Johnny Dwyer: 'There’s a high ceiling in Carrigtwohill – they’ll be back'

It wasn’t as comfortable as the scoreboard made it look. Bride Rovers pulled six clear by the finish, but Carrigtwohill were still in the fight until Ronan O’Connell’s late goal sealed it. By then, the clock was against them.

For coach Johnny Dwyer, this was a hard one to take. Carrig’s year ends earlier than hoped, but the progress is undeniable – the step between 2024 and 2025 visible in the way they carried themselves.

“What I do know about last year is that the management and the players would have huge time for John Griffin,” Dwyer said after the defeat to Bride Rovers. “They talked about him so highly, and he's a very good guy.

“I think they were just unlucky last year, to be fair. But it is a step in the right direction. Now, that's down to the players in the club, I’m an outsider. They made life very easy for me as a coach, to be honest with you.

“There is a high ceiling there, there's no doubt about it. They're very young. 

I think this should be a learning curve for this group of players, and I think they will be back there.

“And Bride Rovers are an example to our young lads that five in a row, they keep coming back and keep knocking on the door. And fair play to Bride, they were better than us today.” 

Carrig will still feel aggrieved. Four down at the break, with the wind to come, they had reason to believe. The platform was there; the push never quite arrived.

“I suppose, four points down at half time, you're happy enough with that,” said Dwyer. “But at the same time, we left an awful lot of scores after us in the first half. Obviously, it was difficult to shoot into that strong wind there, but those boys have been shooting the lights out all year, it was just one of those things.

“And we were in a good position and a half-time. Small margins I suppose at the end of the game.

HEAD DOWN

“The second goal, it was a very good goal by Brian Roche in fairness to him,” Dwyer remarked. “The lads kept the head down and we were back to within two points again after it.” 

Even in defeat, there was pride in his tone – pride in the fight, pride in the year.

“There’s a never-say-die attitude there and Carrigtwohill brought it back well. The third goal, we were hunting a goal, it was nearly like a soccer counter-attack goal.

“We just misplaced a pass which is unfortunate so it ended up in the back of our net, but we were hunting that goal at that stage and it was kind of do or die.

I suppose the third goal isn't a major reflection on the game. They tried something that didn't happen, and that’s just the way it is.

And will he be back to help them try again?

“I’ll have to think about that there for a while,” he said, smiling. “They’re brilliant people, it’s a brilliant club.

“All year, I don’t want to be speaking on behalf of Carrigtwohill because I’m an outsider, but we’re out now so I can say a few words. It would be very naïve of me to say I was the one that changed anything radically.

“It's there with them and I'm only guiding them. It’s a brilliant club, they’re brilliant people and they’re so united. I couldn’t speak highly enough of them.”