McKeague praises Cuchullains attack
By Brendan McTaggart
James McKeague, Dunloy winning Captain. He’s been there, done that and seen everything there is to see in a Dunloy shirt. He’s been part of the lows as well as the highs and he was one happy Cuchullain after the match. He told us that he felt that they were well in the game at half time despite trailing by three points: “I knew it was in us. I’ve been quietly confident for the last week, the last two weeks. We’ve been building towards this and in the second half we showed what we’re capable off. In the first half we were maybe a bit lazy with some of our play but in the second half we came out and put on a show.
“We knew we had the backs to put in a strong display, in the first half we lacked composure and maybe a bit of fear but in the second half we really took the game to Cushendall. We started to play the game on our terms, started to run at them and you see where it got us. Champions!”
The Dunloy Captain told us that how they played at the start of the second half was their plan for the start of the first but they just couldn’t find their game in the first 30 minutes: “That was the plan from the start. We wanted to open them up as we have the pace and power up front to do the damage but I think we played a little within ourselves. It gave us a good platform though. We knew that we hadn’t really started to hurl to our potential and we were only three points behind.”
The Cuchullains put in a hugely impressive defensive display, conceding just two points in the opening 25 minutes before the late goals from Conor Carson and Paddy Burke. McKeague told us: “I didn’t realise that. Suppose it shows how much you are engrossed in the game. The backs job was made a lot easier by the work that was put in by the forwards. They were relentless with their harassing and tackling. They were a nightmare for the Cushendall back six. The ball just wasn’t allowed out of their defence handy at any stage. They stuck at it, we stuck to our task and it shows the attitude that this team has. There’s a never-say-die spirit and thankfully we got over the line.”
Eight years has been a long time for a team with the recent history of Dunloy in the Championship and the Cuchullains Captain finished off by adding that he knew he would be part of another successful Dunloy team: “I always believed it and hopefully there’ll be another couple yet.”
Dunloy captain James McKeague (left) and Cushendall captain Martin Burke with match referee Mark O’Neill
Dismissals had no bearing – Cushendall Captain Martin Burke
By Brendan McTaggart
Cushendall Captain Martin Burke was stood with his team on the Ballycastle pitch listening to his Cuchullain counterpart give his acceptance speech. You could tell he wanted to get off the pitch asap but he still found time to give us his thoughts on the final: “We’re gutted, you would think we’d be well used to it by now with our record in finals but it never gets any easier. I think the day belongs to Dunloy and fair play to them. They were well deserved winners.
“We were quite happy at half time and if anything we felt that we could be further ahead, just lacked a bit of composure at the crucial times. In the second half, we didn’t perform at all and Dunloy did, that’s where it was won and lost.”
Cushendall lost their star forward and talisman Neil McManus with 15 minutes remaining, Burke told us that he felt that the loss McManus didn’t have a huge bearing on the outcome when he explained: “Getting a man sent off always has a huge impact on the game but I think that Dunloy were well on top of us at that stage anyway. It wasn’t as if it swung the game in their favour at that time.”
After losing in the 2016 decider to Loughgiel, the Ruairi’s felt that they left no stone uncovered in the run up to Sunday’s final, Burke told us that the day belonged to the Cuchullains while he and his team will spend the winter assessing where it went wrong for them on the day: “It’s the million-dollar question for us at this stage. We felt like we were the best prepared we could possibly be coming into today’s match. We’ll take the winter off and we’ll come back all being well next year again.
“We’ve lost enough but we’ve won a few as well. You have to give credit to Dunloy though. When you’re playing a team that haven’t been to a final in so long and haven’t won it for a while then they’re going to be hungry and playing a team with that hunger can be a major problem in itself.
“Well done Dunloy, they deserved it on today’s performance and I hope they enjoy themselves.”