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"It's A Fantastic Competition" - Coolera-Strandhill Selector Praised For Interview After Loss To Cuala

"It's A Fantastic Competition" - Coolera-Strandhill Selector Praised For Interview After Loss To Cuala
Niall McIntyre
By Niall McIntyre Updated
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Despite having only scored three points by half-time, Coolera-Strandhill put it up to Cuala in the second half, losing out by five in their All-Ireland semi-final clash.

A string of sensational second half points from the likes of Mark McDaniel, Niall Murphy and captain Peter Laffey raised the tension in Breffni Park, but Cuala responded to the challenge.

Con O'Callaghan led the charge for the Dublin champs with another man-of-the-match showing but he was assisted by the likes of David O'Dowd and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne who lifted their game, seeing the club through to their first All-Ireland club final on a final score of 0-14 to 0-9.

Coolera-Strandhill selector Con O'Meara rued that his team underperformed in the first half but praised their response in the second half.

He says they've brought great pride to their community having backed up the Sligo championship with wins over Ballina Stephenites and Padraig Pearses.

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O'Meara also spoke glowingly of TG4, complimenting them for their coverage of the team throughout the year, drawing great praise for a philosophical interview in the face of defeat.

"You can make excuses about the break and all that kind of thing but I think the occasion maybe got to us," O'Meara said.

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"We re-gathered at half-time saying 'we've been here before, let's go at it.'

"And when we went at it, it looked at a stage, it got back to two points, Cuala looked rattled for the first time in a while but in fairness to them, and I know Austin (O'Malley) well, he has them well drilled and when they were under pressure, Con helped to dig them out.

"They're a really good team, the best team that we played all year and we've played some good teams."

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"In fairness to the (Coolera-Strandhill) lads, it shows great grit, at four points down at half-time, they could have said this is too tough. They dug in and dug in again. It's been a massive year for our club. These guys have given so much."

O'Meara hailed his team for inspiring clubs in Sligo and further afield, before thanking TG4 for their efforts.

"It's the hard work that they do. When you have that belief within the group, for any club that's out there looking in, I'm sure there's clubs in Sligo, saying that could be us next year."

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"It's an absolutely fantastic competition and I must say fair play to ye Micheal on behalf of GAA teams everywhere, the coverage ye give it is superb."

Read More: Pair Of Outstanding Scores Send Errigal To First-Ever All-Ireland Final

 

 

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