A gritty performance that won the first Senior crown
‘WE are the champions’ screamed the headline in the Wicklow and Bray People newspapers on Friday, December 11, 1992.
‘Wicklow’s day of All-Ireland glory,’ read another while ‘An emotional occasion savoured to the full’ ran across an article that attempted to describe the feelings of joy and pride that surged in Pairc Tailteann in Navan on a dirty December day when the Wicklow Senior footballers achieved arguably their greatest success ever by winning the All-Ireland ‘B’ Senior football championship.
The writer of the article accepts and notes that this was indeed a ‘B’ championship but follows up swiftly with, ‘after more than 100 barren years who was going to let a little statistic like that get in the way of a good celebration.’
The iconic photo of the day has to be team captain Kevin O’Brien looking shocked as the handle came off the cup in the stand in Navan. He didn’t care. Nobody cared. All that mattered was that Wicklow had won a Senior title, Wicklow had achieved something significant. The had seemingly taken a major step in the right direction. Hope filled the air like a sweet perfume.
Reporter Mark Kennedy was there on the day as he was and still is for the vast majority of Wicklow GAA occasions. There are few people in the Garden County who witnessed more hurt and heartbreak with Wicklow sides than Mark Kennedy, fewer still who then had to go home and make sense of it all while turning around reports and reaction pieces with time always against him.
No doubt his report flowed a little more freely on the morning after Wicklow’s wonderful victory over Antrim, achieved as Mark Kennedy explains in the early part of his wonderful report, without the services of midfield pairing Raymond Danne and Pat O’Byrne.
‘Wicklow footballers wrote their names into the history books at Navan on Sunday when they won their first ever All-Ireland Senior title with a four-point win over Antrim in the All-Ireland Senior ‘B’ football championship final,’ he wrote.
How sweetly those words must have flowed onto the page for Mark Kennedy that morning.
‘It was a victory made all the more meritorious by the fact that it was achieved without the services of the injured Pat O’Byrne and suspended Raymond Danne, their two regular midfielders.
‘Incessant rain and a heavy ground made conditions for good football trying and difficult and yet Wicklow and Antrim rose above those handicaps to provide the 2,500 spectators with a rousing contest that did justice to the occasion.
‘Wicklow played their best football in the first half to lead by 1-2 to 0-1 at the interval and then had to soak up tremendous second-half pressure from Antrim before Conan Daye made victory secure with two late points.
‘Overall, this was a performance full of character, commitment, grit and determination from the Wicklow team and the
one major criticism I would have is their failure to kill off the Antrim challenge when they had the northerners on the ropes in the opening 30 minutes.
‘Wind-assisted Wicklow lined out with Sean O’Brien at midfield in place of the injured Pat O’Byrne while Blessington’s Darren Behan slotted into the vacant corner-forward role where he played a key role in the victory by scoring the game’s only goal.
‘Antrim threatened more than they actually achieved in the opening minutes before Wicklow settled into their stride and took command of the exchanges with an impressive and heart-warming display of combination football.
‘The game was only warming up when full-forward Pat Baker swapped places with centre forward Paul Allen and, adopting a roving role, the Avondale man was to play a pivotal part in Wicklow’s domination of the game in the first half.
‘In the right corner Conan Daye was taking up brilliant positions to receive the splayed passes from Baker, Kevin O’Brien and his brother Sean, who was giving his usual vigorous and dashing performance from midfield.
‘However, while Wicklow’s outfield performance looked and was impressive, their finishing of attacking moves left a lot to be desired. In the first half Wicklow shot eight wides to Antrim’s six and one point by Fergus Daly after 10 minutes was a poor return for all their pressure in the first quarter.
‘Yet it was Antrim who missed the more obvious scores from easy positions, with Joe Kennedy and then Enda McAtamney completely off target with their free-taking.
‘A combination move involving Kevin O’Brien, Terry Allen and Pat Baker set Paul Allen up for a point in the 17th minute. Five minutes later Sean O’Brien, who was working extremely hard and effectively at midfield, floated a ‘Garryowen’ into the Antrim goalmouth. And when goalie Dominic MacEnhill let the ball slip from his hands, an alert Darren Behan pounced on the bouncing ball to punch it to the net.
‘Antrim’s solitary point in the first half came at the end of the 30 minutes. Referee Joe Carney incurred the wrath of Wicklow supporters for his part in that score, which came from a move started at the other end when Wicklow were penalised for a quickly-taken free.
‘Wicklow looked as if they were going to continue their domination of the play in the second half when Paul Allen increased their lead with a point in the first minute. The move started with Fergus Daly punching the ball inside the Antrim defence to Terry Allen who laid the ball off to his brother Paul for the score.
‘From the kick-out Antrim swept down the field for their wing-back Aidan Donnelly to set up Joe Kennedy and from there on the pattern of play was to change completely in favour of the northerners. Wicklow now found themselves with their backs to the wall as Antrim came forward.
‘Antrim, whose shooting for scores was worse than Wicklow’s record, still managed to cut the deficit to two points, 1-3 to 0-4, as the game entered its final ten.
‘And with eight minutes to go it looked curtains for Wicklow when Antrim were awarded a penalty for an alleged foul on full-forward Frank Fitzsimons by Wicklow goalie John Walsh. But then Joe Kennedy unbelievably pulled his penalty shot to the right of the goal and wide.
‘Relieved at this reprieve, Wicklow pulled their act together in the closing eight minutes with Conan Daye, who played a brilliant game throughout, kicking two fine scores from frees to secure victory.
‘Centre-back Billy Kenny got the man of the match award for his consistency and commitment throughout, while his brother Hugh also had a major role to play in this victory in the way he handled and eventually subdued Antrim full-forward Frank Fitzsimons who had to be substituted before the end.’
Wicklow: John Walsh; Thomas Donoghue, Hugh Kenny, Brendan Brady; Donal Lenihan, Billy Kenny, Mick Murtagh; Sean O’Brien, Fergus Daly (0-1); Kevin O’Brien, Paul Allen (0-2), Terry Allen; Conan Daye (0-2), Pat Baker, Darren Behan (1-0). Subs: Ronan Coffey for T Allen, David Gordon for Donoghue, Kevin Cunninmgham for Behan.