“The little things are so, so special” – Dessie Hutchinson
Ballygunner's Dessie Hutchinson reacts to having his goal bound shot saved in the final few minutes.
Dessie Hutchinson cradled baby daughter Rosie in his arms as Peter Hogan spoke at the top of the Hogan Stand steps. A magic moment on a magic day for the Gunners.
“To have her in the stand here today, the little things are so, so special," he said.
"To have Kellie and Rosie here and my whole family. My father went through a bit of a tough time recently too. He is smiling up there in the stand somewhere! It’s incredible.”
The number ten was gasping for air after celebrating manically with teammate after teammate once the final whistle blew. This second All-Ireland was a sweet one.
“It means so, so much. This is a dream. We’ve so much hurt. I know everyone talks about how successful we are but the hurt we’ve felt over the last couple of years.
“That is just so special. When everyone doubted us and thought we were finished, no way, no way.”
The sharpshooter in the white helmet was Ballygunner’s leading light this season with a grand total of 9-78 as well as back-to-back Man of the Match awards in the Munster final and All-Ireland semi-final.
He did admit, however, that they didn’t bring their A game to Croke Park. Goal chances and point chances went astray until Mikey Mahony cut through the Loughrea rearguard.
“We didn’t play well; we didn’t play well in the first half at all. To be fair to Mikey, he took it by the scruff of the neck, went in and buried one. We had a couple of half-chances in the first half that we needed to be more clinical with.
"We weren’t happy at half-time. We came out and dug in deep. In fairness to Loughrea, they are a brilliant team.”
