Imokilly ace Ciarán Joyce: We go out and play like a club team

Imokilly centre-back Ciarán Joyce felt that the decision to play against the wind in the first half was one that was justified.

Though they trailed by eight points at one stage in the opening period, they were back to within six, 0-11 to 0-5, at half-time.

“We decided to play against it try to slow things down as much as we can,” Joyce said.

“We got our goalie [Eoin Davis] to come and take long frees and slow things down. We told Jack Leahy to take his time on the frees.

“It was a gale-force wind, especially in the first half, it took us a while to get to grips with the game. The second half then, we just pushed up on our men, we weren’t letting Sars have any spare men at the back. 

We just built our way into it. We turned them over in the back line and we got a few scores up front.

“It was a team effort today. It was a great win.”

TARGET

At the break, the feeling in the dressing room was that turning around a six-point deficit was within their wheelhouse and so it proved.

“It was fairly manageable with that wind,” Joyce said. “Obviously, we knew the quality we had in the dressing room. We’re star-studded at the moment so we knew we’d get over the line.

“It’s all about confidence, these type of games.”

The way that Imokilly pulled away in the second half underlined just how strong the club-like culture is within their camp.

“People are saying all year, ye’re only a division,” Joyce said, “but literally when we’re going out we’re like a club, we all get on very well.

“Even at half-time, we were only saying to ourselves how great we get on. It showed in the second half there, we were fighting for every ball like we’re a club. They’re a great bunch of lads, to be honest.”

FASTEST

For much of the game, Castlemartyr clubman Joyce found himself shadowing his inter-county team-mate Jack O’Connor.

“He’s very hard to mark,” he said. “he’s probably the fastest player in the county.

I tagged him for a lot of the game when he came out to the half-forward line – I get on very well with Jack, it was awkward marking him today.

“I’m getting used to it at this stage, marking inter-county players at club level.”

And, while winning a county medal may not completely overshadow the All-Ireland defeat with Cork, it does soften the blow. He expects a few more of those who graced the pitch to be given a chance with the Rebels, too.

“I don’t know,” he said, “maybe a small bit but that’s still a tough one to take. Hopefully, we’ll be back again next year.

“There’s a few lads putting up their hands [for a Cork call-up] on both teams, Sars and Imokilly. Hopefully, we see a few of them next year.”