Connacht SFC final: St Brigids (Roscommon) 1-16 Maigh Cuilinn (Galway) 1-14
A seasonal cracker of an AIB Connacht final ended in the tightest of finishes. A late goal took St Brigid’s home, to their sixth provincial title and their players shook their heads and wondered at how they had won it in the end – just as Maigh Cuilinn wondered how they had lost.
The Galway champions had trailed on the scoreboard for only six minutes by the time Ruaidhri Fallon hit the golden goal in the 57th minute. They had not so much dominated, as monopolised the kickouts and in the second half alone, had at least 20 shots but returned just 0-9.
Yet, the Roscommon club had some absolute quality players, who made the best of limited rations. Fallon was tireless up and down the field and his goal, which sounded a thunderclap for the outcome was taken with assassin’s calm.
Conor Hand – who put in a blistering hour of shooting with seven, including two two-pointers – had the initial attempt, which dropped into the square and the ball was punched out by Pierce Greally, only to fall for Ciaran Sugrue, who did really well to secure possession and feed it across goal to the incoming Fallon.
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Asked afterwards, had he thought of settling for a point, the Brigid’s wing back was realistic.
“I don’t think so! I think I was a small bit close; I probably would have got some stick if I handpassed it over the bar. It was coming down the stretch at that stage. I think we needed it.”
He wasn’t wrong. The match had been really well-contested with Maigh Cuilinn resisting the favourites throughout and hitting back when it looked as if they were about to lose the initiative.
Brigid’s, who won the All-Ireland 2013, came very close two seasons ago but were derailed by Glen in the final. Maigh Cuillinn for their part had yet to lose a match in Connacht, having won the title three year previously and been denied a shot at by Covid in 2020.
The Galway side started very confidently and for the second match in succession, Brigid’s briskly conceded 1-1 without scoring, just as they had against Ballina in the semi-final.
Some lacklustre defence played a role in the opening minutes, as Fionn McDonagh weaved to score the first point in the second minute and within 60 seconds, Seán O’Connor’s dropping ball was touched into the net by Fiachra McDonagh.
It could have got worse in the eighth minute but referee Liam Devenney declined to play advantage after Eddie Nolan brought down Johnny Moloney, who got the ball inside but the chance came to nothing.
Niall Walsh’s runs caused difficulty for Brigid’s, who struggled to settle down and get on some ball.
Maigh Cuilinn maintained the squeeze, dominating the restarts and bobbing and weaving on the scoreboard to stay in front. Neither was it simply goalkeeper Conor Carroll suffering on his kickouts but there was an inert quality to Brigid’s pursuit of breaking ball that brought wave after wave of attack crashing down on them even though against the wind.
They still looked dangerous when in possession and having trailed for most of the half, they went in on level terms after a great driving run from the back by Hand, who rounded it off with a two-pointer, for 0-8 to 1-5 at the break.
The second half started with a smart point by Brian Derwin to give Brigid’s the lead for the first time but despite the apparent momentum shift, the Galway champions didn’t fall away. Peter Cooke, a first half replacement added menace to their attack and they would pepper the opposition goal with shots.
That third quarter was marked by an extraordinary stream of possession to Maigh Cuilinn from their opponents’ kickouts.
Nine of the first 10 went astray but Carroll made some serious amends in the 46th minute when somehow getting a hand to Fionn McDonagh’s point blank attempt. The ball was scrambled clear and even then a free out was turned over but critically didn’t result in a score.
In fact Brigid’s equalised at the other end when replacement Mark Daly fisted Ben O’Carroll’s dropping kick over the bar.
Undaunted, Maigh Cuilinn led twice more before Fallon’s goal turned the match around. Dessie Conneely, who had a good second half, pointed a free to cut the margin to a point, 1-15 to 1-14.
In the end, the match was put to bed by a breach of the 4v3 rule despite Seán Kelly’s desperate lunge to avoid the sanction and Ben O’Carroll pointed the free. Manager Cathal Clancy said afterwards that he thought it had been the first breach they had conceded all season.
Required to kick a two-pointer in the seconds remaining, Maigh Cuilinn couldn’t pull out the miracle conclusion.
Winning manager Anthony Cunningham whose dual achievements are remarkable, began his football accumulation with Brigid’s in the same ground 19 years ago when Karol Mannion’s last-minute goal beat Corofin.
“I didn’t even see that goal because there were so many encroaching on the sideline,” he cheerfully recalled. “The club has gone from strength to strength since then. They probably would be disappointed to not have won a second All-Ireland.”
Unfinished business.
St Brigid’s: C Carroll; S Trundle, R Dolan, R Smith; R Fallon (1-0-0), B Stack (jt capt), P McGrath (jt capt; 0-0-1); S Cunnane (0-0-1), E Nolan; C Sugrue (0-0-1), C Hand (0-2-3), B Nugent (0-0-1f); B O’Carroll (0-0-3, 1f), S Kilbride, B Derwin (0-0-1).
Subs: M Daly (0-0-1) for Kilbride (44 mins), R Stack for Smith (46 mins), C O’Carroll for Nugent (50 mins), E Derwin for Sugrue (61 mins).
Maigh Cuilinn: P Greally; A Claffey, E Kelly, M Moughan; S O’Connor S Kelly, D Wynne (capt; 0-0-2); P Kelly (0-0-1), T Clarke; J Moloney, N Walsh (0-0-2), G Davoren; Fionn McDonagh (0-0-3), Fiachra McDonagh (1-0-1), D Conneely. (0-1-3f)
Subs: P Cooke for O’Connor (27 mins), J McLaughlin for Fiachra McDonagh (50 mins), C Corcoran for Clarke (62 mins).
Referee: L Devenney (Mayo).
