Kilmurry can hold their heads up high despite pain of All-Ireland semi-final defeat

We have all heard or used the expression – sport can be cruel – and it certainly applied to Kilmurry on Sunday.

They lost out on penalties to Naomh Pádraig in the AIB All-Ireland Club JFC semi-final at Parnell Park.

At various stages over the hour and then in extra-time they looked like they had won, and equally had lost the game. They can look back with a sense of pride on their display, but it will be twinged with a few ‘what-ifs' as well.

On the positive side if they take their overall game into the Cork intermediate championship later this year they can be confident of a good campaign.

There is plenty of talent in their squad and the likes of Liam Wall, Lawrence Aisling, John O’Mullane and Lloyd Aisling can trouble any defence. Defensively William Ronan, Sean O’Leary and Tomás Collins are up there with the best of them.

So the foundations are very much there for Kilmurry to build on and they can look forward with plenty of optimism.

Right now they will be hurting and no doubt that Sunday night and probably for the next few weeks those what-ifs will be discussed by players, management, and their massive and loyal support that travelled to Parnell Park on Sunday.

It’s how they respond now in the coming weeks as the league gets underway and then the championship that matters at this stage.

You can look back at any game and see what you might have done differently, you can’t change it, but you can learn from it.

Have no doubt they will as they look at several incidents on the day.

They had two players black-carded and they could have little argument about either one. On both occasions, the likelihood of any player doing what Tomás Collins and Lawarence Aisling did is extremely high.

There is a very high chance that the forward tackled may have raised green flags instead of the white ones. But it was their game management around when they were down to 14 would be something they will be disappointed with.

When Collins was off they conceded five points, which saw the Donegal side come from behind to lead by two.

POSITIVE

On the positive side, their response when they were back to 15 was superb as they hit the next three points in a row to retake the lead. That is something that manager, Cormac Linehan, and all involved with the side will be very happy with.

Equally so they will have been delighted with their finish to extra time. A goal from a penalty and a free from Kevin Lynch looked like it was going to be enough for Naomh Pádraig to win.

Again credit to Kilmurry they finished strongly with Denis O’Mullane scoring a late free from a tight angle to see it head to penalties.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be in them for the Cork side, but overall they can look back on another great season and know they have a great base to build on in the intermediate grade.