Will next week’s games live up to what’s gone before?
For a variety of reasons in a variety of sports, finals don’t always turn out to be the memorable games that they promise to be.
Thankfully, the AIB GAA Club Championships don’t usually follow that script.
We’re confident that Corofin, Slaughtneil, Ballyhale Shamrocks and Kilmallock will deliver the goods on Paddy’s Day and if they can live up to some of the finals that have preceded Tuesday’s encounters, then we’re in for a treat.
In chronological order, here are just some of the AIB GAA Club Championship All-Ireland Finals that have really caught the imagination in the 44-year history of the competition to date.
Nemo Rangers 2-11 – 2-11 St. Vincent’s, 1973
There are few clubs who have as storied a tradition in the All-Ireland Club Championships as Nemo Rangers from Cork and St. Vincent’s from Dublin, so it is fitting that they contested the first drawn final in only the third year of the All-Ireland Club Championships.
We should point out that the game didn’t take place on Paddy’s Day, nor did it take place in Croke Park, but the two sides did provide what was described as “a wonderful exhibition of football” in Portlaoise and proved inseparable by the end.
With legends like Billy Morgan, Frank Cogan, Jimmy Keaveney, Tony Hanahoe and Gay O’Driscoll all in action, it’s hardly a surprise that they served up a cracker and it was Nemo who captured their first ever title in the replay on a scoreline of 4-6 – 0-10 in Thurles.
Kilruane McDonaghs 2-15 – 1-16 Buffer’s Alley, 1986
Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of one of the greatest All-Ireland club hurling finals ever witnessed and it is a day that is still no doubt remembered well in two parishes in Tipperary and Wexford.
In 1986, no Tipperary team had ever lost an All-Ireland club hurling title (a record that lasted until 1994) and no Wexford team had won one (a record broken by Buffer’s Alley in 1989) and though that remained the same after this encounter, an awful lot happened in between.
The sides were level a remarkable six times during an absorbing second half.
It was only at the end of the game when Gilbert Williams and his brother Jim popped over scores that Kilruane McDonaghs – a team that included current Tipperary manager Eamon O’Shea – above had any daylight.
The game was described by Michael Ellard of the Cork Examiner as “one of the great All-Ireland club senior hurling finals since the inception of the competition in 1971”.
Surely, there is no higher praise than that.
Caltra 0-13 – 0-12 An Ghaeltacht, 2004
The great thing about the AIB GAA Club Championships is that it plays host to some great GAA families and in modern times, you couldn’t get two greater GAA families than the Ó Sés of Kerry and the Meehans of Galway.
On the day, the two families accounted for eight of the 30 starters and three Meehans – Michael, Declan and Noel – accounted for all but one point of Caltra’s winning margin of 0-13, which was enough to get them over the line by a single point.
19-year old Michael was the hero of the hour, kicking six points (one from play) while being marshalled by none other than Marc Ó Sé and showing the type of talent that would make him into the of the best forwards the game has seen in the last 15 years.
Portumna 2-8 – 1-6 Newtownshandrum, 2006
The 2006 hurling final shared a number of similarities with the 2004 football final.
A club from Galway came out on top, two huge GAA families were pitted against each other and a teenager claimed the man of the match award after a stunning performance on the biggest day.
The families were the Cannings of Galway and the O’Connors of Cork and the teenager was Joe Canning, who struck 1-6 and set up another goal of Portumna’s 2-8 tally in a low-scoring but enthralling final at headquarters.
Following that game, Joe disappeared into the GAA wilderness, never to be seen again.
Yeah, right!
St. Brigid’s 2-11 – 2-10 Ballymun, 2013
St. Brigid’s have been one of the biggest powerhouses on the club scene for ages now, but boy did they have to work hard for their sole All-Ireland club triumph two years ago.
Ten minutes into the game, Brigid’s endured an All-Ireland Final experience akin to what’s happened often to another famous team in green and red and found themselves eight points down after ten minutes.
Dublin stars Dean Rock and Philly McMahon raised the green flags early on, but the Roscommon men launched an inspirational comeback and by half-time they had halved the deficit.
The brilliant Karol Mannion levelled the scores with a magnificently-improvised fisted effort shortly after the break and when Ballymun failed to capitalise on a late chance to nip in front, there was only going to be one man to finish the job at the other end.
It just had to be Frankie Dolan, who may or may not have welcomed the peck on the lips he got from Shane ‘Cake’ Curran afterwards.
You can still buy tickets for the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championship Finals, click here for the details.
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