Saintly joy as Nicks secure the crown
ST NICKS boys gathered at 10.30am at St Kevins CC for their Féile journey last Friday morning.
All packed, paparazzi ready with cameras, and away they went with supporters in convoy.
First stop was the ‘Horse and Jockey’ for a stretch of the legs, then back on the bus and Mallow was the next destination, where the boys refuelled and prepared for their first group game in host club Rathmore, Co. Kerry.
The group stage was kicked off with an impressive win over St Brigids, of Antrim. Half-time score: St Nicks 3-5, St Brigids 0-0.
Nicks got some great scores from Alan Miley, Shane Daly, Conor Carty, Conor Kearney, Mikey O Rourke and Jack Reid. With a final score of 7-12 to 0-0 to St Nicks, next up was Duarigle Gaels of Cork.
The journey to Kerry seemed to have only now taken effect on the Nicks boys, leaving them trailing 0-3 to 1-5 at half-time.
All to be done in the second half, however, this was not to be for Nicks, finishing on a score line St Nicks 1-9 and Duarigle Gaels 3-5.
The boys were then taken to meet their host families, where guest Kerry star Paul Murphy presented the boys with a gift from the Rathmore club.
Mickey Daly, manager of St Nicks, presented Rathmore with a framed St Nicks jersey signed by all Féile panel players. And the Chairman of Rathmore assured the boys it would take pride of place on the walls of their clubhouse for all to view when they visited in the future.
The weather was overcast on Saturday morning and Rathmore was the venue for the final group game; Nicks needing to pick up a win here to secure a place in the Cup quarter-final.
Nicks got off to a great start with shot on goal from Conor Carty, only to be saved by William Casey, but back into the hands of Jack Reid who made no mistake putting the ball over the black spot.
This was shortly followed by a point from Mikey O’Rourke. James Darmody and Alan Dineen causing problems for Nicks in the centre, and Rathmore holding possession up to half-time, but Nicks left the field at half time leading 0-5 to 0-2. Again Nicks’ Conor Carty cleared the throw in and landed the ball into the hands of Casey.
Nicks’ Ronan Kelly fields the kickout laying off to Conor Carty who passes on to Alan Miley, back of the net for Miley. Some more impressive scores from Conor Carty and Shane Daly, and great defence from Tom Moran and Oisin Traynor. Alan Dineen hit the back of Brian Keogh’s net but this wasn’t enough for the Rathmore boys.
Nicks taking this game on a final score 3-7 to 1-4. St Nicks secured top position on the group table where they would now meet Clondrohid of Cork, in the quarter-final in Clondrohid at 3.15pm.
From the talk in Clondrohid, St Nicks would have it all to do to move forward to the semis. Despite the tired legs the mighty men from Wicklow gave it everything they had left in the tanks, ging in at half-time on a scoreline of 3-7 to 0-2 to St Nicks.
In fairness to Clondrohid they battled on. St Nicks were very definite they had no intention of departing Kerry for Wicklow on Sunday morning, with a final score line of 3-12 to 0-2. St Nicks now booked their bus for the semi-final match trip to Mallow.
The boys stopped off in Ballyvourney to ready themselves for their parade in Killarney. Assembling at Fitzgerald Stadium,
home to many Kerry greats, the teams were paraded through the streets of Killarney. The evening was finished off with a disco with their host club Rathmore and their other visitors New York girls team.
Despite dancing the evening away, Nicks hit the ground running as soon as they took the field in Mallow GAA Sports Centre.
Gaoth Dobhair would have to take control of the Conor Carty and Alan Miley combination, after Miley’s goal Nicks held possession.
After 11 minutes Gaoth Dobhair hit the bottom corner of the Nicks net, leaving a very close half time score of 2-2 to 2-1 to St Nicks.
Did the boys from the Garden County have what it took to see off this Gaoth Dobhair team who were hoping for a Donegal victory.
But, once again, Conor Carty made no mistake, the throw in was only going one way, broken down to Shane Daly, into Usain Bolt aka Alan Miley, laid off again to Conor Carty on the return, GOAL St Nicks.
Alan Miley and Sean Metcalfe causing problems for the boys from Donegal. Cheers from the supporters as St Nicks secured a Féile na nÓg final place against their host team Rathmore.
With the sun shining over the Cork and Kerry mountains perfect conditions for a final. Nicks in green, amber and white took the pitch of Mallow GAA sports centre to face the red and white of Rathmore. Captain fantastic Shane Daly rattled the net of William Casey.
Sorry Rathmore you were exceptional hosts but we are not leaving without this cup, so centre-back man Tom Moran and his backs had it all to do. Half-time score 3-2 to 0-3 to St Nicks.
Lee Phelan, Cathal Ryan, Padraig Doherty and James Darmody keeping the pressure on the Wicklow visitors, allowing only one point in the second half from Conor Carty. With only minutes to go, Rathmore were awarded a penalty, Alan Dineen stood face to face with Brian Keogh, a save from Brian ended the game St Nicks 4-2, Rathmore 1-4.
The result the management and players have worked for over the past number of months finally received. The stands erupted and soon emptied onto the pitch to congratulate the heroes, they followed the high road and by roads of East Kerry and West Cork for the entire weekend.
Captain Shane Daly received the cup on behalf of his managers Mickey Daly, Eddie Eager, Michael Moran, Eoin Kelly and his outstanding panel of players.
Word quickly filtered back to Wicklow, where preparations for the home coming were put in place, Gavin Walsh was ready to load All-Ireland medal winners instead of his normal sand and gravel to parade them through the streets of Dunlavin.
The boys were paraded from Dunlavin’s Market house through the streets with the air horns heard for miles around, people lined along the streets, with their flags to welcome home the boys, a guard of honour led the boys into the clubhouse for their celebrations.
As we all know, All-Ireland medals are few and far between in Wicklow, but in the space of a week, eleven of this panel along with manager Michael Moran have received two All Ireland medals, one certain to go down in history books. St Nicholas Chairman Eddie Whelan thanked all parents, supporters, sponsors, committee members, too many to name, the club of Rathmore, who reported that their Wicklow family were a pleasure to host, who contributed to this success.
This occasion will not be fully appreciated until years to come when the boys look back on their memories and sharing them with the future of our parish.