Kilcormac/Killoughey manager enjoys “sweet” victory as side complete four in a row

IN HIS second year as manager, Declan Laffan saw Kilcormac/Killoughey retain the Sean Robbins Cup with victory over Ballinamere in Sunday's final and he described the feeling as “sweet”.

Kilcormac/Killoughey have had to overcome a number of obstacles throughout the year but they put them behind them to claim their eighth Offaly senior hurling title.

“They're all sweet, but I suppose doing the four in a row is a big thing, obviously. That's particularly sweet for me, I think, because I always feel every time you try to put one, keep putting one to what's there already, it's so difficult. And then of course, you've touched on all the obstacles, Charlie (Mitchell), with his unfortunate circumstances early on in the year. Probably the best hurler in Offaly, let's call a spade a spade. To be down him, and I think the beauty of it was we didn't make an issue of what was missing, we just got on with it. It's been a bit like that since I've been up here, and this is my second year.

“We've had lots of different injuries, lots of them young lads, I think a certain amount of it is burnout. But I suppose between the two years now, they all have got a couple of months off with different injuries, which has probably allowed them to maybe recover. Adam, he had a shoulder surgery, but it probably also helped his groin problem that he has been carrying for a couple of years. Diggy (Daniel Hand) missed a couple of months. Lots of different things like that, also Jordan, with his knee, it's bitterly disappointing for him. He's a wonderful captain, a wonderful leader, and very important to this group. Even though he's not on the field, he's a true leader and I've great to time for that lad.”

It wasn't an easy year for Kilcormac/Killoughey and defeat in their final group game could have seen them exit the championship.

“Yeah, it was that sort of year. I suppose we got caught the first day against Coolderry, we just weren't at it. I suppose I'd say the best way to put it is we slowly got going. Did enough in our third group game against Rynagh's, just about enough. We were brilliant against Birr in that last game. Very middling the last day. I thought at the time, but then when I watched it back, I thought Rynagh's were brilliant. They were actually really, really good. What I thought was we were excellent in extra time, I thought our fitness levels really came to the fore then. We hit 14 points in roughly 22 minutes of hurling. It was ridiculous.

“And then today, it was probably a bit of a war of attrition more than anything. We got out to six points and I was shouting, get another one, get another one. Just keep plugging away.

“All credit to Ballinamere, they didn't go away either. It felt a bit like a semi-final. A lot of tension, a lot of errors, a lot of hard hitting. But look, it doesn't matter once you get there.”

Kilcormac/Killoughey could have been further ahead at half time but hit 10 wides in the first half so was he worried? “I'm not going to pretend I was happy because you're trying not to show it in the dressing room too. I thought we hit 10 wides in the first half, but some of them were just really, really bad decisions. That's the one thing we've been trying, to make good decisions. Don't panic on the ball. Probably more time than we realised. We probably should have been nine, maybe ten up. With a little bit more composure, we hit the post with a free early on as well. But look, you don't mind when you get there. It doesn't matter.”

They hit four points late in the first half to give them a four point half time lead and he said “they were vital. We won a couple of frees, hard-earned. Took our scores, got the first point at the start of the second half. It keeps the momentum kind of with you. Out to six, but look, as I said, they came back at the end. There was one or two hairy moments. I thought our backs were brilliant all day. To be fair to them, I thought they were manful. I thought Tom Spain was outstanding today. I thought he was brilliant.”

Kilcormac/Killoughey also did a great job in keeping Ballinamere's key players quiet. “Yeah, look, they were going out to target ours, and we probably went through the same with theirs. I thought Ter (Guinan) was excellent. Colin Spain in midfield. Damo (Kilmartin) put in a huge shift for 45 minutes. You know, put his hand up and said, here, get someone else in to finish the job. That's what you want.”

Declan and his team will now turn their focus to trying to capture a Leinster title. “We've three weeks to get ready. We have to go and enjoy this the next few days, and we'll get back on the horse towards next weekend. The Kildare final is on next weekend, I think it's Naas and Maynooth, so we'll get a look at that. We'll prepare accordingly. Look, it won't be simple, though, lads. Naas probably have 10 of the Kildare inter-county team. I can stand corrected on that, but they definitely have 10, actually, and they probably even have one or two more. So they are going to be a formidable outfit as well.

“People don't realise, the home and away in that Leinster competition, for me, or any of the provincial competitions, it's actually huge, you know. It's kind of like a three-point head start if you can be at home. Look, we're away, we'll just deal with it, and we'll see where it takes us.”

While the younger players get many of the plaudits, the manager had great praise for some of the older stalwarts like Damien Kilmartin, Conor Mahon and Tom Spain. “Look, Tom Spain I mentioned, look, I just thought our old guys were manful today, and, you know, it really dug us out of a hole at times when we needed something. Conor Mahon, like, how many puck outs did he win in the second half? It was the only place we were going for a while, but on the counterside of that, on the opposite, I thought we were exceptional on their puck outs in the first half, where we broke ball and we mopped up all the breaks. But, look, it goes like that. We'll go in, we'll have a look at it, and we'll see what the stats tell us, and we'll get ready,” Declan said.