Dundalk Young Irelands manager Cormac Malone says his side will regroup and come back again next year after final defeat

Dundalk Young Irelands manager Cormac Malone cut a dejected figure after he'd watched his side lose narrowly to Naomh Fionnbarra in the DkIT Sport Junior Championship Final replay at Glyde Rangers on Saturday afternoon. It had looked promising at half-time, a four-point lead, Finbarrs denied a goal from a penalty with the last kick of the opening 30 minutes, Fergal Sheekey pulling off an excellent save to deny Cillian McQuillan from the spot. However, the second half belonged ultimately to the victors Naomh Fionnbarra with two late two-point scores from Matthew O'Reilly doing the damage. 'I'm brutally disappointed, brutally disappointed,' said Malone after the game. 'Probably disappointed in our own performance, too, over the two games. There's so much more there in us but look, Finbarrs had done their homework, fair play to them and congratulations to them.' The Dundalk side started the game with much more urgency second time around, but a few incidents slowed their momentum, something Malone acknowledged. 'I was very happy in the first 10-15 minutes and we moved the ball well,' he said. 'We probably dominated that and got ourselves into a great position. Probably fared well from that for the next five minutes and then obviously we got a goal, but the problem then was two frees went against us, one being moved forward for a two-pointer and then it was another one-pointer, so that kind of drew it level. 'And then we'd the black card just before half-time, obviously. We went in four up and it just leaves it very tough for us in the first 10 minutes second-half. I thought when we got back up to 15 we were okay at that. 'But it's one of those things, Finbarrs kicked on, they got the breaking ball in the middle of the field in the last couple of minutes when it mattered, and got the two pointers and basically over the two games their two pointers was the big thing.' Disappointed Malone was, but from where Young Irelands were at the end of last season, they are in a much better place 12 months later - a kick of the ball away from promotion to Division 1 and a kick of the ball away from winning the Junior Championship. As Malone acknowledged, they'll regroup and go again. 'That's football. You have to take your medicine but you have to bottle it and make sure we release that bottle next year to get back here again – that's where we need to be,' said the Dundalk Young Irelands manager. 'You just get on with it and you regroup and you go again, and it'll make you stronger next year, but at the end of the day, it is a game of football. We all do it because we enjoy it. The lads do it because they enjoy it. Look, those boys will be back next year. They've got no doubt about it. They'll put the shoulder in the wheel. 'It is disappointing, it will be disappointing over the next couple of days and weeks but we'll sit down and regroup.'