Skipper O’Flaherty lauds unwavering belief
By James Hayden
Nenagh Ormond captain Kevin O’Flaherty lauded his sides “unwavering belief” following their astonishing victory over a shell-shocked UCC in the AIL Division 1A Promotion Playoff final.
“That was pure heart, nothing else,” he said of the two late tries which saw Nenagh come from behind.
“We have backed ourselves and our bench from day one, and we knew they would make such a big impact and today again they were just outstanding. They transitioned straight in seamlessly and they just continued on.”
Agreeing that the nature of the victory following Josh Rowland’s last gasp winning try deep in time added was akin to something out of a ‘Roy of the Rovers’ story, the Nenagh captain heaped praise upon the resolve and determination within the team.
“In the first half they lived off our mistakes and we knew that if we could curtail our mistakes in the second half, we would be well in with a shout,” O’Flaherty added.
“At home, our supporters have been sensational all year and the support was phenomenal. We knew we had the faith and belief in ourselves, and our mentality has been just second to none.
“Take Davy Gleeson for example who received a fair bit of stick from their fans in the first half and then came back on late in the game to provide the pass to send Josh Rowland in for the winning try. That just shows the mentality within the team.
He added: “We have so much faith and belief in the squad, and we knew that if we got the opportunity, we would take it.
“The penalty try was a huge boost to us, but we still had to push on at that stage, despite the clock being against us. We still had to go and find the winning try and thankfully it all came together for us.”
Regarding the officiating, Kevin agreed that a number of borderline decisions did go against the home side, particularly in the first half.
“It was swings and roundabouts really and it came back around really in the closing stages,” added the Nenagh captain who paid tribute to the pack, particularly the scrum was steady throughout.
“We knew they had a really strong scrum and we worked on that this week,” he revealed.
“We knew that if we could get over the gain-line on the set that we would be able to match them. We wanted to exert ourselves on what wouldn’t be an experienced pack as ours and we wanted to make our experience count.
“When you look at the likes of Matty Burke who is 22 and didn’t play for the first half of the year and he worked and worked week in and week out. He got his opportunity, and he has come into the club and bought into every single thing we do. That’s all we want.
“When you bring players into the club all you want them to do is embrace the club culture and that’s what they do. That’s all we want.”
Paying tribute to the home supporters, the Nenagh captain said the honour of leading his side on to the pitch and seeing the huge crowd in attendance is a sight he will never forget.
“Walking out and seeing the crowd and hearing the crowd is something that I will never forget. I have never seen the likes of it. We spoke about it under the posts after their try which put them eleven points clear and said we just can’t disappoint this crowd and thankfully we didn’t,” he concluded.