'We are well aware we left a few chances behind us': Punch proud of Barrs despite letting lead slip

St Finbarr's led Athenry by six points with 55 minutes played in the All-Ireland club camogie final but the Galway side fought back to claim a draw

Sun, 14 Dec, 2025 - 20:34

Eoghan Cormican

The Barrs were brilliant. Then they were bewildered. Bouncing, then befuddled.

Disbelief replaced second-half domination. A six-point lead on 55 minutes had become an All-Ireland final replay on the opening weekend of January.

The Barrs had overwhelmingly been the better side for the opening 25 minutes of the second half. A two-point interval lead had swollen to six.

And yet the post-match conversation with Barrs manager Brian O'Sullivan and captain Stephanie Punch focused almost exclusively on what happened in the eight minutes right at the end when they were hemmed in and their lead hounded.

“We had chances to win it. We were comfortable enough at times, but the nature of sport, and we've been on the other side of it, is that you are playing for 62, 63, 64 minutes,” began O’Sullivan.

Was there disappointment? Surely there had to be disappointment.

“No, not at all,” O’Sullivan continued.

“I suppose you might be disappointed that you didn't win it, but we still have a chance. We are still there. I'd be a lot more disappointed if I was sitting here and we didn't win. We've another crack at it, so it doesn't really bother me, to be honest.

“I'd say they were disappointed going in at half-time, but you kind of have a range of emotions throughout the game. It is pointless thinking about what way the result went, we take our lessons learned from it, and drive on again.”

He was similarly steadfast when asked if there will be a job to manage a group who had one hand on the silverware but must now wait three weeks for another attempt to take hold of that same silverware.

“Not at all,” he repeated himself.

“These guys are experienced. I keep going back to the Newcastle West game. We were six up and they got two goals, and we went out the next day against De La Salle and it didn't phase those girls at all.

“We've played in games that were complete chaos and we've dealt with it, either getting draws or coming out on top. I don't think [they'll need managing].

“We'll review the tapes and get our couple of lessons learned, but we did an awful lot of positive things too. There's a lot of good to be taken from it, as well.”

Captain and corner-back Stephanie Punch was sitting beside her manager. An ice pack strapped to her right leg was the battle scar of a fine individual performance.

“We probably are disappointed in how we did finish the game,” she conceded.

“We are well aware we left a few chances behind us. They came back at us hard. I am proud of the team. We defended like dogs there at the end. We could very well be coming in and talking about us having lost by a point.”

Would she have preferred a third extra-time outing in their last four games?

“They had all the momentum at the end, so I am not too sure to be honest. It would have been great to have it done on the day, but they'll have taken huge heart finishing out with 1-3, so it is fair enough that we both have another crack at it in January.”