17 March 2010
St Gall's became the first Antrim team to win the AIB All-Ireland Club Football title when they ran out convincing winners against Clare and Munster champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane at Croke Park.
Only five points seperated the sides at the end but St Gall’s were much much the better side throughout the game and in truth they won at a canter.
A goal in the opening minute for the Clare men and a couple of late points put a deceptive look on the scoreboard for in truth St Gall’s were always in the driving seat.
Kieran McGourty's got them going with a point inside thirty seconds before Gall's were briefly jolted by a Stephen Moloney goal for the Clare champions.
However the Clare men managed only one further point in the first half while St Gall's practically owned the ball and went on to lead by 0-8 to 1-1 at the interval.
The Antrim men went through the motions in the second half and you felt they could have upped the pace when needed, but they over elaborated on too many occasions when simples scores were there for the taking.
There was a spell near the end when Kilmurray closed to within four points and the Saints fans may have had a few anxious moments, but Rory Gallagher sealed a famous win with a late point to spark scenes of great celebrations.
After defeat in the final four years ago, and defeat in the Intermediate Club Hurling Final four weeks ago, this was a thoroughly deserved honour for a great club who join Loughgiel Shamrock as the only Antrim teams to won All Ireland Senior Club titles.
St Gall's scorers: CJ McGourty 0-3, Kevin McGourty 0-2, K Niblock 0-2, A Healy 0-1, S Burke 0-1, A Gallagher 0-1, T O'Neill 0-1, Rory Gallagher 0-1, Kieran McGourty 0-1.
Kilmurray-Ibrickane scorers: S Moloney 1-2, I McInerney 0-1, M O'Dwyer 0-1, J Daly 0-1.
Scorers -- St Gall's: C McGourty 0-3 (0-1f , 0-1 '45'), Kevin McGourty, K Niblock 0-2 each, Rory Gallagher, A Gallagher, S Burke, A Healy, Kieran McGourty, T O'Neill 0-1 each. Kilmurry-Ibrickane: S Moloney 1-2, I McInerney (f), J Daly (f), M O'Dwyer 0-1 each.
St Gall's -- Ronan Gallagher; P Veronica, A McClean, C Brady; S Kelly, A Healy, M Kelly; S Burke, A Gallagher; T O'Neill, Kieran McGourty, Kevin McGourty; C McGourty, K Niblock, R Gallagher. Subs: K Stewart for O'Neill (46), S Burns for Burke (54), S Kennedy for Veronica (60).
Kilmurry-Ibrickane -- D O'Brien; D Hickey, M Killeen, M McMahon; S Hickey, E Coughlan, D Callinan; P O'Connor, P O'Dwyer; I McInerney, M Hogan, S Moloney; M O'Dwyer, J Daly, N Downes. Subs: E Talty for Hogan (12), O O'Dwyer for Talty (32), M McCarthy for O'Connor (41), B Moloney for Killeen (50), P O'Dwyer for Downes (52).
Ref -- D Hickey (Longford).
By Colm Keys
Thursday March 18 2010
It was the dream final for the GAA, pitting the unique environments of west Clare and west Belfast together.
However, it was forgettable in almost every other sense for the neutrals among the 34,357 attendance, as St Gall's cantered to a first All-Ireland title, making amends for losing at the same stage here in Croke Park four years earlier.
Once they dusted themselves down from the shock concession of a first- minute goal from Kilmurry-Ibrickane wing-forward Stephen Moloney, they controlled the game to such an extent that the result was inevitable as early as the interval when they led by 0-8 to 1-1.
The Clare and Munster champions just never showed even the faintest glimpses of penetration, cohesion or spark that suggested they could find a way back into this disappointing final once they fell behind. As a consequence, the competitive value diminished quickly.It won't bother St Gall's, a tightly-knit community just off the Falls Road that prides itself on the success and quality of its football teams. They have been building steadily towards this moment in recent years and have put together a level of organisation and structure to their game that surely points to a return here at some stage in the future.
flourishing
On a broader scale, their victory can only serve as a positive force for Antrim football, which is already flourishing on the back of last year's championship. Anything up to eight of the St Gall's side could conceivably find their way into a county team that has been doing very nicely without them after four rounds of the league, out on their own at the head of affairs in Division 3.
The wonder was that they didn't win more comfortably than the five-point cushion they had at the end.
But then their style, which demands so much patience and nerve in possession, perhaps does not lean towards ruthlessly demolishing opponents.
But once they have possession, they are extremely adept at keeping it, with each player comfortable in holding up the ball, protecting it and playing it around.
It is perhaps a legacy of their great command of 'sevens' football that demands skill and an ability to keep possession. Whether it's the tournaments in Castlewellan or Kilmacud, Gall's are never too far from the podium and by transferring their skills to 15-a-side -- and landing the biggest club prize of all -- they have underlined what a talented team they are.
Kilmurry-Ibrickane drew heart from the efforts of centre-back and captain Enda Coughlan and Moloney, but in almost every other duel on the field, they were soundly beaten.
But their experience has been a good one and in time they'll appreciate the true value of their conquerors.
Events in the first minute pointed to a potential classic, Kieran McGourty's point after Kevin Niblock's incisive run drawing the quick response of Moloney's goal, courtesy of Declan Callinan's break, at the other end before most spectators has settled properly in their seats.
But for the next 42 minutes Kilmurry added just one more point -- from a 25th minute Johnny Daly free -- as Gall's took over.
Their lines of running, switching of direction and accurate intelligent passing ensured a tempo that Kilmurry found too difficult to deal with.
The Kilmurry 'keeper Dermot O'Brien reacted well to intercept a McGourty pass to Terry O'Neillalong the ground on six minutes, but there were signs of pressure on them everywhere. Kevin McGourty's industry, the absolute dominance of Aodhan Gallagher and Sean Burke at midfield,Sean Kelly's pace out of defence and captain Colin Brady's composure pointed to only one result.
Rory Gallagher and Niblock pulled a lot of strings too, with the latter particularly effective after the break.
However, by the time Daly had added to the Kilmurry goal, St Gall's had added another five points to lead by 0-6 to 1-1 some 25 minutes in, with a timely block by Martin McMahon onConor McGourty preventing further leakage.
O'Neill and Kevin McGourty added points before the break for a healthy, but not unassailable lead, but a knowledge that they were a much superior side.
Niblock and Conor McGourty interacted well for the first two scores of the second half, as St Gall's pushed on, before Aodhan Gallagher and O'Neill combined with two long kick-passes to set up Burke for an 11th point.
Eventually Moloney broke the sequence and Kilmurry did start to get some fluency again, but not before Conor McGourty's delicate touch set up Rory Gallagher, ensuring all six forwards and both midfielders would score from play.
In the last quarter, Kilmurry engineered themselves to within four points, 0-12 to 1-5, and that scarcely seemed credible on the balance of play.
But St Gall's were in protective mode at that stage, shipping the ball confidently from one to another without ever really concerning themselves about the territory they found themselves in. The prize was too valuable for risk.
Kilmurry won't be too despondent, but their path back to Croke Park and St Patrick's Day is far from guaranteed.
As a county, Antrim now finds itself sharing the distinction with Wicklow (Baltinglass) andPortlaoise (Laois) of having All-Ireland club champions, but no All-Ireland senior title. Will it be a stepping stone to more?
Scorers -- St Gall's: C McGourty 0-3 (0-1f , 0-1 '45'), Kevin McGourty, K Niblock 0-2 each, Rory Gallagher, A Gallagher, S Burke, A Healy, Kieran McGourty, T O'Neill 0-1 each. Kilmurry-Ibrickane: S Moloney 1-2, I McInerney (f), J Daly (f), M O'Dwyer 0-1 each.
St Gall's -- Ronan Gallagher; P Veronica, A McClean, C Brady; S Kelly, A Healy, M Kelly; S Burke, A Gallagher; T O'Neill, Kieran McGourty, Kevin McGourty; C McGourty, K Niblock, R Gallagher. Subs: K Stewart for O'Neill (46), S Burns for Burke (54), S Kennedy for Veronica (60).
Kilmurry-Ibrickane -- D O'Brien; D Hickey, M Killeen, M McMahon; S Hickey, E Coughlan, D Callinan; P O'Connor, P O'Dwyer; I McInerney, M Hogan, S Moloney; M O'Dwyer, J Daly, N Downes. Subs: E Talty for Hogan (12), O O'Dwyer for Talty (32), M McCarthy for O'Connor (41), B Moloney for Killeen (50), P O'Dwyer for Downes (52).
Ref -- D Hickey (Longford).
- Colm Keys
Irish Independent
ALL IRELAND CLUB CLUB SFC FINAL/St Gall's 0-13 Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-5: ROMANCE DOESN’T always belong to the little village. It’s a city street thing too. In their centenary year, St Gall’s of Belfast, a club who have known suffering and heartbreak in the real world as well as the sporting, climbed to the summit at last.
Kilmurry-Ibrickane, who had invested so much hope in this journey, just never got off the ground.
If you have Belfast blood or just an eye for a story, this was a day of days in Croke Park though. One hundred years of dogged history has seen St Gall’s suffer social deprivation, sectarian pogroms, burn-outs and divisions and disappointments. Always, the club has come back to bloom like a desert flower on some part or other of the Falls Road.
Whatever the smallest parish club has meant to the tiniest village in rural Ireland, St Gall’s has meant as much to its West Belfast home. This was to be their moment and they never buckled under the burden of having to make hope and history rhyme.
If it was a poor-to-middling game, neither side will care. The men of Clare will feel they did themselves an injustice. St Gall’s played with such confidence on the day that one suspects Kilmurry played as well as they were let.
And St Gall’s will respond anyway that they have been that soldier. Four years ago on St Patrick’s Day they went under to Salthill by the width of a point. A lot of forwards went home that day reflecting ruefully on their misses and how expensive they proved.
This was a win for a city team and Gall’s played all the way through with a confident swagger which reflected Antrim football in its heyday. From the throw-in, the Ulster champions swept the ball down the field and straight over the Kilmurry crossbar, Kevin Niblock getting the key pass to Kieran McGourty. No Clare hand had touched the ball.
From the kick-out, however, Kilmurray managed to pose the only serious question of the match.
The ball moved swiftly upfield. Declan Callinan took the kick-out and moved it forward, Seán Kelly picked out a lovely perceptive handpass to Stephen Moloney who buried the ball in the St Gall’s net.
There was just over a minute gone on the clock. We settled in for a toe-to-toe bareknuckle fight.
St Gall’s just had too much though. The next five points were theirs and the damage could have been worse were it not for some fine work from Dermot O’Brien in the Kilmurry goal.
St Gall’s were quickly up off the canvas with CJ McGourty slotting over a 45 after Terry O’Neill’s goal attempt had been turned around the post by O’Brien.
There followed a few minutes of uncertainty before midfielder Aodhán Gallagher hoisted a splendid point to leave the teams level for the last time in the game.
Most of this Gall’s team grew up together and their cohesiveness reflected that.
Both midfielders and all six starting forwards would register scores from play, a perfect spread for a club side.
After the dunt to their confidence that the concession of such an early goal gave St Gall’s, they just kept on doing what they knew best. Kilmurry managed just one more point (from Johnny Daly) in the first half as the Belfast club went in to their tea with a 0-8 to 1-1 lead to mull over.
If there was any table-thumping it would have been prompted by the knowledge that by then they should have been out of sight.
A tendency to kick the point instead of delivering the killer final pass for a goal let Kilmurray off the hook a couple of times and they had kicked a number of wides, including three from Rory Gallagher.
In the end, it made no difference. St Gall’s never put the pedal to the floor after the break, contenting themselves with holding Kilmurry off at arm’s length. Indeed, from the time of Rory Gallagher’s fisted point in the 43rd minute until injury time when Kevin Niblock pointed again, St Galls contrived not to score while still looking pretty well in control of the game.
If club is family than it will be a long time before a McGourty (or indeed their uncle and team coach Lenny Harbinson) has to buy a drink in St Gall’s.
For men who seem to attract controversy like other people attract the common cold, the three brothers were instrumental in this famous win.
The movement and passing among the Gall’s forwards was exemplary all through, but, in the first half in particular, Kevin McGourty’s ability to attack the Kilmurry full-back line before laying off a pass was a huge difference between the sides.
ST GALL’S: Ronan Gallagher; P Veronica, A McClean, C Brady (capt); M Kelly, A Healy (0-1), S Kelly; S Burke (0-1), A Gallagher (0-1); T O’Neill (0-1), Rory Gallagher (0-1), Kevin McGourty (0-2); CJ McGourty (0-3, two frees), K Niblock (0-2), Kieran McGourty (0-1). Subs: K Stewart for O’Neill (46 mins), S Burns for Burke (54 mins), S Kennedy for Veronica (60 mins).
KILMURRY IBRICKANE: D O’Brien; D Hickey, M Killeen, M McMahon; S Hickey, E Coughlan (capt), D Callinan; P O’Connor, P O’Dwyer; M Hogan, I McInerney (0-1 a free), S Moloney (1-2); M O’Dwyer (0-1), J Daly (0-1, a free), N Downes. Subs: E Talty for Hogan (11 mins), O O’Dwyer for Talty (32 mins), M McCarthy for P O’Connor (41 mins), B Moloney for Killeen (50 mins), P O’Dwyer for N Downes (52 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Longford).
Harbinson: lessons of the past inspired us
By Fintan O’Toole
Thursday, March 18, 2010
ST GALL’S players have incurred their share of painful losses, but manager Lenny Harbinson believes the lessons learnt from those setbacks were central to their success in yesterday’s All-Ireland Club SFC decider.
Four years ago the club came up short in the senior football final and last month they succumbed to Kilkenny side St Lachtain’s in the All-Ireland Club IHC decider.
Several of the St Gall’s squad had tasted defeat with Antrim last season in the NFL Division 3 final and the Ulster championship, but after bouncing back from those knocks they received their reward yesterday.
"What happens in the past stands you in good stead from an experience point of view," said Harbinson.
"We spoke very briefly about four years ago a few weeks before this game. It didn’t have any negative impact on the team and was more a learning experience. When I looked at the talent in our team and our club, I felt with a wee bit of organisation and a few other things we could do well in this competition, regardless of what happened in the past.
"The experience that our lads had of playing county football with Antrim and playing at the All-Ireland club stage in hurling and football, stood to us out there. It’s tremendous first and foremost for the team. It’s tremendous for the St Gall’s community, for Belfast and Antrim as well. We’re delighted."
St Gall’s exerted complete control over this game with their ball retention the chief foundation of victory.
Their familiarity with and success in seven-a-side competitions has sharpened their skills when it comes to keeping possession, and Harbinson reckoned that manifested itself at 15-a-side yesterday.
"It’s no small coincidence that we like playing seven-a-sides. We have a great tradition playing seven-a-sides in the Castlewellan and the Kilmacud (competitions). There’s no doubt that stood us in good stead, first in the Ulster campaign. Fundamentally it’s down to the players who did it. That win is a testament to the footballers within our team. We’ve a large number of fantastic gaelic footballers who can play the ball first time, who can do all the basic skills and at the same time when we need to retain the ball, we’ve several guys who are very comfortable on the ball. We knew our football ability at some stage would come through as long as we had due respect for Kilmurry. We needed to bring a high intensity to the game and a good work ethic. And that’s what we did."
St Gall’s captain Colin Brady admitted he had doubts about their ability to return to this stage after the 2006 defeat.
"Sitting on the pitch that day, I didn’t think that we’d be back. But that’s just the feeling straight after a defeat. Once you get things together again, you begin to look at it differently. It took us about a year to get over that loss and it’s taken us until now to get back to a final. It’s been a long year but it’s a great feeling to have ended it successfully."
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, March 18, 2010
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