Slaughtneil manager Paul McCormack says his side’s performance against Loughrea in Sunday’s All-Ireland club SHC semi-final was “nowhere near” the level it needed to be to get the win.

The Derry champions went down on 2-22 to 0-15 scoreline against their Galway counterparts at Parnell Park, where Anthony Burns and Vince Morgan netted the goals.

Speaking to BBC Sport NI afterwards, McCormack described the second goal that his team conceded as being a killer blow to them.

"We have to hold our hands up and say our performance today was nowhere near the levels we expected or required against a really good Loughrea team, who punished us for every mistake," said the Armagh man.

"The boys are heartbroken, they're devastated. There was huge work in the past 12 months to get back to this stage again and it'll probably be eating at them, the way they performed.

"That's just cruel but that's sport. On these days and at this high altitude, you get punished."

He added: "We weren't overly concerned at half-time. Yes, we were looking to up the gears a bit. We just didn't get the start to roar into the game and then the second goal was a killer blow."

Tweet

Most Read Stories