Lisbellaw forward Danny Teague agreed that goals were crucial as his side came up short in their Ulster Intermediate Club Hurling Championship final against Banagher on Saturday.
Five points separated the sides at the final whistle with Banagher hitting the back of the net twice while Lisbellaw failed to find the net despite having two or three good chances over the course of the game.
“Goals are massive and we had talked about that,” said Teague. “Myself, Ciaran (Corrigan) and Tom (Keenan) would always have backed ourselves to get at least one goal and that was something that I was very vocal about in the changing room.
“I told the boys to stick with it because I know we will get a goal chance and we did have a couple - but you get days like Saturday when they don’t go in.
“Even if we had got one of our three goal chances then we would have been right in it.”
Teague, who registered six points from play for his side in a fine individual display, felt that the Banagher goals also came at key times in the contest.
“We showed during a seven or eight minute spell in the first half what we were all about when he hit four points in a row and I thought that we were starting to motor at that stage but their goal came at the right time for them and it was the same in the second half.
“That one was a real sucker punch and it was going to be hard for us after that,” he added.
And Teague admits that Lisbellaw just didn’t do enough to win the game on the day.
“If I’m being honest, I don’t think we were good enough on the day to win it.
“There were too many of us who didn’t win our own battles. You always talk about having eight or nine men who are playing at eight out of ten but we didn’t have enough of that.
“I don’t think any of us were anywhere near the level we had been playing and that is the most disappointing thing about it,” he stated.
In their previous two outings in their run to the final, Lisbellaw had turned in big second half performances to take the win but that just didn’t materialise on Saturday.
“In our first two games we had started slowly and then pushed on in the second half and Dave was just saying at half time that we are in a great position.
“We felt that we weren’t going well but we were right there and it was about trying to step up in the second half and get that push that we did in the first two games but sadly for us it just didn’t come.”
So, that brings an end to Lisbellaw’s season but the focus will now switch to the inter-county campaign and with Teague no longer part of the football panel, he is looking forward to placing his full focus on hurling.
“It’s been a long time since I have just had the hurling to concentrate on and I’m looking forward to getting back at it, I really can’t wait to get stuck back into it,” he said.
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