'My heart is well gone at this stage': Cork minor manager hails his team's resilience

Cork manager Bobbie O’Dwyer hailed the resilience of his troops for not throwing in the towel when Galway goaled three minutes into second-half stoppages.

Niall Cunningham’s goal sent Galway three clear with only one minute of additional time remaining, but Cork, from the ensuing restart, conjured up an equalising goal through Conor Corbett to force extra-time.

“We knew the character that was in that team, we've been involved with them since they were U14. We've had four years on the go with them and that's one thing that can never be questioned about them, their character, we're just so proud of them,” said O’Dwyer.

“These lads shipped a fair shellacking in their game of the championship against Kerry at Páirc Uí Rinn. The resilience they showed the following week to go up and play a very good Clare team above in Ennis, to say you can pick up a team that has lost a game by 16 points and for them to give the performance that they did above in Clare, it showed absolutely tremendous character."

Cork captain Conor Corbett lifts the Tom Markham Cup at Croke Park. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

O’Dwyer added: “This is a very, very satisfying result and that's for sure. My heart is well gone now at this stage.

“An absolutely outstanding comeback by our guys because Galway frustrated us for long times in that game with their defensive setup. They have a very, very good defensive setup and I suppose we weren't patient enough with working the ball into where we needed to get it.

“It took us a while to break that down but once we did break it down we have scorers and goalscorers inside in the inside line and it was a case of us getting the ball in quickly and accurately enough. That's how it played out in the end.”

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