“They kept going until the bitter end’ | Newcastle West manager Jimmy Lee heaps praise on his players after Munster SFC final defeat

NCW were competing in only their second ever Munster Senior Football final, with the first coming in 1987.

It wasn’t to be for Jimmy Lee and Newcastle West in their Munster Senior Football Championship final as they lost out to Kerins O’Rahilly’s by a single point, with the score ending 2-6 to 1-8 in Mallow on Saturday.

The final was an opportunity for each side to clinch their first ever Munster SFC title, with both teams only making their second appearance in the decider in their history.

And Newcastle West held the advantage in a low-scoring first half, going into the interval with a 0-4 to 0-3 lead but things would quickly change in the second half. A blistering opening ten minutes saw the Kerry outfit score 2-2 before NCW hit the back of the net through Mike McMahon. But the second goal for Kerins was the dagger for the Magpies.

They struggled to get the better of the Kerry outfit although they got within a point of Strand Road in additional time but that was as close as they could get before the final whistle was blown in Mallow.

Reflecting on the match, NCW manager Jimmy Lee believes the second goal was the turning point but there may have been things they could have done differently to maintain their first-half lead.

“We were [in a good place in the first half]. Look, it’s easy to look back in hindsight, you know there’s probably stuff we could have done differently but at the same time we were still up going in [to half-time].

“They got a goal, probably just after half-time which was significant and it took us time to come from it, when we came from it then we got a goal, getting ourselves back into the game and then we left ourselves open at the back and look, that’s life.”

Despite the sheer disappointment of the loss, Lee was quick to heap praise on his relatively young side as they draw an incredible season to an unfortunate end.

The manager described the season as a ‘journey of character’ for his players as they completed a feat for the club that hadn’t been replicated in 35 years by reaching the final.

“I’m extremely, extremely proud of them young lads inside there. They are as good a young fellas that I’ve met, I’m extremely proud of the fact they should be proud of themselves, their families should be proud of them, the club is proud of them and the town is proud of them.

They’ve gone on a massive journey of character in themselves. Yes, it’s hard to take, it’s fine margins, the ball could’ve went this way that way and we could’ve been in the dressing room singing and cheering but unfortunately you’ve to take it on the chin as well.

“That’s the character of them young lads, they never threw in the towel they kept going until the bitter end and you’d have to stand up and admire them for that.”

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