Coolderry's long and winding road to Croke Park

[tacmot]

Brilliant piece POTH, tanks very much for you kind words.hope you enjoyed the book. Heres hoping we will achieve the top honour thst any young lad sets out to do when he pulls on the jersey for the first time to represent his club.
tanx to all posters that wished us well.

[jimbob17]

best of luck to coolderry, just need to keep the heads right and not get carried away as i think the bookies are well off the mark. it is really set up well for loughiel but i think if coolderry play to their potential, they should have enough, best of luck to all concerned

[Plain of the Herbs]

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that reaction. Thanks to everyone who posted their appreciation of my opening post. Hopefully it added something to the buildup.

Durra1, the Volunteer Cup is possibly the finest pieces of silverware in sport. If you ever do the tour of the North Antrim coast, there’s a hurling scene painted on the gable of a pub in Cushendall. The Volunteer Cup is painted on the wall too.

There won’t be a wink of sleep slept in Coolderry (or Loughgiel for that matter) tonight, with the excitement. Can you imagine? It must feel like a Childhood Christmas.

En route to the 1995 Club Final, the Lusmagh bus broke down on the way into Rochfortbridge. As we waited to be rescued, and as the lightning cracked off an ESB pole just up the road, full-back and character-in-chief Tom Kelly remarked “it’s a good job we’re not in the Final of the club championship today”. Tomorrow Tom’s son Brian lines out for Coolderry in the club Final.

The Very Best to Coolderry tomorrow.

[Toxicity234]

Good luck to Coolderry.
time for an Inspirational Speech.

http://youtu.be/WO4tIrjBDkk

[Toxicity234]

Just back.
I think Coolderry should be dissapointed.
they didn't show us for the 1st half and the 4 goals killer the game.
Thank god for Kevin, Joe Brady and Ryan at 13 or they could have being even further behind.

The second half was the Coolderry we were hope for. they put everything they had into it. Played, fought and use the ball much better.
Connnelly Pace is unbelievable.

Getting to a Club All Ireland was great for Coolderry and there young player will always have that experience of being there on the big day.
experience is nothing if you don't use it. that the challage for all players.

[kinnittyman]

The first ten minutes I thought were crucial in the game. It's a pity we couldn't get our hands on a territory stat for that period as Coolderry seemed to absolutley own the ball yet they weren't converting this pressure into scores. Eoin Ryan was particulalry culpable as he dropped a couple of balls and I'm sure nerves had a part to play. The longer Loughiel were let off the hook the more they grew into the game and their confidence and belief in their hurling style grew. By half time the only Coolderry forwards who could be happy with their contributions were Cathal Parlon and to a lesser extent Brian Carroll. The other four were practically annoymous. Compare this to Loughiel's forward unit - Eddie McCloskey, Brendan McGarry, Joseph Scullion, Shay Casey and the phenomenol Liam Watson all had terrific first halves. And I also think the Coolderry midfield shaded the first half exchanges.

However the feeling was there throughout the course of Coolderry's extended run in the All-Ireland Championship that the big wide open spaces of Croke Park would be a bridge too far for their backs, particularly if faced against pacy forwards (and Loughiel have these in abundance), and this proved to be the case today. Trevor Corcoran couldn't keep tabs on Watson at all, Brian Kelly was caught terribly for the first goal and Alan Corcoran's attempted tackle in that same play was terrible. Add to this that the Coolderry wing backs hurled way too far up the field thus offering no protection to their full back line and we can see why Loughiel plundered four first half goals. A notable exception to this was Joe Brady who was absolutley outstanding and has been in every game along Coolderry's road to Croke Park.


All in all though, I think it fair to say that the better team on the day won. And I must say it was a privilige to be present to see a performance like the one Liam Watson gave today. 3-7 in an All-Ireland...talk about a man for the big day.

[kingscounty]

hard luck to coolderry , i feel sorry for the team but i feel more sorry for joe brady , he has being outstanding all year .if coolderry keep it together im sure your day will come, you did the county proud all year and gave hurling a great lift in the county.

[Bord na Mona man]

Hard luck Coolderry. They probably lacked a few more big ball winning 6 footers that Loughiel seemed to have more of.
They were knocked for 6 by the goals, pity it happened on today of all days,

[ryot]

4 or 5 Coolderry players were too easy pushed off the ball. Then they are the younger lads and should get stronger and more experienced over a couple of years.

Well done on making it all the way to the final.