Castlebar Mitchels defender Alan Feeney was full of praise for victors in Monday's All Ireland club final, but at the same time said he believed he and his team-mates didn't live up to their abilities on the day. “Gutted, I don't think we preformed to our full potential today which is kinda disappointing, but at the same time Vincent's we're very strong and on the day they were the better team and the better team won, so we can't make any gripes about it.”
Feeney who saw his brother Richie receive his marching orders with a black card five minutes into the game, said he didn't know if it would have had much baring on the outcome of the contest if his brother had stayed on the field. “Yah, it seems every time he comes to an All Ireland final, something controversial happens. It's this new rule the black card, I think it's a bit controversial they brought it in half-way through a competition like ours. I know what they a trying to achieve with it, but it's harsh brining it in for a semi-final and a final. At the same time I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference, Vincent's were much stronger on the day, look it these things happen, for it to happen so quick and to lose such an influential player, it was disappointing for us, but I don't think it effected the result. We kicked on from there and I don't think it would have effected the result in the end.”
Feeney was particularly disappointed with the way his side conceded the four goals they did. “We knew they were strong in the half-forward line and the four goals we let in they were sloppy enough, there was a lot we could have done to stop them. Their half-forward line was running at us, there were two on ones a few times and that killed us. The goals killed us, they came at crucial times, we were just after getting a goal in the second half through Danny Kirby and that had kinda swung the momentum our way, then they came down and got a goal straight away, which took the wind out of our sales a bit and they kicked on from there. It was going to be hard to come back after that.”
While the hurt is still raw for now, when the look back on the year they can be proud of what the achieved and the potential for the future the Mitchels defender said. “When we look back at it we can be very proud of what we achieved as a whole this year. It took us so long to get out of Mayo for years, to get to an All Ireland final is great achievement for us, but we wanted to win it and that's what's disappointing now. When we get a chance to look back on it we'll get to see we had a good season and that we can kick on from there. There is he potential there, you look at the two Durcan's, Aidan Walsh, Danny Kirby these lads are only from 20 to 22 or 23, so there's a lot young lads there with serious potential and to play in an All Ireland final at that age is only going to stand to them and hopefully they can grow stronger from that and go on.”
