St Erngat’s Moneyglass manager Maxi Curran said he was confident that there is “more to come” from his side after their All-Ireland Ladies SFC final defeat against Kilkerrin-Clonberne.
Despite a solid first-half showing, the Antrim and Ulster champions were undone by a 15-minute scoring blitz from holders Kilkerrin in the second half as the Galway side triumphed 2-8 to 1-5 to collect their fifth successive All-Ireland title.
But Curran was encouraged by the showing from his young side in their first final against a strong outfit.
“It was disappointing, but we knew it was going to be a massive challenge. You don’t go on a run of five years and 53-odd games unbeaten and not have a serious level of quality in their group and that’s what they have,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“Experience is a big thing and we didn’t have very much of it and they have a bucketful of it, but ultimately their quality shone through in the end. We made too many unforced errors, whether that be nerves or what not but that was the difference.
“We made more mistakes, and they were clinical and whatever mistakes they did make we didn’t punish them as they did to us.”
‘Hopefully it is the start of something’
Few would have expected the five-in-a-row Antrim champions to even reach the grand stage of Croke Park at the start of the year.
They finally claimed a first Ulster title in November with an emphatic 3-10 to 0-6 final victory over Errigal Ciaran.
With confidence high, they then sprung a surprise in the All-Ireland semi-finals as they edged past Kilmacud Crokes 1-12 to 1-10.
Overcoming fellow history makers Kilkerrin proved a step too far this year, but Curran was keen to reflect on a successful campaign and feels his players will be driven to come back stronger next year.
“Hopefully it is the start of something. It is a very young team and a very young group, and you’d like to think there is more to come,” he continued.
“We’re immensely proud of what the girls have done, they have brought a lot of pride to the parish, to Antrim and the province. It was a big scalp to get past Kilmacud and even Clann Eireann in the Ulster semi-final.
“When the dust settles and they look at their Ulster medals, hopefully they will feel proud of what they’ve done. Getting the Ulster monkey off our back was huge this year and that will surely give us a bit of confidence. I think the future is very bright for Moneyglass.”
