Leaders old and new stood up, insists Thomastown boss Doherty

JOYOUS SCENES: Thomastown players celebrate after their side's victory. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach, Sportsfile

Call it underachievement, not being good enough or simply downright bad luck, Thomastown cursed it all in recent years.

Serial runners-up at the intermediate grade within Kilkenny, they’ve finally shed their nearly-men tag as AIB All-Ireland club champions following tonight’s impressive 2-23 to 0-13 defeat of Cork’s Castlelyons.

Both clubs, funnily enough, had been through the wringer in recent seasons when it came to losing intermediate county finals before finally coming good and Thomastown can now call themselves national champions too.

"I believe in this team," said Thomastown manager Noel Doherty. "The management team that was there last year believed in them as well. We knew there wasn’t a lot on it, in terms of getting where they wanted to be, and we had faith in them that they would get over the line and they did.

"They put in the work and look, the quality is there, the leaders are there and new leaders stood up all year too. It’s just been a great year."

Thomastown were only really troubled in the final for a spell in the first-half when Castlelyons went from being five points behind to just two. Asked about that difficult period, Doherty shrugged.

"Lookit, obviously all games ebb and flow and maybe that's a credit to Castlelyons as well, they were quite defensive at that stage and you could see what they were trying to do tactically," he said.

"They were trying to snuff out a goal, which they did. I think we had one or two chances in the first-half but they were only half chances so credit to Castlelyons moreso for that. To the boys, I thought they just kept cool, they kept their composure. They kept just trying to do the right thing."

It was a chastening loss for Castlelyons who had sought to become the fourth club from Cork to claim the title. Selector Brendan Hoare said that, right now, it’s difficult to view the season overall as a successful one.

“It’s so close after the end of the match now that you don’t see that immediately but, when we reflect on it, it’s been an unbelievable year, really," said Hoare.

"Beforehand, winning the county was the big one for us, especially with all of the heartache we had over the last few years. It’s been an absolutely fantastic year. To get over that line has been brilliant and the adventure we’ve gone on from there, really, has been fantastic.

"I’m just delighted for the lads for the year they’ve had. A lot of them are in their late 20s and some were around for the county final loss in 2013 and are still playing. They’ve put in a phenomenal effort and we’ve just had a brilliant year. 

"It’s been so enjoyable – a disappointing note tonight but we’ll look back on it as a brilliant year, the most successful in the club’s history and we’re really proud of the lads."