Errigal Ciaran ‘died with their boots on’ as Enda McGinley takes solace from second half showing against Cuala
Their 11-game Championship odyssey ended with two cups instead of the three they had desired, yet Enda McGinley feels their second half showing in the face of adversity illustrated what Errigal Ciaran are about.
The Tyrone and Ulster champions endured a nightmare first half in Sunday’s All-Ireland final loss to Cuala in Croke Park.
Just about everything that could go wrong for McGinley’s side did as they shipped three goals in the opening half while also losing their star player and captain Darragh Canavan after he shipped a knee to the head.
Read more: Recap as Errigal Ciaran fightback falls short as Cuala hold on to clinch All-Ireland Club crown
Both Canavan brothers were taken to hospital after the game for precautionary checks with Ruairi also suffering from concussion late on.
Trailing by 13 points at half-time, McGinley admitted he felt the game was beyond his charges, but he asked them to return to the pitch for the second half and deliver a showing more befitting of the Dunmoyle men.
“There was an acceptance that it was a disaster for the first half, that the team froze but there was a reality check that Cuala are good but they’re not that much better than us and we’re not that bad,” said McGinley.
“So whatever was going on in the first half it was not because we were playing against a team that was 10 levels too much for us.
“That meant it was on us to settle ourselves and just go. It’s been a long year, they’ve played some fantastic football, got themselves out of tight corners, repeatedly showing huge character, repeatedly showing good quality.
“This was the last 30 minutes of the year and after all they’ve been through, they owed it to themselves to give the final 30 minutes. If you’re going to die, you die with your boots on and they done that.”
From being 13 points in arrears at half-time, Errigal mounted a stunning second half fightback led by Tyrone captain Peter Harte, who scored 1-2 including a remarkable goal from 20 metres.
They reduced the gap to three points with two minutes of normal time, but Cuala had enough substitute Conor Groarke scored the insurance point in stoppage-time as the Dublin and Leinster side collected their first senior All-Ireland Club SFC title with Errigal also losing Harte to a red card.
“What happened in the first half can happen any team - it is just sport sometimes,” added McGinley.
“You are then in a very difficult place and you have to respond.
“The boys went at it and made a game of it to their absolute eternal credit. That second half won’t make the first half any easier to stomach, but absolutely I’ll tell them to walk away with their heads held high.
“Cuala had built that wall in the first half, it was unlikely we were going to topple it completely but you just wanted to brick by brick try and start knocking it down and see where it took you.
“Games are strange - if a team has a big lead and you get it down to six or five, suddenly the pressure and that changes and you end up giving yourself a bit of a chance and we almost did but we came up short and that’s not surprising. Given our first half performance, we wouldn’t have deserved to win it.”
Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox
