Dublin GAA marked a further milestone at Croke Park on Sunday when it joined Cork and Galway as the only counties to win both AIB All-Ireland club titles on the same day.
Much had been expected of the two finals, seen as finely balanced, but Na Fianna swept aside Cork’s Sarsfields and by half time in the football Cuala’s 13-point lead promised more ennui for the neutral. To Errigal Ciaran’s credit they resisted mightily in the second half and the Dubliners were the ones praying for the final whistle and as relieved as jubilant when it came.
Their dazzling first-half display, however, left just enough in the bank to underpin a four-point win, 3-14 to 1-16. Although there were many contributors to the success and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne was named TG4 Man of the Match the two established presences of Mick Fitzsimons and Con O’Callaghan – 15 All-Irelands with Dublin between them – led the charge and guided the team home.
Team captain James Power paid tribute to both. “When Fitzy broke into the Dublin team I don’t think there had been a Cuala player on the Dublin seniors probably since Mick Holden, maybe. So, like, I mean we would have had an inferiority complex against other clubs in Dublin, we just wouldn’t have seen ourselves being in that bracket.
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“So just even seeing Fitzy there when he first broke on, just seeing him starting for Dublin was huge. I suppose psychologically you’re kind of thinking, ‘well there’s a Cuala guy playing at the highest level’ and then look someone like Con comes along, you’d sort of heard about him when he was a minor and you know this guy is supposed to be a serious bit of stuff.
“You’re kind of going, ‘right we have Mick there at the back’ and anytime you had Con on your team you just felt like you had a chance, you know. I suppose like a big thing was that Con gave some of the older guys just a bit of hope.”
Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley outlined the shell-shocked conversations at half time and how they had rationalised the basis for the comeback. “There was an acceptance that it was a disaster of a first half, that the team froze, but there was a reality check that Cuala are good but they are not that much better than us, and we are not that bad. So whatever was going on in the first half it wasn’t because we were playing against a team that was 10 levels above us.”
His Cuala counterpart Austin O’Malley opened one of his reflections with a fair old understatement.
“It got a little bit closer than I’d have liked there at times but look full credit to our guys. I thought they managed to pinch those vital scores and manage the ball a little bit better and so on. And that I suppose just allowed us that little bit of cushion to see it out to the end there.”
In the hurling final Na Fianna floored Sarsfields with a devastating performance. At one stage in the second half they led by 14 points, but when the counting stopped it was down to nine, 2-23 to 0-20. It was just a sample number.
The Dublin champions seized the game in the opening quarter and stitched together a sequence of eight unanswered points to lead by 0-9 to 0-1 after just 16 minutes. Na Fianna were playing with the breeze and there was loads of time left for everything to change, but the story already felt linear and locked in.
Tom Brennan scored Na Fianna’s first goal after 21 minutes and scored their second 21 minutes later. It was an extraordinary afternoon for a player who had walked away from the hurlers at the beginning of the season and was making his first start of the campaign.
Brennan had been a dual under age star for Dublin, but last year he elected to concentrate on senior football in the club. When Na Fianna were knocked out of the football championship, though, the hurlers pulled him back on board and he came on as a sub against Loughrea in the All-Ireland semi-final before Christmas.
“Tom has that ability, once he secures the ball and goes off the shoulder, he’s extremely explosive, extremely strong,” said Niall O’Ceallachain, the Na Fianna manager. “And he’s good in the smaller areas like that to, I suppose, finish opportunities like that. He started in previous years, but that’s his first start this year, yeah. Great day for him. Tom, his grandfather, is one of the founding members of the club.”
It has been a whirlwind few months for O’Ceallachain. In September he was appointed Dublin hurling manager and six weeks ago his wife gave birth to their first child. On Saturday night he presided over a challenge match against Tipperary and next weekend Dublin will begin their National League campaign. In the normal course of events celebrating an All-Ireland would put a hole in anyone’s week, but O’Ceallachain put himself on the clock as soon as the game was over.
“We have Antrim in the League next week so, listen, I’m enjoying this for a day. We’re going back to the club there, to our people, to enjoy this but to be honest I’ll be back at it tomorrow. I’ll be back at it tomorrow. Yeah, we’ve a game to prepare for next Saturday.”
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