Murray praises The Downs’ resilience
Gerry Buckley
Johnny Murray emphasised how proud he is to be from The Downs, with a long record of involvement at adult and underage levels in both the male and female sections of the club, and now managing his club’s flagship team, after his charges had edged out near-neighbours Coralstown/Kinnegad in last Saturday’s Westmeath senior football championship semi-final in TEG Cusack Park.
“It was a tight, tough, physical encounter. The margin makes no difference as long as we are in the final. It might as well have been ten points,” he said in relation to a win by the narrowest of margins, before adding: “We are delighted to be in the final having beaten our neighbours. Had we taken more of our chances we might have won it by more. But we showed great resilience to see the game out. I lost a final last year with the girls’ team and I’d love to win one with the men.”
A goal just before half-time by Ian Martin, at the end of a counterattack, proved crucial. The manager concurred, stating: “Ian took his goal very well and I thought he was our man of the match. He is not one of our more recognized players, but he worked very hard all through.”
He continued: “I always knew Coralstown/Kinnegad would come back at us. They got a couple of great points from Eoin O’Brien and Callum Cruise, and it lifted them. Kinnegad have some great young footballers and they are gentlemen. Our subs helped, and I brought in Darragh (Egerton) who was mad to get on. He’s been absent all year. He’s playing a hurling semi-final next week and I have to respect that situation.
“We had six or seven players out through injury this year, but I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. It can knock the sting out of a team. Some panellists who are not well known all played very well in the league, yet they accepted being dropped for the championship.
“We have a few niggles still, the likes of Niall Mitchell, who is more padded up than you think. He is operating with just one hand and it’s hard to see him playing hurling like that. But that ball he gave away at the end, he could have been in trouble with me! He had a wry smile afterwards, and he knew it.
“It is terrible hard with dual players. We didn’t have one challenge match this year.”
Looking ahead, Murray concluded as follows: “We are in a final now and that’s 15 against 15. Whoever we play will be stiff opposition. I just hope it is a good game of football. I have no idea who is reffing it, but the standard of refereeing has been excellent this year.”