Manager Stephen Stack cited the switch of Kieran Donaghy from the full forward line to midfield as being central to Austin Stacks' extra-time victory over Ballincollig.

"We were slavishly kicking the ball into Kieran and you have to give their full back credit, he played him very well," the former Kerry star said.

"We hadn't all year been kicking every single ball into Kieran and we did it for the first 10 minutes because they put us under pressure.

"We had to be more patient. We have won 16 games this year without Kieran so we know how to play without him, but when he came out he was brilliant. So we picked our passes a little better.

"David Mannix and Shane Callaghan did the devil inside against their full back line."

Stack's opposite number Michael O'Brien says his players had nothing left to give at the end of the 80 minutes.

"The character of the team is there for all to see, but we just ran out of legs in the end," he reflected.

"In fairness to them, Austin Stacks were slightly better than us overall. We felt we had them ready, we prepared for Kieran Donaghy inside at full forward and that worked well for us. But when they moved things around, they had other good forwards inside who caused us problems.

"However, we've got a taste of this now and we will be gunning to retain our title in Cork in 2015."

Tweet

Most Read Stories