Ciaran Thompson: ‘Thankfully I came good in the second half’

Naomh Conaill may have gone into Saturday’s final as the underdogs but that was not how experienced midfielder Ciaran Thompson saw it.

Thompson kicked four massive second half points and insisted afterwards that he was confident they were going to win.  

“We came here today as underdogs but we were supremely confident for the last couple of weeks,” Thompson said. “We just knew we were never going to be beaten today. We showed that in the first half  that we came to win.I thought we should have been closer if not ahead at half-time only for they scored a slippy goal before half-time.”

Naomh Conaill trailed by two points, 1-3 to 0-4, at half-time and Charlie McGuinness’s goal put them on their way to a 1-9 to 2-5 win.

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“We knew we had a bit of a breeze with us in the second half but we knew it was not going to be easy and we knew that we had to knuckle down and go at them,” Thompson said. I think we showed great fight after they levelled the game with their second goal to pull away again and then to hold on to win.”  

After a quiet first half by his own high standards, Thompson stepped in the second half when the heat was on.

“I wasn’t in it  much in the first half but thankfully I came good in the second half and kicked a few scores and I was happy with that,” he said. 

On what the win meant for the club and team, Thompson said: ”It was a massive game and it was good to get over the line at the end. It means everything to the community. You see the crowd here today how much it means to them. And the fact the reserves won too was brilliant. It was great to complete the double.”