Killoe Emmet Og boss Luke Dempsey praised the fighting quality of his team as they landed the longford championship.
Mark Hughes last gasp free, gave Killoe their 14th title after a 1-8 to 0-10 victory over Clonguish.
“The fighting qualities of Clonguish almost forced a draw” explained Dempsey. Clonguish having levelled the game from being three points down.
“It took great resilience, which we’ve seen from Killoe all year” declared Dempsey.
“Whether it was against Longford Slashers, Mullinalaghta in the championship, against Colmcille in the second-half, when they pulled it back to a point”.
“That resilience was what really pleased me” explained Dempsey. “We came out with that, point from the ever accurate Mark Hughes”.
The sides were tied four points a-piece at half-time in a game of small margins. Hughes goal early in the second-half set Killoe for victory, but Clonguish battled back.
“It was like a game of chess! He (Liam Belton) had his work really well done on our middle third” Dempsey explained. “They had a good go to man in Jack Duggan, he’s very hard to pin down for the entire game”.
“At four points all, it became real county final stuff” Dempsey added. ”Real championship raw football that really resilience and determination are going to win out”.
At that stage “game plans goes out the window, when your team are as closed down as Clonguish did to us”.
“To come out victorious, shows the character of the team” Dempsey declared, his side have led into the final minute of normal time.
“That on such a day, that when they were a bit below par, they still came out and won the Connolly cup”.
Leinster Championship campaign
Killoe will now face the winner of the St Loman's Mullingar and Shelmaliers in the Leinster quarter-final. The Westmeath and Wexford champions meet this Sunday.
