One of the longest-suffering tribes in Gaelic football finally made it to the promised land when Cavan revived memories of their glory years with a thrilling victory over Derry in the Ulster final at Clones yesterday. They have always loved the game in Cavan but since 1969 they have lamented more than loved - it meant so much, yielded so little. Small wonder, then, that they washed away the years of frustration and dejection with a torrent of emotion, a torrent of joy - and a torrent of tears.
"Young and old wept together," said team manager Martin McHugh as he surveyed the delirium all round. They streamed in their thousands onto the Clones turf, like a people just liberated from a tyranny, shouting and dancing and cheering with total abandon. There was a madness abroad.
And at the heart of the madness was McHugh, the amazing wee man from Donegal who had planned this day for three years. In doing so, he ran his players into the ground and presented them in Clones yesterday racing fit and raring to go. Derry pushed them to the edge but, in the 60th minute, Cavan struck the decisive blow when substitute Jason Reilly fired the ball to the net.
"There was no stopping us from then on," said full back Ciaran Brady. And there wasn't. If it was emotional in Clones, it was extraordinary in Croke Park where Meath and Kildare slugged it out for over 100 minutes with both left standing at the final whistle. They meet for the third time on August 3rd, reviving memories of Meath's four-game saga with Dublin in 1991.
A game of almost outrageous drama climaxed in the second half of extra time when Meath hauled in a six-point deficit and took a one-point lead through substitute Jody Devine in the dying seconds. Kildare equalised with the last action of the day, substitute Paul McCormack touching a hopeful centre over the bar.
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