IT was a special atmosphere. There were smiling faces everywhere on the field at Newbridge as Errigal Ciaran defender Cormac Quinn began a post-match interview last Saturday evening.
“Awwww Jaysus Christ…” a joyful veteran Errigal supporter, oblivious to the microphones, butted in.
“Did ye get badly hurted?” he asked Quinn who had limped off after 70 minutes.
“Ah no, just a bit of cramp, nothing serious,” Quinn replied.
“Jaysus Christ Almighty… That was unreal,” continued the supporter.
“Yiz are in the All-Ireland final!”
“Och, it’s not done yet,” says Quinn.
That’s the spirit.
The job isn’t done yet and, after the heroics of Saturday evening, when Errigal had to show their character to force extra-time and their all-round class to go on and beat Dr Crokes, it would be a shame if they didn’t go all the way.
But what has gone before will mean nothing on Sunday when the Tyrone side face Dublin’s Cuala at Croke Park for the Andy Merrigan Cup.
Quinn will hope to have fully recovered from the cramp that gnawed away at his muscles in the latter stages of an energy-sapping semi-final against Kerry and Munster champions Dr Croke’s.
Quinn missed the early stages of the Tyrone championship campaign after recovering from surgery on a groin injury. Before that he’d torn a hamstring playing for Tyrone so 2024 was a very challenging year for the defender.
After putting his injuries woes behind him, Quinn returned to the Errigal starting line-up for the county semi-final against Killyclogher and was tasked with marking Mark Bradley, the ‘Blues’ most dangerous forward.
Bradley had his moments but Quinn did an excellent man-marking job on him and, after he restricted Kerry forward Tony Brosnan to a single point from play at Newbridge, he could well be dispatched to track Cuala’s Con O’Callaghan on Sunday. Between now and then, Quinn’s focus will be giving himself every chance to be at his best at Croke Park.
“You see all the emotion that’s coming out now so this is something that means a lot – not just to us players but to everybody,” he said.
“We’re still in it, we’ve another big game to come so my immediate thought is: Recover.
“That took a lot out of the legs and I know myself I had a bit of cramp so that (recovery) is the main goal at the minute.”
The Errigal players will have aches and pains after coming through 80-plus minutes of intense championship football they are also battle-hardened, confident and single-minded.
“We’ll not get too ahead of ourselves,” said Quinn.
“Yes, we’ll enjoy winning this game but this is a big week for us.
“We go out and take every game as it comes and whatever happens, happens. In every game we’re there or thereabouts come the end and hopefully it’ll be the same next Sunday.”
Cuala are also in their first All-Ireland final and they had to show their mettle to get past a stubborn Coolera/Strandhill side at Breffni Park last weekend. A strong final quarter from the Dublin and Leinster champions meant they were able to pull away and won by five points at the finish.
Errigal also have a very good habit of coming through games that could have gone either way and they’ll hope to continue that on Sunday.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games like that before this year and it was all about not panicking,” said Quinn.
“It was Peter Og (McCartan) who kicked the last one to get us extra-time so well done to him. In extra-time it was Big Joe (Oguz) so you have different men stepping up to the mark and that’s all you can ask for.”
