Cuala (Dublin) 3-14; Errigal Ciarán (Tyrone) 1-16
To Cuala, the glory of the day and an outrageous sporting storyline while to Errigal Ciarán, respect in what turned into an honorable defeat - something that looked remote at half-time when they trailed by 13 point - 3-9 to 0-5 - in the All Ireland SF club final at Croke Park on Sunday.
What a fitting finale this was to the old season and to the old rules of Gaelic football, which from next week onwards will undergo drastic changes.
Hurling champions at county, provincial and national level in 2017 and 2018, no one saw the meteoric rise of the football team from B standard competitors in Dublin to actual All Ireland champions some six years down the line.
It is a script that has too many fault-lines for fiction so can only be believed when it comes true. On Sunday Austin O’Malley’s charge got that final crowning glory but only after Errigal Ciarán gave them one hell of a fright by staging a comeback that saw them at one stage reduce the 13-point lead back to three before Cuala regained their composure and ran out four-point winners.
Ultimately it was the three first half goals which left the mountain too tough to scale for a brave Ulster team who fought more for pride than anything else after the break.
It led to a fascinating duel for the 31,000 plus supporters in the stadium and for the huge following looking in from television land. The sheer ecstasy for the Dalkey players and supporters was coated in almost disbelief that they had written such a sporting novella - county, provincial and national winners in the one season.
It also meant that Cuala have joined Cork’s St Finbarr’s by winning club senior All Irelands in both hurling and football.
They say that “tús maith leath na h-oibre” and that certainly was the case with the Leinster champions drawing blood in the fifth minute with the multi-decorated Mick Fitxsimons providing the killer pass for fellow veteran Luke Keating to stick the ball into the bottom of the net.
It left the men in white and blue struggling to get to the pace of the game and after the ultra-influential Con O’Callaghan put his side five points up, before half back David O’Dowd clinically planted the second ball in the Errigal net, after getting a great assist from man of the match, Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne
The same Ó Cofaigh Byrne was so dominant that the only player on a par with him in the midfield area was his colleague, the equally impressive Peter Duffy. Both give the impression of a young Brian Fenton, something that will be music to the ears of Dublin boss Dessie Farrell as he contemplates replacing Fenton and James McCarthy in the ‘25 league and championship campaigns.
Between them they were the lords of the skies with keeper Ryan Scollard clever enough to keep the long kick out working, knowing his deadly duo were odds on to come down with the ball stuck to their hands.
The cutest and most industrious player afield, the aforementioned Con, kept the scores ticking over, one with a 45 that was only rising it sailed over the blacksport. Errigal’s own Con, Darragh Canavan was forced off with a suspected concussion after receiving an accidental knock to the head. Once that happened, most people thought that it was beyond the Northern boys to raise a challenge of any sorts.
That feeling got underlined even more when five minutes before the break, Con used his extra gears to zip around the defence to allow the galloping Ó Cofaigh Byrne to finish to the net.
Errigal got a few punches in before the short whistle by scoring four points but the O’Callaghan brothers hit two points to lead by 13 at the break.
Neutrals and the Errigal fans got what the game needed - a real gutsy fightback from the second-half throw-in. Three quick points from the truly impressive Peter Harte, the best Errigal player over the hour Tommy Canavan and Ciaran McGinley, put the game into respectability status before the lion-hearted Harte cracked home a goal for the ages nine minutes into the half to raise for the first time the reality that Cuala’s lead afterall might not be insurmountable.
At that stage, it was the challengers who virtually owned the ball and in hindsight, it was Cuala’s ability to snipe scores on breakaways from the likes of O’Dowd, Keating and Con that kept the lead at a fairly safe distance.
Cousin Tommy Canavan was the scoring talisman and when Ruairi joined him with scores, the gap reduced.
Ó Cofaigh Byrne and Duffy showed their mettle when the going got tough as each ran like sprinters into the defense and got vital scores at vital times.
Still Errigal were not going away and Harte, playing his best half hour ever in Croker, shot a great right-footed point to cut the deficit to one score - a goal would have sent the game into extra time.
The guys from across the border now had their dander up and only for a brilliant block by - who else - Con on his own 13 meter line, that goal could have arrived. Instead Cuala showed remarkable composure in the heat of battle to keep their heads with young Conor Groake turning down the chance of a goal to make sure of the win by fisting a point.
The gig was up for the Errigal boys and the dismissal of Harte for a tackle made no difference as the game had finally been decided with just a few minutes to go.
What winning with your own club means was etched on the face of Fitzsimons, the co-holder of the most Celtic Crosses with nine medals to his credit with Dublin.
Said the ageless 36-year-old on RTE Sport: “It’s incredible. To see James Power [captain] and Luke Keating up there. We have been slaving away at this. I have been playing for 18 years at this stage. There are lads that have just plugged away through some dire times.
“It's the sweetest victory I've ever had, definitely. I would have been envious of all the Dublin teams that won it before. Vincents, Ballyboden, Crokes…to be able to experience it is unbelievable.”
Cuala: R Scollard; D Conroy, M Fitzsimons, E O’Callaghan; E Kennedy, C McMorrow, D O’Dowd (1-1); P Ó Cofaigh Byrne (1-1), P Duffy (0-1); C Dunne, C O’Brien, C Doran; L Keating (1-3, 0-2f), N O’Callaghan (0-2), C O’Callaghan (0-5, 0-2f, 0-1’45) Subs: C Groarke (0-1) for O’Brien (41), M Conroy for Dunne (48), C Ó Giollain for D Conroy (54).
Errigal Ciarán: D McAnenly; Cormac Quinn, A McCrory, Ciaran Quinn; T Colhoun, N Kelly, P Og McCartan; B McDonnell, J Oguz (0-1); P Harte (1-2), R Canavan (0-3, 0-2f), C McGinley (0-1); T Canavan (0-6, 0-4f), D Canavan, O Robinson (0-1) Subs: M Kavanagh (0-1) for D Canavan (21), E Kelly for McGinley (47), P McGirr (0-1) for Robinson (51), R McRory for T Canavan (63)
Ref: P Neilan (Roscommon).
