‘We’ll take great memories from this campaign’ - Na Dúnaibh’s Barney Curran

For Na Dúnaibh Ladies it was not to be on Sunday in the All-Ireland Junior Club final against Mungret St Paul’s of Limerick in Parnell Park.

At the final whistle the Limerick girls were not flattered by their eight point victory and for Na Dúnaibh manager, Barney Curran, there were no excuses but he was happy his side gave their all.

“They gave everything. It’s hard to put into words. I was asked during the week what it meant to get to an All-Ireland final and I hadn’t really thought about it.

“It was a lovely occasion for the girls to be able to walk around behind the Artane Band on All-Ireland final day.

“But listen,  we have no complaints. We were beaten by a better team on the day. That’s the Limerick Intermediate champions and we’re the Donegal Junior champions and it puts it into perspective,” was how Curran reacted just after the final whistle.

The Donegal and Ulster champions were four points behind coming up to half-time at 0-6 to 0-2 but finished the half well, including seeing a very good goal chance go wide off the bottom of the upright.

“Listen,  we were getting the rub of the green all year and you’ll never win anything without that wee bit of luck and the luck wasn’t with us today. But ah listen, we have no qualms about it, Mungret were the better team on the day.”

Curran agreed that the firepower of the two inside Mungret forwards proved very difficult to defend against.

“When you look at the size of them, they were all big strong girls. And they were women, and I was taking on 15 year-olds and 16 year-olds there trying to  change the game.

“Ah listen,  the  girls in Downings have definitely done themselves proud for the year. The wee parish is busting with pride for this wee group of girls. I’m just heartbroken for them.

“I’ll be back at coaching again but these wee girls, really I don’t know what to say, I’m just lost for words.”

But looking at the positives, Curran says that the season overall has been brilliant for the girls and being in an All-Ireland final was not on the agenda at the start of the season.

“Holy God no. You couldn’t ask for more. You become county champions first and then you go to Ulster and you have a couple of really tight games and win again at home. It really kept the momentum going.

“These girls will play Intermediate next year and it will be another step up but they will stick together and consolidate.”

Not only for the girls, but getting to Sunday’s final must rank as the pinnacle of Barney Curran’s coaching career.

“It’s massive. I was saying to the girls I’ve been involved in All-Irelands with the college team and in Junior and Intermediate in Donegal and I was involved in Maxi’s (Curran) backroom team with Donegal as well as seniors, but when you do it with your own wee parish and we have only 800 in the parish.

“And when you come up here and everyone is behind you sitting up in the stand, it’s heartwarming. And listen, this is what the GAA is all about. These girls have been playing together since U-6 and all the way up.

“We’ll take great memories from it. At the minute it is a wee bit raw but I’m sure we get into the New Year and look back we’ll be happy enough with the year we had,” concluded Curran.