CUALA MANAGER MATTIE Kenny believes the Cuala and Na Piarsaigh players deserve for the All-Ireland club hurling final replay to take place in Croke Park.
The champions of 2016 and 2017 were deadlocked after extra-time on Saturday, sending the decider to a replay for the first time since Birr and Dunloy in 1995.
The date and time of the rematch are to be determined by the CCCC, with a decision expected to be made by Tuesday at the latest.
The replay is expected to take place next weekend, with Tullamore, Portlaoise and Thurles mooted as possible venues. But Kenny believes it’s only right the game is fixed for HQ.
“It’s every club players’ dream to play in Croke Park,” the Galway native said after the 1-22 to 2-19 draw.
“After having such a good spectacle and good game of hurling it would be nice to see it back in Croke Park again.”
Croke Park is free next Saturday, while the replay could also serve as a curtain-raiser before Dublin’s Division 1 football clash with Monaghan on Sunday which takes place at the venue at 3pm.
“The game was played at a very fast pace,” was Kenny’s assessment of the contest. “It was very competitive and physical. The conditions were very blustery and some of the passes didn’t go exactly to where you’d expect.
“There was a swirling wind out there but I thought both teams served up a really good spectacle. It was really honest, both teams went at one another and from our own side there were a couple of times we showed good character to come back.
“They got two goals, one at a really crucial time but we came back and got a few points to come back into it again. Then they got a goal in extra-time, which you’d imagine would be a very big score at that time, but our lads went on and got scores again. Which showed our guys never gave up and steadied the game for the full 80 minutes.”
Cuala twice came back from the death, first in the dying seconds of normal-time when Sean Moran crashed in a 20m free with five Na Piarsaigh men on the line.
Kenny said: “What was going through my mind was, ‘This is the last puck of the game.’ Harry Robertson was beside me and I said, ‘He needs to make this or it’s gone.’
“Full confidence in him? You wouldn’t. How could you have full confidence? The goal was lined. I was just hoping he’d get a good strike on it and that he did. I was more than pleased when I seen the net shaking.”
Then they found themselves a point in the arrears with the second period of extra-time almost up, when David Treacy converted a free from about 60m into the wind.
“That was a good free from David because he wasn’t that far inside the 65m line and he was hitting it into the teeth of the wind,” Kenny said.
“I was down that end of the field and I knew it was going to take a really good strike to get it from there.
“Thankfully, David’s free-taking for the last three or four years has always been crucial for us and he didn’t let us down today either.”
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