'We knew it would be tight' admits relieved Dowdall

Winning manager Paddy Dowdall felt his players’ greater level of experience was key to the outcome on Sunday. A St Loman’s side appearing in their ninth successive senior final were always strong enough to respond when Coralstown/Kinnegad threatened in the second half.

“Our big players stood up when it was needed and that was the difference. When you have a bench where you can bring on TJ Cox and Kelvin Reilly and Conor O’Donoghue - brilliant guys - (it makes a difference),” he beamed.

“Three times they got level in the second half: if they got ahead, mentally, it could have affected us, but I don’t think it would have. We have been in this situation before and that’s the key thing: Kinnegad haven’t been here for 25 years, but this experience will do wonders for them.”

Dowdall was not surprised by how tight and tactical Sunday's final was.

“It was a very tight game and we knew it would be that way. It’s the fourth time we have played this year; we drew in one and they beat us in one by three or four points, but thankfully we came through it today,” he remarked.

Having led by 0-5 to 0-1 at half-time, Dowdall said the message to his players was to continue working hard at their counter attacking game.

“The big thing for us is that we just refocused; we had the experience in the team. We had to work as a unit and try and break, or transition, really quickly to get scores. But we found it difficult to do that and they levelled three times in the second half.

“We found it very hard to get a free and missed a couple of scores, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” he observed.

Victory was the culmination of a long year for St Loman’s, who were denied in last year’s final by The Downs.

“I was just saying to Paul Devine that we met on November 29 last and set out a plan of what we wanted and our ultimate goal was to win the county final, but from then to now, that group of players have been fantastic,” he declared.