How Rock turned it around after being in 'pretty dark place at half-time' to storm to victory

WE were duty-bound to the people of Rock who had travelled all the way to Burren to support us – the verdict of manager Paul Coney following his side’s sensational comeback win over Rostrevor.

The Tyrone champions were staring into the abyss at half-time, trailing by nine points and losing battles all over the field, but rather than roll over and accept their fate, they decided to fight.

A resurgent second half performance saw a remarkable revival as they hit the net three in a dramatic Ulster Club IFC preliminary round tie.

“We were in a pretty dark place at half-time, we were nine points down,” said Coney.

“We made a couple of alterations and a couple of subs, but the message was, here lads, we have come up this far, there’s a big crowd of Rock people from the community, so let’s go out and give the second half a lash and see where it takes us.

“All we wanted to do was give the people a bit of a performance in the second half, so full credit to the lads in the end there.”

The message was simple in the dressing room during the interval – throw off the shackles, play with freedom, and anything can happen.

“The message that was used in the changing room was, just throw off the shackles and let’s go at them.

“You’re better just going at them, and in fairness the lads responded.”

And things did start to happen, two goals in as many minutes from Odhran Carroll and Thomas Mackle giving the St Patrick’s belief that they could turn this game around and make a winning debut in the series.

“But once we got a two-pointer, then we got a goal, we could see the score-board was gradually getting closer and closer.

“That gave them a bit of belief, and we started gaining a bit of momentum.

“We made a couple of changes late on, and they were massive. The likes of Aidan Girvan coming on, he’s one of our oldest players, and he won some massive balls there.”

Having been cleaned out at midfield by a dominant Rostrevor collective in the first half, Thomas Mackle and Diarmaid Carroll swung the balance in Rock’s direction, and the momentum of the game changed dramatically.

“We have two serious midfielders in Diarmaid and Thomas, two big lads.

“Rostrevor tried to be physical and disrupt Thomas a bit, but he got used to that in the second half and him and Diarmaid really stepped up and won some massive balls.

“It was a huge platform for us to get over the line.

“We knew we have the forward players, we knew we have the arsenal to get scores, so we said, let’s chip away, and as we get closer, we’ll get that bit of belief.

“In the first half we were very fumbly and forcing things, and you could probably tell that Rostrevor had that bit more of a break than us, they were a bit fresher.

It was place—kicker Shane Murphy who nailed the lead point in stoppage time with a massive two-point free, struck sweetly from beyond the 45 metre line.

“I think he thrives off that. It was similar to the one he hit up in Healy Park in the semi-final.

“I looked at the score-board and I thought, this is Murphy’s moment.

“And as soon as he pinged it, I could just hear the crowd at the far side cheering.

“We all know what he has in his locker, and those two-point hitters are absolutely vital in this day and age

“Whenever you’re in a tight game, and you can get that wee bit of a gap, it’s huge.”

Rock are straight back into action this weekend in a quarter-final tie against Antrim champions St Enda’s Glengormley, and they’ll take the field at O’Neills Healy Park with a pep in their step.

“I think they were in the All-Ireland Intermediate final about six years ago, they’re a seasoned team.

“We know nothing about them, and we haven’t focused towards them, but we’ll focus in.

“We have a wee bit of momentum going, that game will give the lads huge belief, so we’ll go into that game confident enough.”

A handful of Rock players have experience of winning an Ulster title a decade ago, when the club claimed its third provincial JFC crown, and Coney believes they can tap into that.

“I think there’s four or five lads who have played in it.

“Aidan Girvan is one man who has been through those All-Ireland Junior runs, so bringing somebody of that calibre on is massive.

“This is that sort of competition, that autumn, winter competition, and it suits players like him.

“You saw the big Rock support that came all the way up here today, and they’ll be back out again next weekend.

“The community is on a bit of a high since the championship win, so the journey continues, and hopefully the momentum will continue.

“But we have that one under our belt now, and it’s absolutely massive.”

And attacker Conor McGarrity accepted that the first half performance just wasn’t good enough, with the Down champions ruling the roost at midfield.

“It looked like that and it felt like that. But sometimes we’re like that – when we’re bad, we’re bad,” he said.

“At half-time we said we were seven points down in the first game against Pomeroy, so what’s nine points down?

“We play our best with the shackles off, and we had 30 minutes to do that and see where it takes us, and 3-15 to 3-12, that’s where it took us.”

And he paid tribute to the impact made by veteran Aidan Girvan off the bench, a hugely influential figure in Rock’s push for the finish line.

“Nobody else epitomised it more that Aidan Girvan. He came on there and used his experience to be in the right place at the right time, if it was winning breaks or on the counter-attack, and he won the two-pointer free right at the end. He epitomised it and we all rowed in behind him.”

McGarrity had no doubt that Shane Murphy had the ability and the temperament to convert a long range kick in the dying moments to edge the Tyr0ne men in front.

“You fancy him every time to score them. The bigger the challenge, the more Shane rises to it, it was the perfect kick for him. It’s an unbelievable technique that he has.”

McGarrity, along with fellow attackers Murphy, Liam Nugent and older brother and captain Aidan McGarrity, cut swathes through the Rostrevor defence in the second half as they fought their way into contention.

“To have those boys up front playing beside you, it’s nice to have.”

Now the Tyrone champions go forward to face St Enda’s of Glengormley this Sunday, and McGarrity believes the club’s experience of winning three Ulster JFC titles will stand to them.

“We would have that pedigree at junior level, and we have another day out against Glengormley.

“Hopefully we’ll to do the same again and just throw the shackles off, and play for more that 30 minutes the next day, but it’s great to be still in it.

“It’s great to have. But they have all been at junior level, and for us to be at intermediate level, it’s a lot more special.”

They’ll be looking to get off to a stronger start so that they won’t have to rely on their powers of recovery again.

“If you give anybody a head start at this level, you’re asking for trouble.

“You’ll not get out of jail every day, but we did today, thankfully.”