MONAGHAN BOSS MALACHY O’Rourke expressed his ‘bitter disappointment’ that his side failed to build on their Ulster final triumph to defeat Tyrone in last night’s All-Ireland quarter-final.
O’Rourke reckoned that Tyrone did most of the damage during a brilliant burst midway through the first half.
Tyrone outscored Monaghan by eight points to two between the 12th and 30th minutes meaning Monaghan’s blistering start was wiped out.
“We got off to a great start which is what we wanted to do, but the next period in the game caught us in the long run,” O’Rourke admitted.
“It wasn’t the Tyrone forwards that were scoring it was coming from deep, they were breaking through. We handled it better as the game went on.
“Tyrone went from 4-1 down to be leading and that is probably what cost us in the end. With 10 minutes to go I thought we were in a great position and I felt that we might kick on. I am bitterly disappointed we didn’t.”
Inevitably talk switched towards the crucial 49th minute incident when Conor McManus was fouled by Sean Cavanagh. O’Rourke was left reflecting on what might have been.
“Conor was straight through on goal. It was a massive chance for us to get a goal at a crucial time. It would have been a real kickstart to push us on, but Sean got a yellow card. We got a free, they got a man with a yellow card.”
Having steered Monaghan to Ulster glory O’Rourke expressed his pride in the performance of his players.
“We won the Ulster the title and maybe people felt that would be enough, but we were really determined to put in a big performance.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t good enough to get us into a semi-final and we just have to accept that.”
“I am very proud of the boys for the effort and work they put in all year. I am just very disappointed the way it ended.”
