"We have players there that wouldn’t shirk the moment"- Monasterevan boss Lonergan proud of his side's bottle in adversity

“Pride is really the right word,” stated Monasterevan manager Brian Lonergan when asked to sum up his feelings after witnessing his side battle through to a county final on Saturday afternoon.

It took two meetings with St Kevin’s and a couple of periods of extra-time to separate two times who have proven that there is very little between them, but it was the men in blue who edged over the line to take their place in a county final against Two Mile House.

Monasterevan have shown plenty of bottle in recent games, and on Saturday they had that in spades as they managed to come through a game where they played with 14 men for around 40 minutes after John O’Toole’s 21st minute dismissal.

“It was a tremendous effort,” Lonergan told KildareNow.

“We played a lot of the game down to 14 men and we got a late score to equalise – I thought we worked tremendously hard all the way through and the lads just battled and fought for every 50/50 ball. You couldn’t fault them for effort. We’re proud of where we’ve come from this year because it’s a young team, and when the lads go out and play for the jersey and play for the badge like they did for one another today.”

Asked in particular about the red card for O’Toole and how the sideline reacted to their numerical disadvantage, Lonergan explained that their structure never really changed but the players battened down the hatches and gelled together very well.

“I didn’t see the incident, but losing a man always puts you under a bit of pressure,” he said.

“I suppose at that stage it was just about riding it out and getting in to half-time and trying to reorganise. In fairness to the lads, in the last eight or 10 minutes of the first half we actually drove on and got a couple of scores to put us into a better position than we were before John was sent off. You could only be happy by how they responded.”

It was the second week in a row in which the south Kildare men required a late score into the Town End of St Conleth’s Park to deny St Kevin’s victory, with Wayne Fitzpatrick doing the honours this time around after Lenny Havens had secured a draw seven days earlier.

“I always felt that if we got a chance we have players there that wouldn’t shirk the moment and would stand up,” smiled the manager.

“Wayne kicked an excellent free into a difficult wind when everyone probably realised it was the last kick of the game. He struck it magnificently and we really stood up in extra-time and getting back to 15 men was huge.”

There is little time to dwell in the glory of their victory on Saturday, with attention turning to the county final almost immediately. Important players like Padraig Nash and DJ Earley were carrying injuries during the extra-time period, while John O’Toole will miss the final through suspension unless Monasterevan launch an appeal that is successful.

Lonergan is sure that the momentum his side have built will stand them in good stead in the coming weeks however, and this week will be just about ensuring bodies are fresh for Sunday.

“For us, over the few weeks I think we’ve been out four or five weeks in a row. I think it’s Saturday to Saturday, week on week, and as you say we have tonnes of momentum now. I think that’s six games in the championship unbeaten – including the replay – so you’d take that any time going into a final.

“We’ve a lot of sore bodies and it’s kind of hard to assess the way we are at the moment. Emotions are running high and lads’ adrenaline is carrying them through. Tomorrow morning we’ll have a proper assessment of where we are, and this week hopefully will be about making sure that we’re fresh rather than fit next weekend. That’s our biggest hurdle at the moment; making sure we have fresh bodies coming onto the field next Sunday.”