Shamrocks lads deserve a day in the sun, says Smyth

An ebullient Mullingar Shamrocks manager, Ray Smyth remained upbeat about his team's chances of bridging a 12-year gap after last Sunday's enthralling Shay Murtagh Precast SFC final draw in Cusack Park."The lads have come back in a number of games this year," the Killucan native stated. "We hadn't played well in the first half, but we got the draw and we'd have settled for that at half-time."I don't train teams to lose; I train them to win. We go to the final whistle and we missed a few chances to put it away in the last few minutes. Look, we're delighted."Smyth conceded that his side had kicked some poor wides: "Absolutely, but we'll work on it during the week and see can we try and solve those few problems. The referee was brilliant and it was a very sporting and hard-fought final."His son Lorcan had an outstanding game but the manager felt "he is getting back his form but has a bit to go still".He lauded the return as a sub of Darragh Daly: "It is great to see him back. They are a great bunch of lads and they deserve a senior championship."I don't think even Garrycastle would begrudge it to us, but it's crazy stuff giving teams a head start. We gave away couple of soft goals today."The bainisteoir's sense of humour remained intact despite the tension of the occasion, confirming that Donal O'Donoghue had been a major doubt all week: "He had a bad virus and he took more drugs and medicine during the week than Lance Armstrong!"The replay takes place in Cusack Park this Sunday at 2.30pm, with Ballynacargy's Damien Maher down to referee his second senior final.