STAGE fight was surely a factor as Errigal Ciaran forgot their lines for the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s All-Ireland senior final.
Several of the players had previous experience of Croke Park but, despite that, a side that had looked so well-drilled and confident on their way to the final temporarily fell to pieces and an excellent Cuala side took advantage.
The Dubliners led by 11 points when Errigal captain Darragh Canavan was taken off with suspected concussion after 22 minutes.
“It’s hard to put your finger on what happened,” said Thomas Canavan.
“It was a mad first half – something I’ve never really experienced, not for a long time anyway.
“It felt like a whole group thing on the day and it ran away from us so quickly. Looking back, you’re thinking we should have dropped back quicker and shut-up shop for a wee while to get control of the game. But it’s easy saying these things in hindsight.
“Fair play to Cuala, they’re a savage outfit too.”
There were 13 points between the teams at half-time but Errigal regrouped at the break, then rallied and whittled the deficit down to three points with three minutes left only for time to run out on them.
“It had got very far away from us and (at half-time) we felt sorry for ourselves for a minute or two and then it was all about gathering ourselves again to just go and empty the tanks,” added Canavan who scored four points in a thrilling second half.
“Stevie Quinn spoke about what we needed to do in the second half and a few of the other boys spoke and there was nothing else to do but go out and empty the tank.
“I think it’s fair to say we did that in the second half and we left with a bit of pride in ourselves and the people of Errigal but unfortunately it was just too big a gap to climb. We almost did it, but it wasn’t to be.
“It’s been an amazing journey, it’s just a pity not to top it off when we got this far. Hopefully there’s a next time but it’s a long road back. Thinking about it now, it’s a very long road back. It’s a very tough road through Tyrone and Ulster…
“We’ll lick our wounds and see in a few weeks’ time.”
Errigal scored five points in the first half and Cuala scored the same in the second as Enda McGinley’s took control. Inspired by Peter Harte, they racked up 1-11 and they were pushing for the goal that might have forced extra-time when the long whistle came.
“We did start to believe we could complete the comeback,” said Canavan.
“Especially when we heard our crowd starting to cheer. We had given them something to cheer about at that stage and the noise they’ve made all year has been brilliant, it pushed us on.
“We talked at half-time about getting it down to six, getting it down to five… Then, all of a sudden, we started hearing our fans and we got it back to three. We just couldn’t close it but it was an almighty effort in the second half considering that we did it without Darragh.
“It has been thrown at us over the year that we were reliant on him but we weren’t today and we can be proud of that too.”
