I couldn’t be prouder of them - Abbey VS manager Pauric O’Donnell

Abbey VS manager, Pauric O’Donnell, was really disappointed after his side lost out to St Pat’s Academy, Dungannon after extra-time but he was also proud of his team.

“You couldn't ask much more of them. It was a good effort, a big effort. A couple of wee mistakes cost us really.  But at the end of the day, as I said to the boys there, we were beaten by a really good team,” said O’Donnell.

“They had really good quality players around the middle and they made a big difference there. I felt that they got the momentum. We never really got momentum there.

“Anytime that we were on the up, they were fit to snatch it back. And that's the sign of a good team, in fairness.”

For Abbey it was a difficult result to take as they had some great performances not least by Tomás Carr and Thomas Lenihan in the scoring department. But there was also some really strong defending from the likes of Aidan Quinn, Eoghan O’Neill and Alan McHugh.

“Ah, no, look, they're honest boys. They've been honest all year, you know. And they do, they're fit for anything really, I suppose, that's thrown at them, you know. 

“They were fortunate enough to get a goal. It was a mistake in our back line, and that was a big score in the game.

“And that two-pointer that they got just before the end of normal time was, like it's the kind of score that wins games. It was a huge score and very well taken.  But no, our boys reacted well, reacted well up the field, and took the game to extra-time..

“They have been very good, doing a lot of things that we kind of wanted them to do, they've done them very well. It was just down to  very small margins, you know.

“But that’s the level that you have to have to reach a MacRory final,” said O’Donnell, who felt the standard in the game was very high.

“ Ah, yeah, it's massive. That's as good a game of football as you'll get. And it had a bit of everything in it.

“And we knew that before we started this year. We knew that, but the boys put in a huge effort.  Like, I mean, even for us to get back to the stage was  big; it was an uphill climb after the disappointment of last year.

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“And they really bought into it this year and they've done everything we asked of them. So, I couldn't be prouder of them. Yeah, and they'll learn a lot from this when they go to play for the clubs after playing in a match like that.

“You're at a very high level, high standard, high everything. And the stakes are high too, unfortunately, and today we're on the other end of it.”