Cillian Kiely delighted that Kilcormac/Killoughey weathered second half storm to complete three in a row

KILCORMAC/KILLOUGHEY defender Cillian Kiely was delighted that his side were able to withstand the serious challenge Shinrone posed to them in the second half of Sunday's county final and go on to claim their third title in a row, having played what he felt was their best hurling of the year in the first half.

He felt that the way they held off that comeback and then went on to push clear in the closing stages was a statement of their own ability and he now looks forward to his side making a right crack at the Leinster championship.

“Shinrone brought a serious intensity in the first 20 minutes of the second half. It really shook us there. But it's a credit to ourselves that we pulled through, weathered the storm and finished out with seven points on the board. So I'm delighted,” Cillian said.

Kilcormac/Killoughey were 10 points up at half time and stretched that on the resumption and it was hard to envisage at that stage that Shinrone would get back within a point of them.

“It's very hard, how do you motivate a dressing room after I think we probably played our best hurling in the first half that we did all year and it's very hard to come back out in the second half and keep that intensity going. So Shinrone had nothing to lose and we probably took the foot off the pedal a little bit and got away with a shock. just delighted to get over the line now.”

Shinrone made changes in the second half and their substitutions played a big role in their comeback.

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“They normally play a short game and I think we really broke that down in the first half, but in the second half they went route one, put Ciarán (Cleary) on the edge of the square, took us a little while to adapt to that, caused all sorts of trouble there for 15-20 minutes, but we got the grips to them at the end and sure look, it could have gone any way. Like Jason (Sampson) hitting the crossbar 10 minutes to go, that ball could have gone anywhere. Just lucky in a way and delighted to go over the line,” he said.

Their first half display was very impressive and the challenge they got from Birr in the semi-final played a role in that. “We definitely got a bit of a shock off Birr and that's not running down Birr, Birr bought serious intensity that day and hurled us off the field for parts of that game. So we knew ourselves that if we wanted to win three in a row that we'd have to bring a different level today. So I think the Birr game really stood to us.

“We brought a different level today. We worked the ball, worked off the shoulder and we took our scores when the came. Every game stands to you and it is very hard to win a county final and it's definitely hard to win three of them,” Cillian said.

“There's serious character in that dressing room. Definitely, it's probably the best dressing room I've ever been in. We have old stock there, lads that just won't give in. Conor Mahon, Damian Kilmartin, James Gorman, them boys have brought us through the mill. We have a good bunch of mid-range players and then we have talent coming up through the lines and they're pushing standards to a new level.

“The club is really going well and today is going to really stand to us. Just looking forward now to the next few weeks and the build up, we have a big one now with Kilkenny away so looking forward to that. We won't fear any team in Leinster, we've done well over the last few years in Leinster so we'll take it one game at a time like we always do and we'll get knuckled back into it maybe late next week now and we'll have a go at it,” he added.

Kilcormac/Killoughey reached the Leinster Final last year, losing to Dublin's Na Fianna, a game Cillian missed through injury, but the experience from last year will help drive them on this year.

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“Leinster's actually a funny competition because you're going to see new players. It's a different type of hurling. It's winter hurling. So it suits some players. It doesn't suit other players. We have a serious, strong panel. We have a couple of young lads coming back from injury. We'll give it a good crack. We have a good bench. Declan's well screwed in there now. He's got in a good year with us there now. He's going to learn. He's also been in this situation with other clubs before with Munster Championships and the Leinster Championship with Clough Ballacolla, so definitely I'm looking forward to it anyway. We'll enjoy it for a few days and we'll knuckle back in. We won't go down there just for the day out.”

Kilcormac/Killoughey will have a chance to celebrate this victory before building up again for that match on November 9^th. “I'm sure there's a lot of lads sore after that game. We'll have a few good days and we'll definitely knuckle back in. We won't just throw it away now and just go down for the day out. We'll definitely be driving to go down there and win that game and push on.”

They will be keeping an eye on Sunday's Kilkenny final between O'Loughlin Gaels and Ballyhale Shamrocks to see who they face next. “Looking forward to it as well. That'll be a serious game. Two massive teams down in Kilkenny coming head to head. We rate ourselves as good as anyone. Look, it's all on the day. It's what we bring. Some days you turn up and we're probably getting knocked hard a few times there, people saying we're hot and cold. So that stood to us today. We had that sort of criticism coming in that we wanted to prove to ourselves that we're not just hot and cold and we can turn it on when we want to,” Cillian added.

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