'We feel that we left that game behind us'- Fourmilewater manager Dick O'Keeffe

Fourmilewater manager Richard ‘Dick’ O’Keeffe was extremely proud of his players but felt it was one that got away as they very nearly put Ballygunner’s era of dominance to an end - coming within inches of a first county title on Sunday.

“We pushed them right to the limit”, said a dejected O’Keeffe. “We knew that if we could get our tackling game going, our pure intensity and our fitness would drive us through. We had a couple of wides at the wrong times in the game, especially there in the second half when we had them on the rack. If we had tagged on a couple of those scores late on, it would’ve been a different story coming down the home stretch.” 

O’Keeffe believes his men could’ve put the game to bed, and Ballygunner punished them for not doing so.

“When we left them within three points, it was always going to be difficult. They’re a very disciplined team, they’re very hard-working, they’re well organised, they’re not All-Ireland champions for nothing, but we feel that we left that game behind us. We’re gutted to lose it.” The intensity of effort from Fourmilewater was ferocious, and they were meticulous in how they prepared for the challenge.

“The lads put in some massive effort all year, over and beyond anything that was expected of them, so really proud of them. We knew that we had to get in close to them, not give them any room,” said O’Keeffe.

“Every time the ball hit the ground, we had to come out. Our turnover-tackle was something like 26-10 in the first half. We were right there. We were doing everything that we wanted to do and we were limiting their shots to frees. They changed a couple of things around just before half-time; they moved an extra man into the middle of the field and they got some joy from that. 

"Going out at the start of the second half, we put them under all sorts of pressure. We had their management struggling to make changes on the field. They didn’t know what they were going to do, which is what we wanted. We wanted them to be thinking about us. A lot of teams take on Ballygunner and they change their game structure completely, but at no stage were we going to do that. 

"We knew we had the game that could trouble Ballygunner and we didn’t get drawn into match-ups or any of that stuff on the field.” 

He has vowed that Fourmilewater will be back, with revenge on their minds going forward, and that their day will come.

“Unfortunately, we had a little bit of a lull period in the middle of the second half which cost us dearly. We’ll learn a lot from this. We’ve got a very young team. Nobody likes losing, but it’s not all doom and gloom. You can take positives from everything and the way we played in that game was a big positive.”