Skehan hails second-half performance

Victorious Leinster manager Noel Skehan hailed a brilliant second-half performance form his players that clinched the Railway Cup hurling title in Rome.

"We put in 60 minutes of hard hurling but I thought the second-half in particular was excellent from us," said Skehan after his side's three point victory.

"Every player out there was so committed and we didn't waste a chance after the break. We made some changes as well and they really helped us out"

Skipper Michael Kavanagh became the first person to raise a national GAA trophy aloft on mainland Europe and beamed: "We've made a little bit of history.

"It's great to be involved with the Railway Cup and I know that it means a lot to the players to represent their province.

"Whoever turned up to watch the game got to see a super game. It was a fitting end to the competition."

Connacht manager Conor Hayes reflected on the result and agreed that 10 first-half wides was a fatal tally.

"We were leading despite the wides but they were always like to be prove costly," said Hayes. "We knew that Leinster had the calibre of player to come back with goals in the second-half.

"That's exactly what they did and if we had put over half of those wides we would have won it."