‘It just wasn’t our day’ – Brendan Walsh

BY MATTHEW WILSON

GLENSWILLY minor manager Brendan Walsh was disappointed in the immediate aftermath of his side’s Division 1 Championship Final defeat to Four Masters on Monday.

The Pairc Naomh Columba residents produced a fine display against Gaoth Dobhair in the last four however, Four Masters put six goals past them on Monday to seal their fourth successive minor title.

The Glenswilly boss expressed that you’re looking for trouble when you give the Donegal Town men an early cushion like they did at O’Donnell Park on Monday afternoon.

“Goals win games, we gave away a few bad goals in the first half. Before half-time we brought the deficit back to about eight but we just couldn’t get going in the second half at all.”

“Four Masters are a class outfit. They’re a good team and when you give them a head start like that then there is no pegging them back.”

“I think that’s four in-a-row now that they have won so you don’t win that by being a bad team and you just can’t be giving away goals like we gave away.”

“Every day is a learning day and the challenge now for us is to learn from this and move on. Some of the boys will be moving on to play adult football and some of them will be playing minor again next year. It just wasn’t our day today.”

The Division 1 showpiece was finely poised for the opening quarter although a fruitful spell which saw Emmett Gallagher’s side score three goals in five minutes left them in a commanding position.

The Glenswilly men continued to battle right until the end but they were unable to claw back the early deficit that they found themselves in.

“Most definitely, we just couldn’t clear our heads at all. They got three or four goals in quick succession there and it took the wind out of our sails.”

“In fairness to our boys, they battled to the very end and they kept their discipline. It would have been very easy to lose your head and do something silly but our boys respect their jersey and respect the club too much to do that.”

“They kept going, plugging away and we thought we might’ve bagged a goal or two but in the end it just wasn’t to be.”

Despite the defeat on Monday, the future certainly looks bright at Pairc Naomh Columba.

Glenswilly have found themselves in numerous underage finals in recent years, with them reaching the Division 1 Final at Under 16 and Under 18 level this term.

A couple of their minor group have already been utilised by senior manager Gary McDaid this season and Walsh is hoping that more players within the squad can make the jump going forward.

“Our Under 16s and minors have now made the county final, both of us have come up short against Four Masters.”

“That’s the challenge now, is to get these boys up and playing senior football. Some of them already are and hopefully moving forward there will be plenty of bigger and better days for them.”