All-Ireland Senior Club Football final (AET): Dingle (Kerry) 0-23 St Brigid’s (Roscommon) 1-19
In the only way they apparently know how, the Kerry champions landed their very first All-Ireland Senior Club Football title in Croke Park on Sunday. It was a match of fluctuating fortunes and shifting momentum, but the golden thread that has run through all of their victories was again visible, as victory was snatched at the very end by a winning point from replacement Mikey Geaney.
It was a golden companion piece to the victories in the semi-final against Ballyboden when they trailed by 10 in the second half and in the Munster final when St Finbarr’s led by seven after half-time – twice.
Geaney’s strike, when the prospect of penalties had all but materialised, pushed his team a precious point ahead. There was scarcely time to restart and drama ensued when referee Martin McNally had to insist that he hadn’t blown the final whistle and awarded a free, which Paul Geaney joyously belted wide with the last kick of the game.
The match winner had already made a significant intervention in the 79th minute when with Brigid’s a point ahead, their inspirational joint-captain Brian Stack was leading an attack when Geaney intervened to regain the ball.
Kerry now hold all three club football All-Irelands as well as the Sam Maguire after a luminous 12 months for the county.
St Brigid’s will be inconsolable. Whereas they didn’t look certain winners for much of the match, they did appear more likely, as their pace and mobility ramped up the pressure.
But Dingle have some exceptional footballers and they never disappeared from the fight, always capable of rustling up scores when a gap opened on the scoreboard.
Tom O’Sullivan, a recurrent hero in this campaign, struck early for points, was subsequently redeployed to mark Ruaidhrí Fallon before re-materialising at the end of extra time when Brigid’s led by two with little over two minutes remaining to shoot two points to level scores.
Dylan Geaney kicked 0-6, including a two-pointer that helped to dissolve the impact of Brigid’s goal and a point in each half of extra time. Mark O’Connor, his departure to Australia delayed by as long as the most resourceful 19th-century rebels managed, has an excellent final and takes home a prized possession.
Dingle’s Tom O’Sullivan kicks a point to level the game in extra time. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
Two defensive blocks were eye-catching, especially the 59th-minute intervention when Brian Stack got possession in front of goal. O’Connor had wiped out a 0-8 to 0-10 deficit with a two-pointer early in the second half. His contribution at centrefield was solid but Brigid’s competed well, especially on the opposition kick-outs.
The winners started well and led by 0-5 to 0-1 after 10 minutes, their patient possession game complemented by good shot selection, but the Roscommon champions breezed back into it with seven unanswered points, including a two-pointer from Shane Cunnane.
By half-time, they were leading 0-9 to 0-7.
They held that initiative for the third quarter, but it could have been better. Ben O’Carroll had a couple of bad wides, including from a 20m free, accuracy issues undoing his otherwise lively display.
In the 39th minute, the dynamic Conor Hand, whose pace and composure were a big challenge for the winners, dropped a shot in on goal and as it was cleared, Fallon fisted into the back of the net for a three-point lead, 1-10 to 0-10.
It felt significant, a launch pad maybe for Brigid’s but momentum jack-knifed again when, having cut the lead with Dylan Geaney’s two-pointer, the Kerry club suddenly were presented with an equalising free when Pearse Frost, who had marked Paul Geaney very capably, slipped and tripped his man for an obvious black card.
Reduced to 14, they would lose the sin-bin period by two, which looked significant as the clock ran down. Replacement Ronan Stack, a survivor of the 2013 All-Ireland win, had a clear run on goal but shot at the goalkeeper.
When Paul Geaney cut in for a point after a long spell of possession to extend the lead to two, time was nearly up.
Conor Carroll, who distributed well from goal, was brought up to attempt a 55m free to tie up the match, but it dropped short. As the seconds drained away, it was Fallon who provided salvation, bending over a two-pointer in the sixth minute of injury-time to level the match.
Like Ballyboden in the semi-final, Brigid’s led by three in extra time after Fallon had replicated the equalising two-pointer. They also looked to have the legs for the task. When Charlie O’Carroll put them two up in the 77th minute, they looked set.
But as Ballyboden and Finbarr’s discovered, you’re never “set” against the Kerry champions, who added national honours to their maiden provincial title and a first county title in 77 years.
DINGLE: G Curran; Brian O’Connor, TL O’Sullivan, P O’Connor; Tom O’Sullivan (0-0-5), C Flannery (0-1-0), A O’Connor; M O’Connor (0-1-0), Billy O’Connor; N Geaney, M Flaherty, T Browne (0-0-3); P Geaney (capt; (0-0-3, 1f), D Geaney (0-1-4); C Geaney (0-0-1f). Subs: N Ryan for Billy O’Connor (50), M Geaney (0-0-1) for Flaherty (58), S Óg Moran for Browne (70), M Flaherty for A O’Connor (78).
ST BRIGID’S: C Carroll; R Dolan, S Trundle, P Frost; R Fallon (1-2-2), B Stack (jt capt; 0-0-1), P McGrath (jt capt); S Cunnane (0-1-3, 45), E Nolan; C Sugrue, C Hand (0-0-3), B Nugent (0-0-2, 1f); B O’Carroll (0-0-1), M Daly, B Derwin. Subs: R Stack for Nugent (48 mins), C O’Carroll (0-1) for B O’Carroll (54), S Kilbride for M Daly (58), E Derwin for Sugrue (70), B O’Carroll for B Derwin (70), E Sheehy for McGrath (76).
Referee: M McNally (Monaghan).