Smyth is relishing bid for Leinster success

The victorious Shamrocks manager, Ray Smyth was in ecstatic mood after his side brought the Flanagan Cup to the sanctuary of the dressing room last Sunday afternoon, following their 0-12 to 1-8 SFC final replay win over Garrycastle.Smyth initially stated: "I started with these boys three years ago. I thought we'd win it the first year. We got to the final and Garrycastle beat us."We got to the final last year and I said 'we'd win it this year', and they caught us in the replay. It had to come right this time and thanks be to God it did. They are a great bunch of young lads and the graph is going up now."I'll be very surprised if these lads don't do very well in Leinster. They will really express themselves when they get out of the county and they will have more freedom to play the football they are able to play."The Killucan native remained positive since the drawn game: "I told you last week - I don't train losers, I train winners. I train lads very hard. There is no point in going out to play unless you can do it for 60 minutes. If it had gone to extra-time, I wouldn't have minded."Those lads could have gone for another hour. If it had gone to extra-time, then we'd have given Garrycastle a good hiding! I spent the week working with my backs to reduce what we let in (3-9 in the draw), getting into their heads that they were not to give Garrycastle an inch."OK, maybe we didn't get enough scores today but we were unlucky for a couple of goals. Having said all that, we kept at it, we kept the heads down and we kept working. There was no way Dessie's late free was going into our net."When asked about Sean Daly's performance, his manager replied: "Seanie Daly is a great kid. That fellow is going to be a great footballer in time. I thought he was brilliant last week."But last week was last week, and we had to look to today and he was brilliant again today. I'm delighted for him. There was a hunger there since the draw. We wanted to win a senior championship."The whole club needed this championship. The town of Mullingar needed this championship. Westmeath needed this championship. It now has opened the whole thing up again."I played on a Downs teams that dominated the same as Garrycastle have. It's a good thing to share it around."With the hitherto-elusive Flanagan Cup tucked away, Smyth was looking ahead: "We'll celebrate for a few nights and then we'll get back to the drawing board and give Leinster a rattle."We'll be fighting to win the championship again next year. I followed Garrycastle to every Leinster club championship game they played in and I supported them."I hope they'll do the very same for us against the Dublin champions in two weeks' time."