Ballinamere manager very proud of his side's efforts and really testing K/K

BALLINAMERE manager Niall Rigney said he was really proud of the effort his side put in the Sunday's county final and said they had really given Kilcormac/Killoughey a test, but felt K/K's experience had helped them get over the line.

The Laois man believed his side had given it a real go and were in contention coming towards the end. “They were right in it in fairness to them. At half time people were probably thinking the game was over in relation to the conditions but we got our set up right, we got our game plan right and we got our structure right and the lads executed it as best they could. We just asked them to stay in the game as long as they possibly could and if they were there with four, five, six minutes to go they could push on and win it.

“But we probably just couldn't get the extra score but they were right in it. I couldn't be more proud of them. They just fought on their backs to try and get the result in their first county final. That didn't bother them, as you saw that didn't bother them at all, and I'm just very disappointed for them. I thought they were very, very good.

“In fairness the conditions were chronic. It is easier to play against the wind than play with it. I often found that as a player myself and I said that to the players at half time but they knew that, I had said it to them before. I actually wasn't too worried at all at half time to be honest because I knew we were going to come with the same set up and structure as they had and it was just about keeping possession and carrying the ball. They are an experienced team and they were able to slow it down when they needed to, as we did in the second half. You have to box clever in these situations. You have to get to the championship minutes, which is the last five, six, seven minutes, to give yourself a chance to be there and we were there. In fairness to Adam he was probably the difference in the last couple of minutes, he got a couple of very good scores, worked hard for them and we have no qualms, the better team won when it came to it to be honest,' Niall said.

Ballinamere were two points up midway through second half and seemed to have the momentum with them. Reflecting on that the manager said “I think we probably needed to be - again I'm not blaming conditions by any means - but I think if we had got two, three, four ahead, now that was probably asking a lot, but in fairness to them my lads have done everything we asked of them all year and again today and I couldn't be more proud of them. They were really, really good at what they did and I thought their execution was really good.

“We have worked an awful lot on the execution of our handpassing, that was really good today the way we carried possession and we had to because you can't go out against a team like K/K thinking you can hurl them and beat them hurling, even though I believe we have equally the amount of brilliant hurlers as they have. We have some serious hurlers ourselves but I just really feel for them. But they will learn from this. These guys only got to their first semi-final last year, this year they got to their first final. And they learned from last year to get here this year so you would be hoping today will stand to them and they will get back maybe a step further next year,” he added.

Asked if this was a glorious opportunity that might present itself again he said they knew that. “I had said that to them from my own experience of playing that opportunities like this don't come along too often and it is up to yourselves to give yourself a chance to be there and they were there and they were there deservedly. There probably was a chance but I think maybe their experience pushed them over the line a little and credit to them for doing that.

“These lads, K/K, haven't been tested in Offaly for the last two years nearly, let's be honest about that. I think the last time they were tested was O'Loughlin's last year in the Leinster Club championship but they were tested today. To be fair they were tested today and that's where my lads deserve marvellous credit for doing that. I told them the last two weeks, 'don't fear this, love it' and they did and they were in great form today and I was delighted with them and I couldn't be more proud of them that's being genuine.

“I'm just delighted with the effort that they gave and the experience will stand to them because they are brilliant club players, they are brilliant Ballinamere players, brilliant Durrow players, brilliant Offaly players. They will unite with those K/K guys and drive Offaly on to where they deserve to be,” Niall concluded.