Kinawley Ladies’ manager Darren Boyle has described his team’s last minute defeat to Monaghan champions Emmet Óg as “a hard one to take”.

The one point defeat last Sunday in the final of the Ulster Intermediate Club Ladies’ Championship final was the Boru’s second defeat at this stage in three years.

The Fermanagh champions fought back from four points down with only five minutes left to play to draw level in the game and Boyle believes that on the day nobody deserved to lose the game.

“I don’t think either team on the day deserved to win or lose it to be fair.

“We couldn’t ask anymore of the girls. We were down to 14 players and with five minutes to go we were four points down and we managed to pull it back to a draw. They just gave everything and it is very hard to take.”

Boyle and his management team were looking for a performance in the final and their team certainly delivered.

“We just asked them all week to put in a performance and they emptied the tank and they were still going strong with five minutes to go.”

In 2016, Kinawley lost out to the Armagh champions Shane O’Neills and that defeat made Sunday’s loss all the more heartbreaking.

“It is very hard to take after 2016. The girls in 2016 went into every game saying lets see how we get on here.

“This year they went in with the attitude of we done it in 2016 why can’t we not give it a good rattle this year.

“When we got to the semi final the target was to get to final and when we got to final the target was to put in a performance, and we definitely did that.”

And with the performance given by his team, Boyle is extremely proud of his side.

“It was a performance the whole of Kinawley can be proud of. I know Brendan and myself are proud of them as well and we told them that afterwards.

“They got a standing ovation when they got back to Kinawley so it shows the pride there is in the club for them.

“ The club is definitely going in right direction. The club is on a fairly solid footing and we fully intend to keep it going that way.”

One aspect of the final which disappointed Boyle was the performance of the referee.

The Kinawley manager believes the referee did not play the full allotted time in the second half as well as being sceptical by some of the decisions that were made.

“We were frustrated at some of the decisions made and how he only got one minute of additional time in the second half.

“Its not sour grapes. It is just very, very disappointing under the circumstances for the referee not to play the full time.”