'If you don't turn up the next day, you are going to get burned' - Haven looking to hit form for final
Castlehaven Manager James McCarthy at Fraher Field. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady
If the heavy favourites tag fed into Castlehaven’s sluggish semi-final start, James McCarthy expects the underdogs tag to have them primed for the provincial decider.
The Haven’s victory over Rathgormack was still warm when McCarthy announced they’d head into the final against Dingle second on the grid.
"A Cork-Kerry final, what more do you want,” said the Castlehaven manager.
“Looking forward to it. They will be favourites. If we perform... but we haven't performed. That happens after county finals alright (referencing their displays against Rathgormack and Cratloe).
“There'll be no hiding the next day. If you don't turn up the next day, you are going to get burned.
“For us as a group, this is our goal. We want to win a Munster.”
Kick only one point in the opening 17 minutes and hand Dingle a four-point head-start, as they did in Dungarvan, and there’ll be no Munster silverware being shipped back to Castletownshend and Union Hall.
The collective attitude at throw-in, no more than the collective radar, was off. Had they expected to stroll a Munster semi-final.
“Everybody looks at the bookies and everybody looks at the odds. It is hard to get that out of players' heads sometimes,” McCarthy continued.
“As well as that, you have a long journey coming down here, and we stayed overnight, which was something new for a lot of the younger fellas.
“The bottom line is that we weren't at the races for the first quarter of an hour there. We gave them a good start, you might say. The positives were that when they went four up, we kicked the next seven. And we were delighted with that.” Finding composure in possession, rather than rushing to find a Hurley or the target, turned the contest in their favour.
“We started taking the right options. We were trying to force it a bit early on, kicking the ball in. We started to hold possession a bit more and be more patient in getting our kickers on the ball. Michael was getting the space today, where maybe Brian or Jack (Cahalane) wasn't.
“We defended fairly well, bar the sloppy goal we gave away. Their man finished it well, but it was sloppy on our part. But after that, we defended well. Now, we wouldn't be happy with our turnovers. We gave away too much ball coming out of defence.
“We were four up in the second period, and we slackened a bit to let them back to two. But the reaction when it went to two was excellent. We controlled the game from there to finish.
“To be in a Munster final is outstanding.”
