The joy of championship
A weekend Wicklow GAA can be for forever proud of
OVER the years Wicklow GAA has come in for its fair (and unfair) amount of criticism, but last weekend was without doubt one of the best weekends of championship action for many a long year.
Over two days, Saturday and Sunday, four adult county finals were contested, two in Pearses’ Park in Arklow and two in Aughrim with each one being as entertaining and as dramatic as the one before it.
The Wicklow County Board has its critics but let no GAA supporter fault what was an absolutely fantastic weekend of action and of sportsmanship, and of joy and despair, of loss and of victory, of hope and of failure.
It was a pure privilege to be able to attend all four games and to take to the field when the battle was over and to witness what these victories meant for the four clubs involved.
Opening up the weekend were the men of Knockananna and Enniskerry. Two small and proud GAA clubs from opposite ends of the county and two clubs for which a championship victory in Junior ‘B’ would have meant so much.
In the end it was the blue boot of Knockananna’s Paddy Byrne who decided the issue and surely there’s no footballer in Wicklow who deserves praise or plaudits more than Paddy Byrne, a man who has toiled for many a year through thick and thin for the pure love of his club.
Has there ever been a happier man than Ronnie Philips after the Junior ‘A’ decider between Ashford and Kilcoole. If there has then I’ve yet to meet him and what a victory for a proud and prospering club. Kilcoole tried their best and they will be back.
On to Sunday and we had the thrill of witnessing the IFC final between Damien Redmond’s AGB and Joe Murphy’s Ballinacor. We offered commentary on the day and that is an experience we will never forget. We posted a video of that extraordinary finale to that game online and at the time of writing there have been almost 100,000 views and outlets such as ‘Sports Illustrated’ have carried stories on the drama.
Cal Kelly was the hero for AGB as he will no doubt on many occasions into the future and what potential this young group of men promise. Your heart has to go out to Ballinacor. Nobody deserves to lose a game like that. They will be back. They are too proud and too talented not to be.
And then we had the big one. The underdogs, Paul Garrigan’s Baltinglass up against a St Pat’s team seeking redemption.
And what we got was an incredible display of teamwork and of pride and of talent with the men of Baltinglass bringing glory home once again. Much more inside!