MANAGER'S VIEW: 'Football is about moments' - Darren Murphy's Loughgall pride but frustration at quarter-final exit
Loughgall’s dream of a third Irish Cup semi-final in club history finished in a 3-0 defeat as top-flight Cliftonville left Lakeview Park with a place in the last-four draw thanks to goals by Keevan Hawthorne, Shaun Leppard and Liam McStravick against the second-tier hosts.
Here’s the verdict of Loughgall manager Darren Murphy:
OVERALL PERFORMANCE...
"I think football is about moments.
"Cliftonville got their noses in front and, to be fair to the boys, they regroup really well and we play ourselves back into the game.
"We create a massive opportunity at 1-0 (for Darragh Stewart)...an opportunity that we probably should take, the truth be told. "But we don't take it and then Cliftonville get the second goal six, seven minutes before half-time.
"And then we come in at half-time and you're asking the players to still try and believe. "They go out at the start of the second half and I think that 15-20-minute period...if we get that goal, it makes it a cup tie, if they get that goal it kills the game.
"And that's effectively what happened.
"We had two massive opportunities at 2-0 - Paul 'Mack' (McElroy) and Kirk (McLaughlin) – and we take neither.
"And against the top sides, when you create that opportunity, you need to take it.
"The old cliche of goals changing games...when the goals come, they come in moments in games that really change games.
"If we score at 2-0 to get it to 2-1, it's a different game, the whole dynamic changes.
"But missing those chances, having the momentum that we have in the game and not taking them and then Cliftonville being clinical with their third goal, it kills the game.
"But I'm not taking anything away from Cliftonville, they were very good, they have a really good young squad who are energetic and when they went to 3-0, what they did do was control the game very well.
"They bossed the game the final 30 minutes and that's down to the people that they're working with and that's down to the trust and faith that they have in their players.”
CHAMPIONSHIP v PREMIERSHIP LEVELS...
"I said in the build-up to this game, it was going to be a difficult day for Championship sides (across the Irish Cup quarter-finals) because I genuinely believe the gap between the Championship and the Premiership is getting bigger.
"I think what we have to take from the game is that, outside the goals - and I know goals win games and goals change games - but outside the three goals, over the course of 70 minutes of football until it went 3-0 I thought we were good.
"If you have a bit of belief in your own ability and you try and keep the ball for a number of times within the build-up of the game, you will create chances.
"The chances didn't come from a bouncing ball...we played some really good football.
"The three big chances in the game for us are all inside the penalty box, 12 yards out, one-on-ones with the goalkeeper. "That's the fine margins of football.
"I take nothing away from Cliftonville...they did what we couldn't do, which was put the ball in the net. "They managed the game extremely well, the final 20 minutes of the game...Jim (Magilton) has had a really tough schedule in the league."
POSITIVES MOVING FORWARD...
"I thought we tried to play, we asked questions of a really good Cliftonville side and created good chances.
"And what I've said to my young players in there is when you land in that moment, can you take that moment?
"And they have to learn from that.
"Older players, it's different because you're at the latter stage of your career where you're sailing into the sunset.
"Whereas you're a young player coming through - and I'm talking about the big moments for Darragh Stewart and Kirk McLaughlin, who are very young in the game - the next time that they're involved in that scenario, they land with an opportunity like that.
"They learn from the opportunity that presented itself today.”