Better to win it than to lose it

Conal Bonnar's torso and legs had the assorted welts, bruises, cuts and scratches which a player gathers on hard honest afternoons. Never happier to have the badges of participation.

He arrived into the game sirens ringing, an emergency job needed on Kevin Broderick. Having doused that fire he will be looking forward to championship action.

"I've been working hard on my game," he said afterwards in the quiet bustle of the dressing-room. "You have to be lucky too. Brian (Horgan) was unlucky today. He went for a few balls and they hopped the other way. When I came on it bounced in front of me a couple of times.

"You can't think about winning when you are playing. You are just looking for the next ball and maybe in the last few minutes you start looking at the clock a bit, wondering how long you have to hold on. Fair play to the backs and the midfielders, we played well there today. The forwards won some ball which took the pressure off the backs. I played two games earlier in the league and didn't play so good, so delighted today to get another game."

Declan Carr, back after four years in the hurling wildernesses of Chicago and San Francisco, had hurled energetically and was, as he has been for the past month or so it seems, surrounded by microphones.

"Singing is extra," he said before analysing the relative importance of the league in the great scheme of things. "It's great to win something. The way I look at it, sure it was as well to win it today as lose it. We go straight into the championship looking ahead to Kerry next week. There's not much time to relax and it's best not to be brooding over a defeat."

Carr, like Bonnar, is feeling the strength come back to his legs and hoping that the old rhythms and chords will start to come naturally as summer digs in. "It was nice to get a complete run today and get a medal and some reward out of it."

Nicky English had the look of a man who had led his troops to the top of a hillock only to find mountain ranges on the other side. "We still don't know how good this team is. We worked hard. It's only in the next few weeks we'll find out what we are made of, you know.'

The hard work continues in the next few days. Kerry don't represent too hazardous a climb for a team free of complacency but, but, but . . .

"We're back into it Tuesday and Thursday and playing Saturday night. We played in front of, whatever, 14,000, 15,000, today. Next Saturday night against Kerry in Thurles it will be different. It will be harder to get the boys to think of that as a bigger game but it is."

Suddenly he is scouring the complacency off the surface of his team. "We started very shaky, though to be honest a lot of our defence was bad, we looked ponderous. Defenders are only as good as our own attack. Our first line of defence up the field was very poor I thought. We weren't winning ball in the half forward line. That puts pressure on the defenders."

Down the alleyway outside the Galway dressing-room Mattie Murphy was trading swipes with the gentlemen of the press. Mattie and the media haven't really any prospect of establishing a cosy mutual admiration society any time soon but Mattie was trying.

"We've plenty of hurling done, you'd expect striking of a better order but that's the way," he said in reply to a tart question as to how he could explain such lousy striking.

"It was the first senior final for a lot of fellas. They are finding their way and finding their feet."

Had they become complacent sitting on the cushion of their early lead? Another question from the Cork contingent. Mattie looking increasingly crotchety.

"We were in a national final against Tipp. We never expected them to lie down and die. The fellas gave a lot of commitment today. I couldn't write off that team, that's not the end of the road for them, Take your own county, they aren't even here today. There were only two counties who could win the league today and that is an achievement."

A respectful enough question about Eugene Cloonan and frees drew a prolix response.

"It's very easy above in the stand to stand over all them frees and convert them. Have you ever taken frees? Have you converted them all? He wasn't trying to go for a goal in the league semi-final and he got one. Look, we will talk generalisations. It's not fair to single out any one fella. Don't be putting words in my mouth. I think you are going on a very negative line now. The best team won out there today."

"In 1995 Clare got beat in the league final by Kilkenny and came back and won. We are in a learning process. We learned a lot more today than in seven wins. Keep well away from the specifics of different fellas' performances. Maybe it didn't work for them today but I'm not going to be the one that will dance on anyone's grave. Remember when you are writing tonight that tomorrow that fella's family and all his extended family will read it. He has been our best scorer all year."