IS THE BEST An ‘abbey ending to MEDICINE.. their tale
A FEW minutes after Mullinalaghta made Leinster club SFC history, emotional boss Mickey Graham described it as ‘the greatest day ever’. The new Cavan manager didn’t specify exactly who it was the best day for; himself, the club, Gaelic football, the GAA? It could have been any of them, perhaps even all, such was the landmark nature of the tiny club from the half parish in north-east Longford reigning supreme in their province.
To put this famous win into context, Mullinalaghta are the smallest club in a county that had never even contested a Leinster final before, let alone won one. And in Kilmacud Crokes they were up against a club that has just shy of 5,000 members – yet they simply refused to be beaten. Trailing by three points with 56 minutes played, it looked like their brave bid for a place in the history books was destined to come up just short.
But they outscored Crokes by 1-2 to no score from there to match the late drama of the 2017 finally when Moorefield came from nowhere pockets.
Gary Rogers’ 59th minute goal from a penalty that was conceded by Dublin star Cian O’sullivan (inset) was the turning point and secured the remarkable win.
Boss Graham beamed: “That’s the greatest day ever. It’s absolutely huge.
“I’ve said this since the day I arrived; Longford club football is very competitive.
“If you look back at the form book from the last three years, we’ve been very competitive in Leinster. St Loman’s beat us last year by a point and went on and probably should have won Leinster.
“So the form book was there with us. It wasn’t that we were coming in as total unknowns. It was just that people didn’t give us the credit.”
They will now, because while Mullinalaghta staged a late smash and grab raid, there wasn’t the same sense of robbery as a year ago when St Loman’s coughed it up.
They were close in Crokes’ slipstream throughout and showed their thirst for battle early on by conceding a Pat Burke goal and fighting back to lead 0-5 to 1-1.
The scores were tied at half-time to pick St Loman’s 1-2 to 0-5 and Mullinalaghta’s character was tested again when they conceded the next three points.
Crokes had the wind advantage at that stage and, after a Burke point, they led by 1-6 to 0-6 with 51 minutes on the clock.
But the four-time winners and 2009 All-ireland champions didn’t score again as Mullinalaghta upped the ante incredibly.
David Mcgivney pulled back a point, leaving two in it, and then O’sullivan fouled Aidan Mcelligott, which teed up Rogers for his pot shot at history.
Unlike Craig Rogers of Portlaoise in the semi-finals, he made no mistake and beat David Nestor with a well-placed 59th minute kick to the keeper’s right.
They won the kick-out too and worked the ball to Mcelligott to curl over the insurance score – securing victory and a February 16 All-ireland semi-final against Dr Crokes.
Graham said: “The great thing coming into the final was that there was absolutely no pressure on us. Nobody really gave us a chance.
“We said that whatever happens we were going to give it one hell of a go and leave with no regrets.”
Mourneabbey Foxrock-cabinteely
1-13 1-7 MOURNEABBEY manager Shane Ronayne said his players got exactly what they deserved after finally peaking on the big occasion.
Going into Saturday’s clash with Foxrockcabinteely, the Cork champions had lost three of the last four All-ireland club finals.
But Doireann O’sullivan’s brilliance and a goal from Laura Fitzgerald helped them earn a stunning six-point win at Parnell Park.
Mourneabbey played with a strong breeze at their backs and were 1-12 to 1-3 ahead at half-time, despite Fiona Claffey’s goal for the Dubliners.
And the Cork ladies only needed one point in the second half to secure their first Dolores Tyrrell Memorial Cup.
“They performed to their potential. We said if we got a performance out of them we’d win. That’s what they focused on,” said Ronayne.
“That was the big thing, they performed. The previous finals we’ve sat back and we’ve been too defensive.
“Today they expressed themselves and they were outstanding.”
All-star sisters Doireann and Ciara O’sullivan tormented the Foxrockcabinteely defence from the start and once Emma Mcdonagh was sent to the sin-bin in the fifth minute, the Munster champions took complete control.