Alba and Cullihana win All-Ireland as junior and intermediate finals show lost GAA – Irish Times

I went to Croke Park, my shoes worn out and my hair a mess, to play soccer for a day.

Junior and Intermediate All-Ireland finals tend to bring deep-seated, rough-and-tumble dishes to headquarters that don’t usually get noticed on the national stage. It’s littered with mistakes, completely lacking in structure, and totally unpredictable from start to finish. In other words, everything you want.

When pinball was cancelled, Cavan’s Alva was crowned junior champion and Armagh’s Callie Hanna took the intermediate crown. No Armagh team had ever won an All-Ireland for a mid-tier club. No Cavan team had ever won a club All-Ireland. On days like this, the first thing falls from the sky without permission.

Next Sunday, Glen from Derry (last year’s runners-up) will play Roscommon’s St Bridget’s (winners 10 years ago) in the senior final.

In contrast, no club from any county has ever appeared in an intermediate final twice, with only Stewartstown and St Patrick’s in County Tyrone having appeared in more than one junior final. The glory of an afternoon like this is a novelty, a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

“It’s a surreal moment,” said Curryhanna’s manager Stephen Leal. “I honestly don’t know what to make of Callie Hanna being the All-Ireland champion at Croke Park. It’s probably a day that no one expected would come. A player who can do that. I knew there were some people there, but it’s just the fact that we’re not steeped in the history of the club, you know?”

That is both a blessing and a curse on days like this. No one is soaking in it. No one arrives here without knowing what will happen.

None of the four clubs on display have won a senior title in their county. Curriehana have lost several finals to Armagh over the past decade, but other than that, there is no doubt that this is the biggest day in each club’s history. You can prepare everything you want, but you won’t know how it will affect you until you know it.

It was a punishing experience for Cork intermediate champion Cyr na Maltra. They lost 8-1 to 7-0, which would be bad enough under any circumstances. But if he scores 7 points from 29 shots, you have to spend the whole way home thinking about what happened. They kicked 16 wides, with Karrie Hanna kicking six. disaster.

Manager John Evans said: “Obviously it was fear in front of goal.”

“There’s no question about it. We didn’t have any confidence in our shooting. That really hurts the players. I’ve been in this game a long time now, over 40 years, and the players… When you see him doing everything he can until he scores… It could be stage fright, I feel like it was stage fright, definitely in front of the goal it was stage fright. Ta.”

You don’t get that kind of thing on your big day. At least not to the same extent. You won’t see any shots taken from such distances or angles that the stats team would cry tears of salt.

I don’t see the goalkeeper sending the ball into the middle and hoping for the best. Above all, it is generally not a pleasure to see a few players stand out from the crowd and show why they are county players and others are not.

These two games were more or less decided by the inter-county experience of Alba’s Ciaran Brady and Cullyhana’s Aidan Nugent. Brady was excellent throughout for the Cavan champions, especially in the second half as they overcame a three-goal deficit at half-time. He was all over the place, adding four points between plays and complete games.

In the first half of the midway game, Nugent did much the same thing to Callie Hanna. His goal, which was buried in the roof of the net with a dynamite finish, gave the Armagh champions a cushion they would never relinquish. He finished the match 1-3. There was no one in Sil na Martra who performed anywhere near that level.

Brady and Nugent will likely see their days in the blue and orange as the year progresses. They will be joined by some of their teammates along the way. Tristan Noack-Hoffman played well alongside Brady in Alba’s midfield, while Jason Duffy was as sharp as ever on the front foot for Curry-Hannah. But even though it’s only the second weekend of January for him, there’s no doubt that this day will be his most memorable of 2024.

It’s like Alva’s dressing room is belting out the lyrics to Island in the Stream (Peak Cavern, I’m sure) as soon as Kapp returns to the dressing room. Curriehanna captain Pearce Casey gives one of the most eloquent and heartfelt speeches Croke Park has heard in years, without notes. That’s the Listowel crowd booing when Larry McCarthy asked the referee for applause (thought Dubs were the only ones who did that?). It’s Sil na Martra, who is racking her brain with 22 missed shots on the biggest day of her life.

In the all-too-perfect world of GAA, it’s never hard to survive, even if things get a little rough around the edges.

All Ireland Intermediate Final

Cullihana St Patrick’s (Armagh) 1-8 Cill na Maltola (Cork) 0-7

Callie Hannah: James Carragher; Sean Ogg Irwin, Sean Connell, Neil MacLeish. Gavan Duffy (0-1), Michael Murray, Gary Mackin (0-1). Pierce Casey (0-1), Jason Duffy (0-1). Caolan Levy, Tony Donnelly, Ross McQuillan. Kieran McCooey, Shea Hoey (0-1), Aidan Nugent (1-3, free 0-2). sub: Barry McConville as MacLeish, 58 minutes. Phelim Savage as Levy, 65 minutes.

Sil na Martra: Padraig O Clodine. Tadhg Ó Corcora, Graham Ó Mochain, Finnen Ó Faolain. Colm Mac Lochline (0-3), Sean O’Foray, Sianie O’Foray. Antoin Ó Cuana (0-1), Gearóid Ó Goilide. Fionburgh Ó Harewright, Damien Ó Huldair, Ciaran Ó Duin (0-2). Michelle Ó Deasuna, Daniel Ó Duín (0-1), Maidcy Ó Duín. sub: Danny O Conaill, O Quanah match (tentative) 29-30 minutes. De Conaill replaced De Asna at half-time. Shane O Duinnin, long run, 43 minutes. Eoin O Conaill, M. O Duinnin, 54, min. Daire Mac Lochlainn, O Hellais, 58 minutes.

Referee: Liam Devaney (Mayo).

all ireland junior final

Alba (Cavan) 0-13 Listowel Emmets (Kerry) 0-10

Alva: Sian O’Hara. Dylan Maguire, James Morris, Finbar McAvenew. Charlie Madden, Stephen Sheridan, Danny Ellis. Ciaran Brady (0-4), Tristan Noack-Hoffman (0-2). Thomas Partington, Barry Donnelly, Jonathan McCabe. Peter Morris (0-3), Kevin Bouchier (0-4, free 0-4), Conal Sheridan. sub: Ciaran Stanley as Ellis, 41 minutes. Thomas Brady as Sheridan, 57 minutes. Paul Cassidy as Morris, 62 minutes.

Listowel Emmets: Cathal Keene. Ciaran Pearce, Niall Collins (0-1), Eddie Healy. Sean Keene (0-2, free 0-1), Eddie Brown, Michael Kennedy. Jo Jo Grimes, Darragh Leahy (0-1). Jack McElligott, Brian Sweeney, Gar McCarthy. Jamie McVeigh, Cormac Mvihill (0-2), David Keene (0-3, free 0-3). sub: Darragh Lynch replaced Leahy at halftime. Sam Tarrant (0-1, free) D. Keene, 50 minutes. Adam O’Rourke as Sweeney, 56 minutes. Jake Moriarty as McCarthy, 57 minutes. Cillian Holly as McVeigh, 59 minutes.

Referee: Anthony Nolan (Wicklow).