Three reasons Sars lost the All-Ireland club final to Na Fianna
Na Fianna captain Donal Burke after their side's victory in the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship final match between Na Fianna and Sarsfields at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
A result that left everyone in the Sarsfields camp disappointed. Nonetheless a result that can’t be disputed. They were second best.
Lessons to be learned, on to next season. But where did it all go wrong for the Riverstown side?
Na Fianna’s two goals were game changing. They killed any hope of a Sarsfields fightback. But it was the absence of any goals from the Munster champions that proved costly.
Had Cathal McCarthy goaled in the first minute or had Jack O’Connor seen green 11 minutes later it could have been a very different contest. When this Sars team ignites, they burn through any set of defenders.
But there was never a flame that needed extinguishing.
Croke Park is a special venue. Every hurler and footballer in the country dreams of all-Ireland glory. A small few ever come close to it.
There’s something about GAA HQ as a venue that separates it from the rest. That much was clear today, as both Cuala and Na Fianna powered clear in the early stages of the football and hurling deciders respectfully. Croke Park experience matters.
At the end of it all, it was Na Fianna’s stars in AJ Murphy, Donal Burke, Ciarán Stacey and Colin Currie that rose to the occasion. Their Cork opponents struggled to shine in the spotlight.
Na Fianna played with an aggression that stunned all 31,000 of us in Croke Park, even the Sars players on the pitch.
Murphy and Tom Brennan took their men on at every opportunity. They were incredible from start to finish, and Johnny Crowley’s side paid the price.
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