Seán Óg Ó hAilpín admits 'it felt like a point lost' after AG denied late by Tulla

A frustrating end to a game that Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG will feel they left behind them.

Six points up at half-time in their Harty Cup opener, they looked to have control of St Joseph’s Tulla and the contest. But where the Clare school had struggled in the first half, the AG faltered in the second – never finding rhythm, never getting a grip, and ultimately letting a winnable game slip into parity.

They managed just five points after the break, only one from play – a statistic that summed up their afternoon.

“That doesn't surprise me because that was my take from looking at the game as well, that we weren't creating much from play and then we were just relying too much on frees,” said coach Seán Óg Ó hAilpín. “If we have any ambitions of going deep into this competition, we need to reverse that.

“It kind of felt like a point lost there for us. I mean, we’d gone in at half-time, I wouldn't say very comfortable, we got a fortuitous goal, but their keeper had a great game bar that.

“And then probably should have built on that, but we didn't. Then Tulla dominated the game for probably a lot of the second half, and we were just relying on frees to keep us in check.” 

Reliance on frees was the story on both sides. It became Matthew Corbett versus the AG support, and Gabhán Ó Ceallacháin versus the Tulla end. Both men stood firm against unyielding pressure.

Corbett finished with 13 frees from 18. Ó Ceallacháin landed seven from nine, most of them from distance, with Craig Ó Suilleabháin chipping in from closer range. Ó hAilpín was quick to credit his free-taker’s performance.

“Striking the frees there in front of the Tulla fans, Gavin had a superb outing today,” Seán Óg said. “It's always the way, when the game is a draw, if you lose it by a tight margin, people look at the small things then.

“But overall, the good things he did outweigh the one or two frees that he missed there.” 

POSITIVES

For all their frustration, there was still something for the AG to take with them. One point is better than none, and as Ó hAilpín put it, their next step is clear – improvement and consistency before a Cork derby with CBC.

“It wasn't all doom and gloom,” Ó hAilpín remarked. “There were some aspects of our game that we'd been working on, where we’re happy enough, but I suppose it's just trying to get the consistency over the 60 minutes.

“That's what we need to kind of nail down. With that last free, I'd rather be a point ahead with them trying to level it, because not to take anything from this game would have been completely disastrous for us.

“Fair play to them, they brought it to us in the second half, and probably, on the law of the averages they deserved to get something out of it.

“We have to clutch our positives here. If you were to ask every one of those players, was there more in them, I'm sure there is,” he said. “First game of the competition, there's another two games to come. Every game from now on is a knockout.

“The focus now is on two, three weeks' time against Christians, which is a mammoth game for us.”