17 March 2010
St Galls have now achieved their goal of winning All Ireland Honours, in the AIB GAA Senior Club Championship Football Final.
The preparatory work was thoroughly and well done, with the months of gruelling work-outs and tough training; today St Galls reaped their just reward for all of that effort, when they wrote themselves into the history books in Croke Park. This last lap of a long tough journey was not the most difficult by any manner of means. Kilmurray Ibrickane may not have looked impressive and some certainly felt that that they were well out of their depth but still this West Clare team have four senior titles to their credit and six at Under 21 level for their County, in the past decade, which is a very respectable record of achievement by any standards.
Although St Galls may have made a number of unforced errors today and at times were surprisingly unsettled, they otherwise dominated the game and were clearly in no mood for defeat. No less than nine of the St Gall’s players took a hand in the scoring, which is always a very good indication of team work and a shared determination. Kevin Niblock, however, was nothing short of outstanding on the day, with an inspirational work rate. The constant pressure from St Galls applied and sustained, upon the Clare champions, took its toll and they managed only two scores in the first half with some four further points up to the 56thth minute. St Galls by contrast took 13 points; eventually winning by five, but the winning margin could easily have been greater.
Where does that now leave Antrim, as a senior footballing county? It certainly leaves us with something to celebrate; an All Ireland Club winning Club in our midst and we can and should all be proud of the St Galls lads for that, now proven ability to sustain and achieve. Congratulations to everyone involved; this was indeed a remarkable win. We now have a full strength County senior football team, which has also won respect for inordinate effort and proportionate achievement and more may be expected, given that they too have talent and know the benefit of sustained hard work and applied focus.
Lawrence Smyth County PRO.