Mo Goodwin & Michael Brady
THIS year’s Senior, Intermediate and Junior Mens Champions were decided over two weekends, comprising of four exciting finals at the Clydebank Community Sports Hub that featured each of Scotland’s Gaelic football clubs.
In the Senior Mens Final, old rivals Glasgow Gaels took on Dunedin Connollys, with the former side looking to make it three-in-a-row, while the latter were looking to add the Championship to the League Trophy already in their possession.
Indeed, it was Connollys who started at a blistering pace. A first-half brace of goals from Barry Ryan and Andrew Lyons had the Edinburgh side in the ascendency early on.
Dunedin were able to utilise the speed of their forwards with particularly strong games coming from Scott O’Rourke, and Andrew Lyons—who finished with 1-5, despite missing a penalty in the first half.
Gaels just couldn’t seem to get going. At half-time the scoreboard read 2-02 to 0-03 in Connollys' favour and despite not being a massive task to get themselves back into the game, Dunedin’s dominance continued in the second-half.
As good as they were in an attacking sense, they were equally sound defensively, with excellent performances from Damien McGrane, John McDonnell, and Ian Doyle. The Connolly’s defence were able to keep Glasgow to just 1-1 from play on the day.
However, it was in the middle third of the pitch where the game was ultimately won. Andy Geraghty, Kevin Carr, Tommy Burke, and Barry Ryan moonlighted in midfield—and played excellent counter-attacking football. After a dominating performance under the high ball, coupled with his early goal, Barry Ryan was named Man of the Match in the 2-09 to 1-05 win (above).
After the match, captain John McDonnell commended his side’s work rate, commenting that it was something that they had focussed on all year.
This is the 18th time that the trophy has made its way to Edinburgh—a phenomenal achievement.
The next day saw another fantastic achievement and a similarly dominant display as Glasgow Gaels defeated Tír Conaill Harps 3-10 to 0-04 to claim their first ever Championship at Intermediate level.
Gaels posted 1-01 early on after a pulsating start to the match and despite Harps pulling a point back, their goal continued to be placed under siege with Gaels adding another five points to go into half-time with a 1-06 to 0-01 lead.
While Tír Conaill will be rueing some of the poor wides and easy frees they missed, excellent displays from the Gaels all over the pitch coupled with some brilliant scores meant that there was only ever going to be winner on the day (above).
The always energetic Cian Finnan was named Man of the Match and posted 0-01 too, along with Kris McArdle, Alan White, Dave McGovern, Dom Laverty and Declan Kelly.
Emmet Magee and Dean Ward chipped in with 0-02 apiece, while all three goals—one of which featured a sublime dribble and finish—came from the boot of Aaron Gamble.
Next up was Dunedin Connollys vs Dalriada in the Intermediate B Final, which, unlike the previous two matches was a very close encounter.
The two east coast sides traded points and come half-time, Dunedin led by the narrowest of margins 0-03 to 0-02. It continued to be close in the second-half with the lead changing hands several times, but neither side able to pull clear of the other.
With the game tied and heading for injury-time, Dalriada posted the winning score with the last kick of the game to win 0-12 to 1-08 and take the shield home to join the Intermediate League Title in their trophy cabinet (above).
The following week saw Sands MacSwineys take on Glasgow Gaels in the Junior Final, with the Coatbridge side looking to win the title for the first time since 2015 and Gaels looking to secure a double.
This game was a more cagey affair than the previous championship matches, but it was the Glasgow side who took the bull by the horns with Aidan Meehan crucially scoring 1-01 to give them a little breathing space—albeit had Gaels not missed a penalty, the game might have been out of Sands’ reach.
The Coatbridge men, however, were tenacious and rattled off some scores of their own, which saw them only trailing 1-03 to 0-02 at the break.
Gaels reacted with a couple more scores—including a world class point from Peter Smart—in the second-half to keep Sands at bay and when the latter went down to 14 men after a red card, the Glasgow side saw out the win 1-05 to 0-03 (above).
Aidan Meehan was named Man of the Match for his lively performance and 1-01 tally. Gaels other scorers in the final were Peter Smart with 0-02 and Sean Campion and Sean Carroll with 0-01 each.
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