AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Football Championship final: Cill Na Martra (Cork) 0-7 St Patrick’s Cullyhanna (Armagh) 1-8
From Brendan Crossan at Croke Park
FOR generations, St Patrick’s Cullyhanna has been built by many hands – all of them contributed in some big or small way to this fairytale journey that landed them an All-Ireland Intermediate title in Croke Park on Sunday evening.
Glory has never been more generously shared among a parish.
After captain Pearse Casey’s composed and heartfelt victory speech on the steps of the Hogan stand, the Cullyhanna players gathered in the middle of the field before charging towards their loved ones at the foot of Hogan where they let absolutely everything out.
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If life is about anything, it’s about moments – but it’s about how you live them.
In those euphoric few seconds, as the players and management charged towards Hogan with all they had - every man, woman, and child housed in the famous stand lived them to their fullest.
This was an example of the restorative beauty of the GAA - a community that lost more than its fair share of young and old parishioners over the last few years and has since developed the collective ability of seizing the moment.
The man who stood above all others was undoubtedly manager and former full-back Stephen Reel.
When Cullyhanna were dropping like a stone from senior into intermediate, Reel’s shoulder never left the wheel – and it was fitting Casey warmly acknowledged his manager’s gargantuan efforts over the last five seasons.
“From back-to-back relegations to being All-Ireland champions at Croke Park is hard to explain,” Reel said.
“Look, our club isn’t steeped in history with Ulster titles or All-Ireland titles. So, this was the unknown, but we knew within the group we could do this. It’s just fantastic.”
Ravaged by retirements, long-term and a dozen or more players away travelling over the last few seasons, a few key men returned home to try and lift the club out of the doldrums.
Reel added: “There are some real, good characters in that squad and I go back to the boys who slogged for those couple of years when we’d nobody.
“They kept going. I’m not joking you, but we lost game after game - and they turned up night after night for training. They weathered the storm and it paid off.
“This means so, so much to the people of Cullyhanna. Just to see what it does for them; the build-up all week and now to be All-Ireland champions. We’re just delighted to do it for those people.
“And for the youth – whether they’re playing camogie, Ladies’ football or men’s football – we just hope it inspires them to be winners, so that they keep the club progressing.”
The final itself wasn’t pretty or remotely memorable.
Error-strewn from start to finish, the nuts and bolts of this All-Ireland intermediate decider was that Cullyhanna made far fewer mistakes than their Cork counterparts Cill na Martra, who were also journeying beyond their county borders for the first time in their history.
On the biggest sporting day of their lives, the men from the Gaeltacht in west Cork suffered a nightmare dose of the yips in front of the posts.
In just over an hour’s football, they racked up 16 wides. Some of them were of the miserable variety.
Even before the final whistle, the Cill na Martra players had totally lost faith in themselves in kicking the ball over the bar.
“Even early in the game we had chances and didn’t put them over the bar,” said a rueful Cill na Martra manager John Evans, “and that trend went on and on – 28 shots, four short – and we only scored seven points.”
For a while in the second half, it seemed contagious as the Armagh and Ulster champions hacked a couple of their own shots wide of the mark, registering just three points – but they’d built up a 1-5 to 0-4 half-time lead and managed to keep enough daylight between themselves and their opponents until the four minutes of stoppage-time had been played.
For the fifth championship game in a row, Stephen Reel’s men didn’t concede a goal.
The south Armagh men had goalkeeper James Carragher to thank for that meanspirited record when he made a brilliant reflex save in the 54th minute to deny Daniel Ó Duinnín from close range who’d cleverly flicked Sean S Ó Fórréidh’s ‘Hail Mary’ towards goal.
Had the Cork men raised a green flag at that stage the gap would have been closed to two points heading down the home straight.
The only Cill na Martra player who’d brought his shooting boots to the capital yesterday was corner-back Colm Mac Lochlainn.
He burst through to grab his first of three points from play just before the break and nabbed his other two in the second half when his team-mates were missing close-range frees and other gift-wrapped opportunities.
Cullyhanna’s second-half successes came from Gavan Duffy’s left boot in the 42nd minute, a beauty from Shea Hoey on the run 10 minutes later and a thumping effort from Jason Duffy in the fourth minute of stoppage-time that extinguished any threat of a comeback.
Three points was a poor return for a full half of football for the eventual winners, but it was enough.
It was enough because Aidan Nugent had bagged 1-3 (0-2 frees) in the first half, with his major coming in the 20th minute – a thumping finish after Neil McCreesh gathered Mickey Murray’s high ball on the edge of the square before off-loading to the county ace to hammer into the roof of the net.
While Cill na Martra contributed to their own downfall with their 16 wides, Cullyhanna’s defence swarmed their attackers really well and made them shoot from difficult areas at times.
Sean Connell was immense at full-back for the south Armagh men. Former Armagh defender Mickey Murray had a brilliant game at number six – making umpteen penetrating runs which Cill na Martra seemed powerless to stop, but Murray also stood up and was counted in a couple of notable one-on-one situations.
Caolan Reavey never stopped working the flanks of Croke Park and the intelligent ball-carrying ability of Kieran McCooey and Tony Donnelly were glowing features of Cullyhanna’s play.
They were just a bit more street-smart than the Cork and Munster champions.
“When your players are doing everything right until they come to the clinical area of taking on a score,” rued Evans afterwards.
“Daniel Ó Duinnín is a gifted player and with a 22 or 23-yard free he kicks it wide of the goal. We were on the cusp of closing in on them at that stage but the next thing it’s gone. It could have been stage fright – I think it was stage fright from the 35-metre line.
“But the players will look back on this year with huge, huge pride. It’s a massive learning curve and I think they played the occasion rather than the game. They’ve been warriors and they are a young team, and they’ll get stronger.”
Beneath Croke Park’s blinding floodlights, it was Cullyhanna’s day.
In the build-up to Sunday’s All-Ireland final, Reel and coach Ciaran McKeever spoke about how the team’s extended championship run had served to shorten the winter for the people of the rural village.
One night 14 months ago, a group of men sat down in the home changing room in the club and decided to make a difference.
St Patrick’s Cullyhanna are now All-Ireland champions. It’s mission accomplished.
In the biting, cool breeze, the red, black and amber flags will flutter right through to spring.
Cil na Martra (Cork): P Ó Críodáin; C Mac Lochlainn (0-3), T Ó Corcora, F Ó Faoláin; G Ó Mocháin, S Ó Fórréidh, C Ó Fórreidh; A Ó Cuana (0-1), G Ó Goillidhe; D Ó Duinnín (0-1), C Ó Duinnín (0-2), D Ó hUrdail; M Ó D Duinnín, M Ó Deasúna, F Ó hÉalaithe Subs: D Ó Conaill for M Ó Deasúna (h/t), S Ó Duinnín for D Ó hUrdail (43), E Ó Conaill for M Ó D Duinnín (54), D Mac Lochlainn for F Ó hÉalaithe (56)
Blood substitution: D Ó Conaill for A Ó Cuana (29-30)
St Patrick’s, Cullyhanna: J Carragher; S Og Irwin, S Connell, G Duffy (0-1); N McCreesh, M Murray, G Mackin (0-1); P Casey (0-1), J Duffy (0-1); C Reavey, S Hoey (0-1), R McQuillan; K McCooey, T Donnelly, A Nugent (1-3, 0-2 frees) Subs: B McConville for N McCreesh (57), P Savage for C Reavey (64)
Referee: L Devenney (Mayo)
Attendance: 8,172
