OF all the blows Sleacht Néill have absorbed on the All-Ireland stage, this was the kidney punch.
You can make arguments that in different ways, they were close against Ballyhale, Ballygunner and Na Piarsaigh. But this was an opportunity far beyond what any of their previous four attempts had given them.
Midway through the second half, Ruairi Ó Mianáin pushes them three clear of Munster champions Sarsfields. In the 20 minutes leading up to it, Ulster’s best had outscored the Cork men by 0-8 to 0-2.
But it slipped through their fingers. The last-minute chance fell to Mark McGuigan but, rushed by goalkeeper Ben Graham, his shot flew up and over the bar. Croke Park was there looking at them. Instead it will be Sarsfields and Na Fianna of Dublin in January.
“Trying to find the words. Cruel, is one adjective I suppose. Heartbreaking. Just the reality it’s over,” said Emmet’s boss Paul McCormack.
“That’s the thing, like it’s ‘that’s it now, it’s real’. It’s not where we wanted to end, like. And we were determined to win this match and go to Croke Park, represent Sleacht Néill in Croke Park
“It wasn’t a pretty game, but we were in it. Nobody could tell me there was any difference between the two teams. It’s just so cruel. Sport’s cruel at times.
“You put in so much and then you fall off, fall short just by one or two small wee breaks the ball or incisions or plays. They’ve done their best, they couldn’t have done any more. They represented themselves so well again.”
There in the game’s minutiae is the omnipresent figure of referee James Owens.
Sleacht Néill missed enough chances for it not to have mattered, although Sarsfields would say the same.
Whatever about the individual calls, the difference between the way he refereed a stop-start first half that had no flow to it and how he handled the second half was notable.
“I thought we were harshly done by a few times, you know,” said McCormack
“Referee was, it was nearly like a polar opposite, the first half, the second half, but it was the same for both teams, I suppose.
“Nobody really knew what he was doing or what he was going to blow. Maybe we got a few harsh calls, maybe they’ll say the same.
“The crash ball, I suppose, they’re coming in and it breaks two inches either way and it doesn’t go for you
“It was just so, so small margins.”
McCormack singled out Fionn McEldowney – “if we could clone him” – and rightly so.
It was a strange afternoon where McEldowney’s direct opponent Jack O’Connor had a huge impact and won TG4′s man of the match award, yet McEldowney’s own performance typified so much of what was good about Sleacht Néill.
“You would have thought it was an equal, but Jack O’Connor is an inter-county quality player, and Fionn McEldownney’s an 18-year-old slack-kneed, you know, so that’s the beauty of this championship, that those men can come up against each other, and I know the entry men meet after the match and shake hands there, I know that the two of them, they came in the battle, and one person said Jack wins it, the other person said Fionn’s winning it.
“Meehaul McGrath emptied himself there until he had to come off a dead leg, like, Brendan [Rogers], continuous, Shane [McGuigan].
“All them men just, they give their heart and soul for this club, like, and for the game, and just to try and get over the next line, and it’s so cruel that they’re not just gonna get an opportunity this year to play in Croke Park in January.”
Crueller than it’s ever been.
