All-Ireland club football: Intermediate and junior titles for Cullyhana and Alva

Armagh’s St Patrick’s Cullihana and Caverns Alba won the Intermediate and Junior deciders at Croke Park on Sunday to claim the All-Ireland club football title.

Orchard County star Aidan Nugent hit 1-3 as Cullyhana defeated Cork’s Cyr na Maltola 1-8 to 0-7.

Nugent’s goal came 20 minutes into the halftime contest as Curriehana led 1-5 to 0-4 heading into halftime.

In the previous junior final, Alba defeated Listowel Emmets 0-13 to 0-10.

The interim decider, played in front of a crowd of 8,000, was tense and tense at first, but then a storming goal from Pierce Casey and Nugent’s stunning goal from just in front of the 45-metre line sealed the deal. St. Patrick’s led 0-3 to 0-2.

A three-point shot followed, and Mickey Murray’s short shot narrowly missed, but Neil McLeish made it and scored for Nugent, who put it into the roof of the net to seal his team’s lead. He helped them gain a four-point advantage.

In the second half, Kalihana was unable to hold the ball for long, but the opponent was unable to reflect that on the scoreboard.

Cyr na Maltola relinquished the All-Ireland title after missing an astonishing 18 scoring chances, with 16 shots wide and two shots falling short.

Cullyhanna were more scathing, with Shay Hoey and Jason Duffy punishing the Cork side for their profligacy, finishing the scoring with Cullyhanna leading by four points.

Cyr na Maltola needed a goal to make a late comeback but St Pat’s goalkeeper James Carragher twice refused to allow Daniel Ó Duinnin to raise the green flag.

It wasn’t exactly a pretty win, but Cullyhana held on and became Armagh’s first All-Ireland intermediate club football champions.

In the opening game at Croke Park, Alba took a while to get going, but once they did they were unstoppable against Listowel, crushing Kerry’s team in the second half.

Listowel were the better team in the first half and they deservedly led from 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time after top performances from Cormac Mulvihill and David Keane.

However, Alba, from another team, came out of the changing room and changed the course of the match, completely dominating the second half.

Led by the formidable duo of Ciaran Brady and Tristan Noack-Hoffman in midfield, the precision of Peter Morris and Kevin Bouchier in attack and the inspired blocking of James Morris in defence. However, the Cavan side scored eight of the next ten points. They led 0-12 to 0-9 heading into the final stages.

And then came the moment Alva captain Brady would have dreamed of. He scored the winning goal in stoppage time, clinching victory and the All-Ireland crown.

Derry side Wattie Graham’s Glen will be aiming to complete the All-Ulster treble when they take on St Brigid’s in next week’s senior final.

Previously, no county had won All-Ireland club titles in all three grades in the same season.