McGuirk pays tribute to his minor hurlers

Dublin minor hurling manager Johnny McGuirk has praised the efforts of his young hurlers following last Sunday’s narrow All-Ireland MHC semi-final defeat to Tipperary in Croke Park.

“Naturally, we’re very disappointed to have lost. We felt that we had a team that was good enough but at the end of the day it was probably a few small things that made the difference,” says Johnny.

“They (Tipperary) were probably a wee bit sharper with the stick and we fumbled a bit of ball at times but in fairness to the lads, they didn’t lie down and kept battling away.

“We probably needed a couple of breaks there which didn’t go our way.

“I’m proud of the management and the lads behind us and I’m also so proud of the 34 players and the effort that they gave over the year was outstanding and I’ve no doubt that they’ll walk away from this as better hurlers.

“They are brilliant lads and hugely disciplined and whatever we asked of them, they gave us. We’ll put it behind us and we’ll look at next year.”