Coolderry boss makes no excuses

Coolderry manager Ken Hogan was making no excuses in the wake of his side's AIB All-Ireland Club SHC final defeat to Antrim's Loughgiel Shamrocks at Croke Park yesterday.

The Offaly and Leinster champions were hit hard in the opening half, and conceded a quartet of first half goals including a hat-trick from Liam Watson as they trailed by 4-6 to 0-9 at the interval.

Hogan's charges failed to recover from this, with the Tipperary native conceding that Loughgiel - the 4-13 to 0-17 victors - were simply the better side on the day.

"No complaints, that's hurling. You prepare for winning and you prepare for losing and as a manager of a team," he said.

"I suppose we have had a great adventure with Coolderry to win county Championships back-to-back and then to win a Leinster Club Championship for the first time.

"It was tremendous for them to get to an All-Ireland Club final which was obviously a dream come true.

"Again sport can be cruel. We came unstuck today, but I cannot fault the lads. They gave it absolutely everything."

He added: "A break of a ball here or a break of a ball there (could have made the difference).

"When you have clinical finishers like Liam Watson it makes a huge difference.

"You have to take your hats off to Loughgiel. They were deserving All-Ireland champions."