‘We’ll be massive underdogs the next day’ - Shane Curran
Caulry manager Shane Curran said he was proud of what his emerging side had achieved, after last Saturday’s victory over Athlone secured their place in the Westmeath SFC semi-finals.
“When Owen (Mooney), Oxy (Padraig Moran) and I came in two years ago, the job of work was to stabilise a club like this at Division 1 level and then see can you compete with teams like St Loman’s, The Downs and Kinnegad, which we have to. And the players have shown that they are at that table, but they have to learn to dine at it,” he said.
Caulry will face stern opposition in the form of Coralstown/Kinnegad in the last four, but with Westmeath captain Kevin Maguire in their ranks and the Baker brothers (Senan and Tadhg) in fine form, they deserve to be respected.
“The next game against Coralstown/Kinnegad, we will be massive underdogs. They beat us by 13 or 14 points the last day and it’s very difficult to close that gap in a few weeks. But we are going in the right direction and the players are learning all the time,” added former St Brigid’s and Roscommon goalkeeper Curran.
Reflecting on the 1-11 to 2-6 win over Athlone, Curran said: “We’re a young team and don’t believe in doing things easy, but when you’re learning the ropes at this level every action has a consequence. We had two lapses in concentration for the goals and if we don’t eradicate that from our game, it will be very difficult to go further.
“But the players have shown amazing character for the past two or three years; they have grown as a bunch; they’re a particularly young group and they are very committed to the cause of Caulry. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
A blend of youth and experience is playing its part as the Mount Temple side reached the senior semi-finals for what is believed to the first time (certainly the first time in the modern era).
Curran felt they were worthy of their victory over Athlone, but was concerned about the concession of the two goals.
“Young (Tadhg) Baker came up there and helped on the scoring front, contributing end passes a number of times. He’s 17 years of age. And Tiarnán O’Donovan. Then at the other end of the scale, we have Kevin (Maguire) and Ben (Moran) and those kind of lads. We controlled the game for large parts and were probably the better team by five or six points,” he remarked.
“But when you give away two goals, you’re always giving yourself work to do I thought, in the first half, we just didn’t keep the score board ticking (over). We were hit with a sucker punch goal, something we have to address. A team like Athlone will punish you and that’s what happened.
“They were ahead at half-time, but I felt if we came out with energy and gusto in the second half, and started playing football on the front foot, we had the forwards to hurt a team and that proved to be the point.”