No excuses from Clonmel Commercials manager following defeat in Munster semi-final

While he described the amount of additional time played at the end of the 60 minutes as “frustrating”, Clonmel Commercials manager Tommy Morrissey refused to use it as an excuse for his team’s defeat by Newcastle West after extra time in last Sunday’s AIB Munster Club Senior Football Championship semi-final at FBD Semple Stadium.

“The amount of additional time played, it definitely was over what it was stated was going to be played (five minutes), so it was frustrating because they got a score in the last kick of that time as well”, he stated.

“In hindsight, we’re disappointed with it but the referee makes decisions on the day.

“Sometimes they go with you, sometimes they go against you. Again, that’s life.

“He (referee David Murnane) definitely wasn’t the reason we lost the game. Newcastle West are a very good side, and they have a huge opportunity now to go and win it. They have been knocking on the door for a few years so they’re entitled to feel they can win it.”

He described it as just one of those games where his team couldn’t consistently get a foothold.

“We were huffing and puffing and in and out of the game.

“We were constantly giving Newcastle a lifeline, we never got distance between them, which was a target of ours, to try and open them up a little because we knew they would be defensive but look, it just wasn’t meant to be.

“We didn’t perform, particularly in the first half. In the last two or three minutes we showed the way we can play (when they scored 1-2 to lead at half-time).

“But at that point we had given a lot of motivation and belief to Newcastle West so they carried that into the second half and it stood to them. They kept fighting to the end, which we knew to be fair they would do, and they got that equaliser deep in injury time. And then us going in with 13 men (after Kevin Fahey and Ciaran Cannon received black cards) was going to demand a lot of the team in extra time, so therefore they were tired.

“Even when the two boys came back in, you could see that lads had tired a lot after that work in the first eight, nine minutes of extra time. Look, sometimes sport is like that, you just know when it’s just not meant to be and it wasn’t our day today.

“When we went back out for extra time the boys were unbelievable, the 13 men on the field. We were arguably the better side for that first eight minutes, and we stayed in the game but it took so much out of us.

“When we got the black cards we had to draw the battlefield again in terms of who was playing where, and it disjointed us a bit. We were bringing Aldo Matassa and Conal Kennedy back into the defensive unit, which is not a normal position for the two boys, but they did very well, and as a result we were playing with one in the inside forward line, which again is difficult.

“Ultimately it’s 13 men behind the ball, which is not our style of football but look, we dug in and I couldn’t be prouder of the lads for the way they dealt with that frustration. We weren’t out of the game at that point, all it did was just tire us.

“We had a purple patch at the end of the first half and didn’t want the first half to end, the way we were finishing it. It was very disappointing to come out then in the second half and start a little bit sluggish.

“We knew that Newcastle West would play a different type of football and that it would be a slower game, and it would be a more frustrating game. They play that game and they play it well.

"They’re a team that’s on the road a while, we beat them in 2015 in Clonmel and to be honest with you we robbed them. And in 2019 they ran Nemo to within a goal, so they’re an experienced side with some very good footballers.

“We just couldn’t seem to string passes together, and they were turning us over and getting back up the field. Sometimes we were probably forcing it a little bit too much, we were trying to find Sean (O’Connor) inside on occasions when we didn’t need to at the time.

"We were kicking it wide so it was a little bit frustrating from that point of view, but again I wouldn’t be over critical of any of the boys. In sport, sometimes things go away from you on the day.”