What they said… the weekend in quotes

February 12, 2018

Kerry fans Marion O'Sullivan and Trish Lacey have a kick about in the snow after their county's Allianz FL clash against Monaghan at Grattan Park, Inniskeen was postponed.
©INPHO/John McVitty.

"That last point of Mattie Donnelly's was priceless in terms of league points."

Mickey Harte hailed his captain's late intervention in Newbridge.

"There's disappointment but there's not panic. We're training well. The lads are in great form. They're going to be really pi**ed off after that today. No more than last week."

The Lilywhites came up short once again but Cian O'Neill isn't pressing the panic button.

"It's simply a matter of pushing back the National Football and Hurling League. It's a simple solution but I don't think anyone is listening."

Jim Gavin suggested a change to the fixture calendar to avoid situations like Brian Howard opting out of Sigerson Cup duty with DIT.

"We want to stay in Division 1 but it is not going to be the be all and end all if we don't."

Donegal put it up to the Dubs in the second-half of their Croke Park encounter and that was encouraging for Declan Bonner.

 "I'm very conscious that every player who gets to wear the county jersey is going to fight for his jersey. Look, whatever happened when the handbags started, you saw a lot more than me."

Apparently, Kevin Walsh didn't see any of the 'handbags' that broke out in the closing stages of Galway's win over Mayo.

"We lost our discipline and that's something we have to look at."

Mayo lost the O'Connor brothers to red cards and that is a concern for Stephen Rochford.

"We were very poor. The two positives are we won the game and we got to bring in new people, players getting debuts and all getting game time. Other than that this was a very poor, disjointed performance - particularly in the second-half."

Cork got the better of Louth in Pairc Ui Rinn but Ronan McCarthy will demand improvement from his players ahead of their round 4 clash with Cavan.

"It's important because the division is very competitive. It means we're facing into the break with four points, and then we have a home game against Clare for our next game, so it was important to come here and get some sort of a result."

Eamonn Burns and the Mourne County came away from Dr Hyde Park with the Division 2 spoils.

"It was very frustrating. It was really disappointing."

Burns' Roscommon counterpart Kevin McStay didn't mince his words.

"At no stage did I feel we were winning the game or performing well enough to win the game. I'm relieved to get out of there with a point."

Tipperary were lucky to get a draw against Clare in Ennis, according to their manager Liam Kearns.

"I thought we were terrible today. We had 34 shots compared to their 19 or 18 but our shooting boots were terrible."

Despite their minimum margin victory over Longford, Kieran McGeeney wasn't happy with his Armagh team's performance.

"18 wides is something we can ill-afford in tighter games, we took our foot off the pedal in the closing minutes and conceded the goal. Still we'll be happy to take the points."

It was a similar story for Westmeath manager Colin Kelly following their 0-16 to 1-10 win over Wexford.

"Everybody knew it was going to snow throughout the night and the pitch was not going to be playable. And yet they wouldn't make a call. So much talk of player welfare but that's abuse of a player in my mind."

Meath's clash with Cavan ultimately fell victim to the weather and Royal boss Andy McEntee was critical of the GAA's decision to re-fix the game for 2pm yesterday subject to a 9am pitch inspection.

"Looked doubtful from early this morning. To come all the way to the ground and be told to turn around and go home is a bit disappointing. It could have been called a little earlier but it is what it is."

Stephen Wallace and Offaly travelled all the way to Derry before finding out their Division 3 game was off.

"We'll take a few days off and then we'll go back planning for that."

Mattie Kenny and Cuala remain on course to defend their All-Ireland Club SHC crown.

"Mad match but great to come out the other side of it."

Shane O'Neill and Na Piarsaigh will bid to dethrone the Dalkey outfit on St Patrick's Day.


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