks began to tell in extra-time, but as I said, no excuses and no regrets.

“On 58 minutes we were two ahead, and when you’re in a great situation like that, you’re confident, but fair play to Kilmallock, they pulled two points back on us. No regrets, and no regrets for the year, which was absolutely fantastic for us.

“We won two county championships and came up just short today by a few points against a very good Kilmallock team. Putting 3-15 on the board was a fair tally from our fellas in winter conditions, but you have to hand it to Kilmallock, they got 1-32.

“Some of their scores from sixty, seventy, eighty yards out were magnificent. We have to take our hats off to Kilmallock for that.”