Dominic Foley: Charleville's fringe players must take chances

Charleville manager Dominic Foley feels Sunday’s ten-point loss to Blackrock in the RedFM Hurling League can prove to be an education experience for his team.

The game in Mourneabbey ended in a 2-27 to 2-17 win for the city side, with Charleville having trailed by six points at half-time despite playing with the wind in the first half.

Though Charleville where short a number of first-team players, Foley felt that those given opportunities failed to take them.

“You know me, not one to make excuses,” he said, “I think we should have been better in certain areas of the field on Sunday.

“Fellas are shouting all year to get their chance and when they're given their chance, they need to take it.

“There's no good showing it to us in training and in practice matches. I think some fellas will be disappointed on their showing, because you don't get much against good teams like this.”

By contrast, Blackrock were ruthless in how they punished Charleville – exposure to such a quality is something Foley wants his players to learn from.

“They're class players,” he said.

“If you give them five yards or whatever, it’s going to be difficult to stop them. Then, when you have the ball, you need to be accurate in how you use it.

“It's nice to what happens when you come up against good teams like that and give our fellas a little reality check.

“I mean, look at the second half against the wind – we lost by less than we did in the first half.

“We got the fellas back into different positions and made a few changes that helped our team.

“A lot of positives in the second half actually but that first half showing just wasn't good enough. Not sharp enough, not close enough to the players.

“As I said, if you come up against good teams you'll get punished.”