A last look back at a glorious 2018 season

KNOCKNAGREE came, they saw and they conquered, the pride of Duhallow played some heavenly football en route to landing All-Ireland Club Junior A Football championship honours in Croke Park last Spring.

The elusive title win was no more than Knocknagree deserved, time and again during the campaign, they had forced the pace, bringing the game to a series of opponents. Not only did Knpcknagree delight their fans, their style of play has impressed many neutrals and certainly blew teams such as Multyfarnham apart on the wide open expanses of Croke Park.

Shook in the wake of a defeat by Boherbue in the Duhallow JAFC Final, Knocknagree re-emerged as a driven force and didn’t let up until, they possessed County, Munster and All Ireland titles on the sideboard.

Having attained Munster honours, Knocknagree were more than optimistic of taking the journey to Croke Park and landing the Holy Grail, indeed Knocknagree were simply not to be denied.

For some critics, All Ireland aspirations appeared a long way off some months earlier.

Seen as warm favourites to complete a three in-a-row at divisional level, yet the Duhallow route proved a bumpy road for Knocknagree in a roller coaster campaign. Neighbours Boherbue made light work of the underdog tag and shocked the holders in a replay after two epic confrontations.

Not entirely lost for Knocknagree, a revamped county championship saw Knocknagree remained involved and a wake up call set their sights on a bigger prize. Duhallow winners Boherbue fell to Iveleary, Knocknagree having returned to winning ways by despatching both Delaneys and Buttevant before they enjoyed key breaks to shade Iveleary in a thrilling semi-final.

That placed Knocknagree into a decider that ultimately delivered glory at the expense of Erins Own. No disputing the merits of Knocknagree’s triumph, team captain Matthew Dilworth and Anthony O’Connor in fine shooting form allowed Knocknagree inscribe their name on the county Cup for the third occasion and the first time since 1991.

Not only did Knocknagree realise a county ambition, they progressed to halt Kerry’s domination in the Munster JAFC to land provincial honour, Kingdom teams had chalked up ten consecutive wins, many of the triumphant sides progressed to land All Ireland honours.

Knocknagree entered the fray against Dromid Pearses as outsiders but from a gripping struggle for supremacy that required extra time to determine, O’Connor’s goal allowed a Cork team squeeze through for a rare triumph.

Next up were Naomh Colmcille from Donegal in the All Ireland semi-final in Mullingar, goals by James Dennehy and John F Daly confirmed another all round solid team showing underpinned by an outstanding work ethic.

With a first Leinster title under their belt, Multyfarnham turned their attention to an All Ireland semi-final their clash with Laherdane McHales of Mayo that turned out to a thriller. Here the Westmeath side upset the odds to shock the John Maughin coached McHales and continue a marvellous run of success.

That outcome indicated a great battle for supremacy was to unfold in Croker, both sides coming into the contest with a string of positive results to their credit and rewarded on county and provincial silverware.

On a day when nothing was won easily, Knocknagree produced some of their best football early in the game that put some clear water between the sides.

How Knocknagree started with their best available fifteen players defied logic, Danny Cooper played with a broken bone and the skilful Eoghan McSweeney had a severe shoulder injury owing to torn ligaments.

These two players showed a willingness to endure the pain barrier and contribute to a famous day. Multyfarnham’s use of a sweeper was bravely countered by Knocknagree, who pushed up corner-back Michael Mahony as a seventh forward.

Obviously Multy’ had an insight on the well being of a Knocknagree attack, any one of six could be match winners on their day, their strategy of pulling one of their inside forwards outfield to a more defensive role failed to close off the danger routes.

Knocknagree read the danger, defender Mahoney was thrust forward, a rare enough sight to see seven players in attack.

That ploy worked the dividends, initially McSweeney took a return pass from Mahoney to locate Matthew Dilworth to allow Fintan O’Connor net.

That setback called for cool heads and composure for Multy only for their troubles to reach new heights, McSweeney found the isolated Mahoney and the previous season’s minor captain made no mistake with a clinical finish, two goals netted within 50 seconds of each other.

Multy desperately required a break to stem the flow and as the game progressed, they came more into the proceedings, Knocknagree ‘keeper Pa Doyle produced heroics and along with defender Karl Daly, the pair saved their side’s bacon.

That allowed Knocknagree hold a grip at half time, the pattern didn’t alter to any great degree on the restart, the Knocknagree defence for a long stretch secured the defensive bolts to maintain a key dominance.

Still, Multy attempted to repeat their earlier promise on the circuit and sought to create some of the flashes of promise that had punctuated their first half offering.

However, some consolation scores were very much in damaged limitations territory, a real case of too little too late. Ultimately, that Saturday in Croke Park belonged to Knocknagree who had come a long way in 10 months under coach John Fintan Daly.

“In years to come in the new clubhouse, there will be a coloured bill board stating Knocknagree All-Ireland Junior champions 2018, when I’m long gone, that will remain, always remembered.

“I can never top this to win an All Ireland with my own club, the occasion brought back diaspora from all corners of the world to savour the occasion,” he said.