Mattie Kenny passes on Galway job questioning

A call from Galway regarding the managerial vacancy out west could yet soften the blow but, yesterday evening, Mattie Kenny looked a broken man.

Galway’s All-Ireland final coach of 2012 guided his adopted Dublin club to a first county title in 21 years and their favourites tag approaching yesterday was hardened by Leinster championship wins over the Offaly and Kilkenny representatives.

But, in truth, the Dalkey outfit left it until the last 15 minutes or so of the game to deliver anything like their A game. At that stage, they were trailing by 12 points and, as it transpired, victory had already slipped through their fingers. “If you look at the game overall, from the start until the end, they were worthy winners,” said Kenny of Oulart.

“They were the better team on the day. The goals they got were pivotal but they were the better team. They controlled the ball very well in the last 15 minutes when we applied the pressure and they showed their experience. They played it around through the hands, little short passes, worked it up the field and any chance they got they kept the scoreboard ticking over for themselves.”

When the dust settles, Cuala’s excellent season will reflect well on Kenny and it would be no surprise if Galway turned to him to fill the vacancy left by Anthony Cunningham. Kenny knocked back that line of questioning. “We are only minutes after losing a Leinster final, I have to go in now and talk to the guys and make sure they are alright,” he said when probed about his position.

Kenny did, however, acknowledge the club’s strong season as they made it to just a second ever Leinster final.

“Their first target was to win a county title, they did that,” said Kenny. “We put two good performances together then in Leinster and we came today wanting to win. We didn’t unfortunately. The reality now is they have to go back into Dublin next year and it’s very hard to get out of your county before you can get into the provincial championship. When you get to provincial deciders like today, or any final, you have to win them because you don’t know when you will be back.”

Keith Rossiter summed up the determination driving Oulart when he spoke of the ‘Oulart The Bottlers’ jibe that had been thrown their way after losing four previous finals between 2010 and 2013. “We’ve been called Oulart The Bottlers, we’ve been called everything,” said Rossiter. “So that’s just the best day of my life so far.”