Hard work pays off for champions Kilmurry

Match-winning hero Evan Talty admitted after Kilmurry Ibrickane's dramatic Munster SFC final win over Kerins O'Rahillys that he closed his eyes when knocking over the decisive point in the 0-7 to 0-6 victory at the Gaelic Grounds.

"I knew I was in a good position and thankfully it went over the bar," he said as he was mobbed by his team-mates.

It was the second time for Kilmurry Ibrickane to win the Munster crown. They last won in 2004 after a replay against Stradbally when they again won by a single point.

Winning manager Michael McDermott admitted: "We were beaten by a point in last year's final and we waited twelve months to get back here. We knew it would be tough against Kerins O'Rahillys but we said over the last two weeks that we would work extremely hard to put them under pressure.

"We knew they had dangerous forwards inside but our plan was to stop them getting quality ball inside."

McDermott also agreed that his side got the lucky breaks which they did not get last year.

"I always say that fate plays a huge part in winning anything. When your day is in it's in and we worked extremely hard for this win," he said.

"The work-rate that we put in over the last few weeks was the key to success. Kerins O'Rahillys are a top quality side and we decided to put them under pressure because they might not be used to it.

"Our concentration levels were very high and we knew we could not concede too many frees."

McDermott said it was fantastic for a small club in the West Clare area to get a chance again to play against the big boys.

"We will celebrate tonight and then take it from there," he added.

Meanwhile, Kerins O'Rahillys captain Michael Quirke was still trying to come to terms with the defeat as he spoke afterwards.

"We were beaten in the Kerry Championship final on the exact same day by a late score last year and this is a double blow in the stomach," he conceded.

"But I was reading Ronan O'Gara's book and he spoke of how it felt to lose two Heineken Cup finals but Munster came back and won it. Perhaps we will do the same next year.

"It was hard work in the second half with 14 men and playing against the strong breeze. We are a young side and we will come back from this."

Kerins had a goal disallowed for a square ball and the man at the centre of that incident, Declan Quill, believed the goal should have stood.

"I watched the ball coming in and I thought it was going to be a point. It hung in the air and I moved in and punched it to the net," he said.