Pride mixed with heartbreak

THE CRUELTY of sport was laid bare at Croke Park on Sunday as Abbeyknockmoy hurlers came up agonisingly short in their quest to become All-Ireland champions.
History will record Bennettsbridge as back-to-back All-Ireland winners — adding an intermediate crown to junior honours won a year ago — but it was a result that could so easily have swung in the other direction. Though they lost, Abbey hurlers left everything on the hallowed turf and turned in a performance to be proud of.
Rated 6/1 outsiders with the bookmakers but they refused to submit to that, nor did their army of supporters that travelled from the west and even further afield to get behind them.
Full-back and captain John Culkin epitomised the spirit and never-say-die attitude they brought to the biggest stage of them all. They were well-organised defensively, mixing passion and fire with and some cold-blooded composure in possession and in taking some high-class scores, with Paul Flaherty providing the bulk of them.