Charlie Mitchell delighted to contribute to K/K success after top scoring performance

CHARLIE Mitchell's late goal sealed a third title on the trot for Kilcormac/Killoughey in Sunday's county final but it also put the gloss on a great personal performance as he finished as his side's top scorer with an impressive 1-5 from play.

It also ensured that he finished as the top scorer from play in this year's championship with a total of 3-20, just pipping Shinrone's D.J. McLoughlin by a single point.

Reflecting on his display in Sunday's final he said “ it's what you dream about since you're a young lad, you know, playing in the county final and winning county finals with your club, and to be able to contribute in any way at all is an unbelievable feeling”.

His late goal finally ended Shinrone's challenge. Kilcormac/Killoughey were three points up at the time and many thought the safest thing would be to pop the ball over the bar to push the lead out to four points, making it a two score game, but Charlie said when he got sight on goal he decided to take it on.

“I was kind of in at that stage and I was thinking, we could have done with a goal. I thought if I keep this low there's a good chance it goes in. So thank God it did. Probably in hindsight, maybe the clever thing would have been to put it over the bar. I suppose when you're in on goal and the game's kind of in the melting pot, you're only thinking one thing,” he said.

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Having already hit five points in the game his confidence was high, which enabled him to take on that chance. “Yeah, I suppose. confidence was there. If I got a ball in there one on one, there was space in the second half, so I knew if I got a chance I was going to take it on and go for it.”

Looking back at the final in general he said “we were good there in the first half. We knew Shinrone were going to come back into it in the second half, which they did. And just like the last day against Birr, we just found enough to get over the line. So yeah, we're delighted now.”

Kilcormac/Killoughey's first half performance put them in a commanding position. “We've been kind of starting a bit slow and stuff all year, so we put real emphasis on that first half, pushing their puck out and trying to get turnovers off that. And I thought we did that very well in the first half. So we were happy with our first half performance, but I suppose we know now the next day it's going to have to be a 60-minute full performance.”

Despite being 11 points ahead at one stage early in the second half, that lead was whittled back to a point and Charlie said that wasn't “a great feeling” but he knew they just had to knuckle down and keep going. “You're kind of thinking, right, just next ball, next ball, try to get the ball into your hand, win a free, get a score, you know, just to break the momentum they were building, and thankfully we did that.”

Now Kilcormac/Killoughey have another Leinster Club campaign to look forward to. They will travel to take on the Kilkenny champions, either O'Loughlin Gaels or Ballyhale Shamrocks who meet in next Sunday's final, on November 9^th. Kilcormac/Killoughey got to the Leinster Final last year before losing to eventual All-Ireland champions Na Fianna from Dublin.

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“We lost the Leinster final last year so the goal obviously is to go one step further but we're in no doubt or under no illusions how difficult that's going to be. We're awaiting the Kilkenny champions so we're just going to put the head down now for two or three weeks, whatever it is, and hopefully get ourselves right,” Charlie said.

Having collected his third Offaly medal on Sunday, being involved with the Offaly county team and playing Fitzgibbon Cup hurling with UL, Charlie agreed that it is hectic but he's not complaining about it.

“I suppose it is a full year round thing. It is tolling but that's all you want to do I suppose. All I want to do is play for Offaly, play for my club so I see it as like not a chore or anything like that. I just enjoy going to the field. If I didn't have a dressing room to go into and meet guys I don't know what I'd do so I enjoy it. I'm sure it's the same for everyone else.”

He agreed that being part of a winning team helps. “Yeah, when you're winning it does help. So, hopefully we'll just keep it going and hopefully it'll carry over now into Offaly as well next year and everything.”

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