Today’s Previews
FOOTBALL
All-Ireland Club SFC final St Brigid’s (Roscommon) v Watty Graham’s Glen (Derry)
Croke Park, 3.30pm (TG4)
Conor Glass put it nicely during the week – the best athletes are the ones with the shortest memories.
The Derry star and his Glen colleagues have long since parked last year’s AIB All-Ireland club football final heartache. They lost that decider to Kilmacud Crokes in agonising circumstances by a narrow margin but just six days later, Glass was back playing for Derry. So was Ethan Doherty.
And if revenge had been their motivation, there would be nothing left to play for now because they took care of Kilmacud at the second attempt earlier this month. You get the feeling Glass, in particular, is chasing lofty goals and an All-Ireland club medal might only be the tip of the iceberg.
By the end of 2024, the county captain may very well possess two Celtic crosses as Derry have equally big ambitions.
What’s certain is that if Glen are to finally claim the Andy Merrigan Cup, their former AFL star will be a central figure. They will need a huge 60 minutes from Michael Warnock, Eunan Mulholland, Ciarán McFaul, Emmett Bradley, Doherty and Danny Tallon too.
But Glass is the player that makes this special team from outside Maghera tick. They hadn’t even won a Derry championship when he returned home in October 2020 after four years Down Under. Remarkably, they haven’t stopped winning since, with the club’s maiden title success in 2021 was followed by more silverware in 2022 and 2023. They are back-to-back Ulster champions and AllIreland finalists now, too.
They can become just the fourth Derry team – Ballinderry, Lavey and Bellaghy are the others – to win the All-Ireland. Narrow victories over Naomh Conaill, Scotstown and most recently Crokes suggest that they are well road tested. But St Brigid’s supporters could claim the very same about their team. Beating a fancied Corofin in the Connacht final marked them out as serious contenders. We shouldn’t have been surprised.
Brian Stack, Robbie Dolan, Ben O’Carroll and Ruaidhri Fallon all featured for Roscommon in last year’s National League. Stack and O’Carroll were joined by Eddie Nolan in the Rossies’ Championship panel. Ciarán Sugrue is a terrific talent, too, in a young Brigid’s team that is here to stay, regardless of what happens this afternoon.
Playing the role of written-off underdogs in an All-Ireland final should hardly faze St Brigid’s for the simple reason that they know nothing else.
That is the role they played out in 2011 when they lost to Crossmaglen and when they defied the odds to beat Ballymun two years later.
Still, the fact that they are 3/1 in a twohorse race goes some way to illustrate the challenge they face and is also recognition – unlike a decade ago when they were a hardened winning outfit – that they may have arrived here too soon. In contrast, after losing an Ulster semifinal and an All-Ireland final in the last two years, Glen will feel that this is long overdue.
What impressed most is how they defied the momentum which Kilmacud had built up in the final quarter of their fogsabotaged semi-final in Newry, revealing levels of belief that only champions possess.
The hurt of last year, topped up by the controversial fall-out of their defeat to Kilmacud, will serve them well here as they get the job done.
Verdict: Glen
HURLING
All-Ireland Club SHC final St Thomas’ (Galway) v O’Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny)
Croke Park, 1.30pm (TG4)
This is one of those battles that has the feel of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object where something just has to give. St Thomas’ certainly fit the former category with a historic six-in-arow of Galway championships under their belt and the confidence boost of derailing competition favourites Ballygunner in the semi-final.
That victory was fashioned on a manic intensity and serious courage under fire with the likes of Fintan Burke a rock in defence and Conor Cooney one of those to show such leadership when required up front.
But then O’Loughlin Gaels have endured through various storms themselves, somehow finding a way to keep winning the tightest of games. From Paddy Deegan’s thrilling winner to beat Ballyhale Shamrocks to that big finish against Na Fianna in the Leinster final to that David Fogarty winner against Ruairi Óg, Cushendall, they keep producing under pressure.
And with All-Stars Huw Lawlor and Mikey Butler part of a defence that also includes another star man in Deegan, they have an impeccable track record in closing out tight games. A first victory would also complete a remarkable clean sweep of senior, intermediate and junior club titles after the success of Thomastown and Tullogher-Rosbercon.
Yet for all of that, the manner in which St Thomas’ also held their nerve against Ballygunner suggests that this will be their day.