‘We couldn’t come into the dressing room and say we were unlucky’ | Newcastle West captain Iain Corbett on learning from 2021 Munster SF defeat

The Magpies were eliminated from the Munster Senior Football Championship at the semi-final stage last year.

Newcastle West are preparing for their first Munster Senior Football Club Championship in 35 years as they face Kerins O’Rahilly’s of Kerry this Saturday in Pairc Ui Rinn.

Jimmy Lee’s men ended their wait for a final berth against Clonmel Commercials less than a fortnight ago securing a 1-16 to 1-11 win in Semole Stadium.

The Limerick SFC champions failed to make it past the last four on two occasions in the last seven years with a quarter-final defeat also to their name in that time frame. Commercials were responsible in 2015, Nemo Rangers four years later while last year it was eventual runners-up Austin Stacks.

The defeat in 2021 has breathed new life into the Newcastle West squad as they’re yet to lose a championship game since the loss. They’ve gone on to seal a Limerick SFC title in stunning fashion, winning each of their seven games including a county final win over Adare.

Leading the team on the day of the Munster championship heartbreak was captain Iain Corbett who believes the defeat was a driving factor for NCW’s superb season. The result highlighted the areas of improvement and Corbett and co set about learning from it immediately.

“We were just beaten by a better team, we couldn’t come into the dressing room and say we were unlucky.

“Probably going into the off-season it showed us we still have massive strides to be making if we want to compete at that level. We just took it on the chin, look it was a tough day out, take the learnings from it and move on.”

Corbett has been a part of the Newcastle West set up since 2010, including a year at Junior. But having claimed four Limerick SFC titles, twice as many as they had won in their history up to that point, Corbett is keen to go one further on Saturday.

He’s experienced the lows of Munster semi and quarter-final defeats but will be looking to make more history and become the first Newcastle West captain to guide his team to Munster Senior Football honours.

Newcastle West face Kerins O’Rahillys this Saturday at 7.30pm in Pairc Ui Rinn in the Senior Munster Club Football Championship Final.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Accept YouTube Content