FOR TOMMOY CONROY there was the satisfaction of victory as St Vincent’s lifted the Leinster senior football club title for the fifth time.
For Mick Lillis, there was the disappointment as Portlaoise came up short in their quest for provincial honours.
Here’s what the two managers made of yesterday’s game in O’Connor Park in Tullamore.
TOMMY CONROY
Reaction…
“Thankfully we can look forward to Christmas. I’ve just come out of the Portlaoise dressing-room. Someone said to me earlier this year, ‘the highs are very high in sport but the lows are very low’. Today, I think that could have went either way.
“Maybe it was that little bit of experience or resilience that saw us over the line. We’re just delighted that the year has ended this way. We’ll look forward to an All-Ireland semi-final.”
Conceding first-half goals…
“I think we were six points up and playing very well. We conceded two soft goals. It was just a matter of the wind wasn’t going to win it for us in the second-half. The guys they sorted that out themselves and it was just sheer hard work that got us there in the end.”
“It was just a really intense game. The amount of tackles that were going in from both sides was tremendous. It was a tough day. It was a cold day. You’re playing football in early December but it was a very entertaining game.”
Turning Point…
“I thought the hop ball, I don’t know what stage it was at, were we a point or two up and there was a hop ball. Eamon won it. Little things like that. Then Kevin Bonnie, the sub that came on, made a great tackle. Those little things just stopped Portlaoise’s momentum, particularly in the last few minutes of the game.”
Mossy Quinn…
“He was very tightly marked today. I thought Portlaoise did a very good job on him and that’s to be expected. Diarmuid Connolly was very tightly marked and that’s where other players have to step up and do it.
“But you can’t keep him quiet for 60 minutes, Mossy, and the last point that he got, it was that insurance point that we needed.”
MICK LILLIS
Disappointment…
“It’s no consolation. We left it all out there but just came up a little bit short. What can I say, we are just devastated. We came here to win and we’re just gutted now.
“This is all about winning. There is nothing else matters a damn. I would rather win by three flukey goals. It’s about winning, there is no consolation.
“You prepare as well as you can and maybe someone else can prepare them better. That’s the way I would be looking at it. What we have done hasn’t been good enough anyway.”
Conceding early goals…
“Things happen in games and the one thing about giving away two early goals is you have time if you are good enough. We were good enough but just came up that little bit short. We didn’t execute as well we could probably.”
The pace of St Vincent’s…
“They ran at us and we knew they were going to do that. It’s gas sometimes you know it is going to happen but are powerless to prevent it. It’s effective and they have pace and I suppose we didn’t counteract it as well as we thought we were going to.”
