Shamrocks will be 'huge underdogs' against Garrycastle - Smyth

Mullingar Shamrocks manager, Ray Smyth was understandably in buoyant mood after his side's local derby triumph over St Loman's last Sunday evening."We're delighted," the Killucan native stated. "No one realises how hard it is to get into a county final and this is our third in a row. I never panicked when we were six points down because I knew the fitness levels and resolve in the team. When we got that goal (from Ciaran Curley) I turned to Richie O'Donoghue, who was sitting beside me, and said 'we're going to win this match.'"Commenting on the two sendings off, Smyth said: "To me it only looked like the two players were wrestling before the sendings off, but the referee probably felt he had to take a handle on it. I didn't feel it merited red cards, but he's the boss. If he says it's a red, we can't do anything about it."However, when questioned about the possibility of an appeal to the O'Donoghue red card, Smyth said: "Absolutely. We will have to wait and see. We'll look at the video and see what happened. But I would honestly say I don't think it merited a red card."Looking ahead to October 21, the former Downs boss conceded: "We know we're huge underdogs against Garrycastle, the Leinster champions, but we'll give it our best shot."Down the corridor, losing manager Kenny McKinley was clear about the turning point of the contest: "The sending off of Ciaran Kilmurray was crucial. We were going well at the time and had control of midfield.We were breaking them down in the tackle and countering very well. Paul Sharry was lively, while Eoin Price was getting space out on his wing and Ciaran Kilmurray was holding the middle. He got sent off and the whole thing opened up. I'd say there was a turnover of five or six points in the period after that."Commenting further on the red cards in the 16th minute, McKinley stated: "I think the sendings off were harsh on the two players - it was handbags at six paces."The referee sort of stamped his authority on the game by picking the two lads. They sort of tackled each other, but a bit of niggle had crept into the game and it was starting to boil a little."I thought the ref did a good job and he probably felt he had to stamp it out before it escalated into something more serious."Overall, the 1995 All-Ireland winning centre half back was magnanimous in defeat, adding: "While I take my hat off to my team, Shamrocks responded better with 14 men. They started to run at us and we made a few bad mistakes in defence and never recovered.We threw the dice and made changes, but they got on top and won the individual battles. They were more economical too and took their chances better."We weren't good enough on the day and, as manager, I take the blame for that. "We'd been good all year at not conceding goals, but shifted five in the last two games. That's not going to win you games at this level."