DEFEATS are usually lamented, but this is one that can be recalled with pride. Had Errigal Ciaran pulled off this comeback their supporters would be putting money on Lord Lucan to ride Shergar to victory in this year’s Derby.
The greatest tribute that can be paid to the Tyrone and Ulster champions is that they somehow made a match of this in the closing moments, having looked completely down and out before the break.
As awful as most of their first half performance was, their second half was superb. Their fightback was all the more remarkable given that they lost their captain Darragh Canavan to a head injury in the 22nd minute. His brother Ruairi apparently also suffered concussion during the game.
Darragh did not come back on, as his father Peter had famously done for Tyrone in the 2003 All-Ireland SFC final, but Errigal certainly came back at Cuala.
Trailing by 13 points at the break, Errigal sliced 10 off that lead in swashbuckling style to hold out the prospect of forcing extra time before Cuala sealed victory in added time.
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The Dubliners were fully deserving winners but, boy, did they have to work hard for that after Errigal came out a transformed team when they switched ends.
It was a sensational second half in particular from Peter Harte, who scored two points either side of an absolutely stunning goal, and for a time seemed to be wherever the ball was. He was red-carded in added time, but it was his inspirational showing which saved his team from red faces.
There was only one team on the pitch when the national anthem was played, with the Errigal squad standing off to the side, and it seemed to stay that way for most of the first half.
When the giant Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne stroked in the third Cuala goal in the 25th minute, that put them 14 points clear, 3-6 to 0-1 – and that sole Errigal score came from a seventh minute Tommy Canavan free.
A first ever appearance in an All-Ireland senior club final for a Tyrone side, and surely unknown territory for Errigal too in being so thoroughly outplayed for the first 25 minutes.
While the south Dublin outfit appeared absolutely at home in headquarters, Errigal looked utterly lost, bewildered.
Errigal have produced plenty of sweat in their runs through Tyrone, Ulster, and to this decider, but they’ll surely shed buckets more in their nightmares – if they manage to get sleep after thinking about most of that first half.
Having battled so hard to get to this stage, the Tyrone champs looked so strangely passive, standing off – and Cuala took full advantage, running at them, through them, and around them.
With less than five minutes played, Cuala defenders Eoin Kennedy and Michael Fitzsimons combined to send Cal Doran in one-on-one against the goalkeeper and the half-forward netted with complete confidence.
With Cuala feasting on the Errigal kick-outs as well as their own, the ball kept heading back towards the Hill, and over the bar at the end – then under it again in the 13th minute.
Kennedy was again the instigator, with this time Luke Keating assisting, popping a pass to wing-back David O’Dowd for a lovely left-foot finish.
Even Peter Og McCartan couldn’t work the magic he’d displayed in the Ulster final and All-Ireland semi-final. He lined up another outrageous score from out wide but this time it only produced Errigal’s first wide – in the 23rd minute.
A minute earlier a groggy Darragh Canavan had been helped off after getting hurt as he slid in to gather a ball ahead of his marker.
After that blow to their captain’s head, Errigal took another punch to the guts, with Con O’Callaghan smuggling the ball through for O Cofaigh Byrne to slide a shot into the far bottom corner.
Errigal did get going to some extent with four of the next five scores, including a fine point from Joe Oguz, then a lovely effort by Ruairi, but those looked like straws in the wind.
Cuala seemed to be playing at their leisure and scored twice more in added time as Niall O’Callaghan proved too much of a handful even for several Errigal defenders, scoring then earning a free converted by his brother Con.
3-9 to 0-5.
Cuala have let leads slip before this season, but surely such a gap would be insurmountable.
Errigal Ciaran had other ideas.
Harte set the tone for an entirely different second half with a point after just 15 seconds.
The next minute Tommy Canavan scored.
Then in the next Harte set up Ciaran McGinley to point.
The half-forwards, all in their 30s, were giving it their all.
Con O’Callaghan replied, allowed far too much room, but Errigal kept coming.
Yet even then it only became a ‘double scores’ game, Cuala leading by 3-11 to 0-10 in the 39th minute when O’Dowd scored following a quickly taken free.
What followed will live long with those who witnessed it. Harte caught a cross-field kick, strode forward, then powered a ripping left-footed shot into the far top corner.
Chants of “Errigal, Errigal” at last soared up into the Dublin sky and the players fed off that.
Harte, again, got the ball and set up Darragh’s replacement Mark Kavanagh to score.
Every Errigal man was exerting his utmost effort, with Harte at the centre of it all, including another assist, for Tommy Canavan.
Cuala were doing just about enough to keep some distance between them, with a smart score by Luke Keating, then another from midfielder Peter Duffy.
Yet more scores continued to flow for the Tyrone men, while they strove to curtail Cuala.
Corner-back Ciaran Quinn flung himself to make a half-block, and goalkeeper Darragh McAnenly scrambled to keep the loose ball in play.
When the ball was worked up into the Errigal attack, that man Harte struck another superb point from play.
Just a goal in it, 1-16 to 3-13, but that was as good as it got, despite Harte supplying sub Padraig McGirr for a shot which was blocked.
Cuala raced up the other end and, with another goal on, sub Conor Groarke calmly fisted the ball over. A knockout blow, but Errigal Ciaran’s fighting spirit remains undeniable.
The Canavans’ will be sore, but Errigal can hold their heads up high, even though Cuala lifted the Andy Merrigan Cup aloft.
Errigal Ciaran: D McAnenly; Ciaran Quinn, A McCrory, Cormac Quinn; P Og McCartan, N Kelly, T Colhoun; B McDonnell, J Oguz (0-1); P Harte (1-2), T Canavan (0-6, 0-4 frees), C McGinley (0-1); O Robinson (0-1), D Canavan (capt.), R Canavan (0-3, 0-2 frees).
Substitutes: E Kelly for McGinley (48); P McGirr (0-1) for Robinson (52); R McRory for T Canavan (63).
Blood sub: M Kavanagh (0-1) for D Canavan (22-end).
Red card: Harte (62)
Cuala: R Scollard; D Conroy, M Fitzsimons, E O’Callaghan; E Kennedy, C McMorrow, D O’Dowd (1-1); P O Cofaigh Byrne (1-1), P Duffy (0-1); C Dunne, C O’Brien, C Doran (1-0); L Keating (0-3, 0-2 frees), N O’Callaghan (0-2), C O’Callaghan (0-5, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45).
Substitutes: C Groarke (0-1) for O’Brien (42); M Conroy for Dunne (49); C O Giollain for D Conroy (54).
Referee: Paddy Neilan (Roscommon).
Attendance: 31, 267.
