O’Loughlin Gaels have been on a fantastic run of form, and very much deserved their position in the All-Ireland final.
Unfortunately, this time was not to be, as they fell short to a tough St Thomas’s side with the final score reading St Thomas’ 0-18 O’Loughlin Gaels 0-17. Our on-field reporter caught up with O’Loughlin Gaels selector Nigel Skehan after the match, this is what he had to say-
“We did not play well enough in the second half; we were not good enough on the ball. We lost the game, lost a bit of structure there when they lost the man and you know, it was hugely disappointing.”
One of the many controversies in this game was the moment when O’Loughlin Gaels scored a clear goal, which was then later disallowed. This turned out to be a crucial moment in the game as they went on to lose by a point.
“There was a massive goal missed in the first half with the goal decision. Ridiculous decision to be honest with you and I am going to be straight about it, I am not going to beat about the bush, a ridiculous decision. How they got it wrong I have no idea”
Nigel goes on to talk about the disappointment of coming so far and losing by just one point in their biggest game of the season but also mentions that the refereeing decisions were bad on both sides and affected both teams heavily.
“I wouldn’t think the sending off was a sending off either to be fair to James Regan. There were a lot of heavy hits in the game, probably unfortunate really that he got a red card.”
“Ah yeah look, you know when you get this far there’s only one thing you want you know and that’s sitting down in Tullamore today, we were on a mission to win an all-Ireland and just came up a point short against you know a very good team in St Thomas’s and we congratulate them wholeheartedly”.
