Anthony Cunningham has said the pain of 2024 has been a motivating factor for the St Brigid’s players after their win over Scotstown on Sunday to reach the All-Ireland Senior Club Football final against Dingle.
Glen staged a dramatic late comeback in the final two years ago to snatch victory away from St Brigid’s, denying them what would have been a second Andy Merrigan Cup triumph.
However, the Roscommon champions are back in another All-Ireland decider after their impressive 1-16 to 1-12 semi-final win over the Monaghan champions.
“Delighted to be back in the final,” said Cunningham, who was not in charge for the club’s last trip to Croke Park but has since returned for what is his second stint at the helm.
“I think this set of players have something to fight for because they probably could have won a final a couple of years ago. That has been foremost in their minds as well.
“They’re a very intelligent and driven group. They were disappointed last year in the county championship, but they really want to put that (All-Ireland final) right. They were in a winning position, albeit a great Conor Glass goal near the end, so they want to try and put that right.”
St Brigid’s were brilliant in defence on Sunday and that proved to be the bedrock for their semi-final win.
“Some of the blocks were outstanding,” added Cunningham. “It was a tremendous defensive display, but also by our forwards who worked back. That’s the way the game has gone, you have to be able to play as both an attacker and defender now.”
Limiting Rory Beggan to just one point – he had scored 0-11 from placed balls in the Ulster final – was also a key part of St Brigid’s game plan.
“Rory Beggan is an unbelievable player. I said to him there afterwards that it’s brilliant that he won an Ulster (title) with the club. He’s a great player, somebody for young goalies coming up, you’re pushing them to watch how Rory Beggan plays.”
Scotstown’s Donnchadh Connolly, Ryan O’Toole, Mícheál McCarville and Gavin McPhillips with St Brigid’s Eddie Nolan. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho
St Brigid’s have two injury concerns ahead of the final as Mark Daly was forced off with a knee injury just after the break, while joint captain Brian Stack suffered a nasty fall when battling for possession with Beggan during the second half.
Stack looked in real trouble but managed to play on, though he was visibly in pain leaving Breffni Park on Sunday evening.
“I thought he broke his neck, I thought he broke his ribs, I don’t know how he got back up from that,” said Stack’s fellow joint captain Paul McGrath.
“Then to win the ball from that free and send it in and get a score from it, that just summed up everyone’s performance today. He’s some leader, and that drove everyone on.
“He was in bits, he couldn’t breathe. I thought there’d be a stretcher out and everything. To get up and get the free from that is just a testament to him as a player and a leader.”
Scotstown manager David McCague had no qualms about the outcome but thought the pitch was verging on unplayable.
“It certainly wasn’t ideal and it was very hard in places. But look, it was the same for both teams so that’s not an excuse for us not to win the game.
“I’m involved in Ulster colleges football and I’d say if that was a college game today and there wasn’t TV and pressure to get the game played, it may not have gone ahead. But it did go ahead and we lost and the best team won.”