Mooncoin boss Coogan hails the club's 'finest hour'

5 February 2022; Seán Gannon of Mooncoin celebrates after his side's victory in the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Junior Club Championship Final match between Ballygiblin, Cork, and Mooncoin, Kilkenny, at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Mooncoin manager Willie Coogan hailed his team’s All-Ireland junior club hurling 0-22 to 1-18 victory over Ballygiblin as ‘their finest hour’. The Ballyhale man also credited their third quarter as the winning of a classic final.

“Our finest hour, to be fair,” he said.

“The lads have shown character all year, they have been tested in different ways throughout the campaign. I never doubt them for that. They will always work until the very last second. I’m absolutely delighted for all the players and the people that have put in so much effort to those young lads from a very young age.

“There were some wonderful scores, even Martin (O’Neill) hitting the sideline to put us two points up at the end. We have quality all through our team and we back them to have the composure to win the ball, find the right man and use it well. And to get the scores on the board we needed. We have been in tight situations before.

“I thought our first quarter of the second half was when we really put our stamp on the game. I know Ballygiblin got the goal to bring them back into it but we replied straight away. Teams of character will do that, teams that wilt will fade away. Every time questions were asked, the lads found an answer and they kept coming back. That was the winning of the match.” 

Coogan also paid tribute to Ballygiblin, who led 0-10 to 0-9 at the interval.

“Ballygiblin were an excellent, excellent side with good hurlers all over the field. Really put it up to us. At half-time we felt we weren’t hurling consistently, our turnover count was seven to 12. We used the ball badly and gave away a couple of scores.

“We addressed that, said there was more in us and we had to use the ball a bit better. Our second-half performance was more rounded in terms of our work-rate and our use of the ball. We had our goal chances, they had their goal chances. On the balance of play, I think we had a little bit more quality up front.

“Ballygiblin moved Mark Keane up full-forward. We predicted that would happen if we were close. He caused a lot of problems when he went up there.” 

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He had special mention also for his non-playing injured captain Niall Madden.

“Niall has been a fantastic player for the club for a number of years. Really good captain, hurling from the front all year. Unfortunately, he got a cruciate injury in the Leinster semi-final that ruled him out. Even though he has been sidelined, he is a great guy in the dressing-room, a calm head organising guys. He has contributed in his own way."

And the future looks bright for this relatively young team.

“We have 15 U21s on the panel, we had eight starting. They just took the game as it was and played it on its merits, they had no experience. When the first-half was out of our systems, they boys realised we are better than what we are playing. They got it out of themselves in the next half.

“It is absolutely fantastic. We set out two years ago, this management team came together. We were training at the back of the convent when Covid restrictions were lifted. It is a far cry from that today in Croke Park.”