Ralph proud of Minor Camogie charges in defeat

By Joe Scully

Disappointment and pride were the mixed emotions Tipperary minor camogie manager Ray Ralph was experiencing in the aftermath of his sides defeat in the All-Ireland semi-final at the hands of Cork on Saturday.

“Look, it’s disappointing to have lost,” he began.

“But so proud of them all, I couldn’t fault the girls at all.

“Cork on the day were a little bit better and a bit slicker, we created a few goal chances which we didn’t take but look that’s sport at the end of the day.

“That team are an unbelievable bunch of girls and there will be a great future for all of them, we got every bit out of all of them, so I couldn’t blame any of them, they are an unbelievable team and so proud of them.

“You couldn’t fault the girls at all, they came down to Cork, and Cork is a difficult place for any team to come to at any level. We made a couple of mistakes here and there, but can’t fault them in anyway at all, they left it all out there on the pitch.”

The Tipperary manager felt the game changed on a couple of moments, but felt his side played the game as they saw it.

“They are decisions you play in a game,” he said, referring to going short with a free in the second half with just two points in it but ended up losing the ball and Cork went up the other end and added a point of their own.

“We got a goal in the first half from a free which we went for. Look, you play the moment in front of you and the girls played it and sadly it didn’t work out,” he added.

The Moycarkey/Borris clubman felt that he and his management team learned a lot from their first in charge and are already looking forward to take those lessons on board for next year.

“We’re in the middle of a two-year deal, we learned a lot, and hope to take them lessons on board for next year,” Ralph continued.

“But we are so happy and proud of every one of them girls. We couldn’t have asked for any more out of any of them, they gave us everything we asked of them throughout the year.