The inside track on Manchester GAA club Fullen Gaels.
Manchester side Fullen Gaels will make the trip to Croke Park on February 15 to play Bennettsbridge in the AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Final.
Fullen Gaels have been impressive in their run to the final, beating Waterford’s Modeligo by 2-6 to 0-10 in the quarter final and Castleblayney of Monaghan by 2-18 to 1-7 in the semi final.
It’s the Manchester side’s second appearance in an All-Ireland Final in three years so they’ll hope to put the disappointment of 2013 behind them.
Ahead of the big day in Croker, we caught up with Fullen Gaels defender Benny Dillon to get the lowdown on the club.
Spotlight on Fullen Gaels
Club: Fullen Gaels
Colours: Black and amber
Year established: 2005
Population of parish: 80 members
Proudest moment in club’s history: Reaching the 2013 All-Ireland Junior Final
Most loyal fanatical supporter: Anne McEntee/Karen O’Leary/Christy O’Connor
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Most likely player on Tinder: Kieran “Hooch” Duggan.
Most likely to break a beer ban: The McKillop brothers. They both have VIP badges for Mojos nightclub and Black Dog Manchester, which doesn’t close till 5am, even on a school night.
Alan Morrissey picking up the All-Britain Championship Cup
Players still dressing like it’s 1999: Damien O’Grady and John B O’Halloran. The jerseys Damien wears to training are always “old school” and mainly Clare ones from the ’90s.
He also believes in being a die-hard Man United fan, which, again, is a pure sign of a lad stuck in 1999.
Player you wouldn’t like to meet down a dark alley: Alan “Bomber” O’Neill is not called “Bomber” because he reminds us of Eoin Liston… and Alan Gorman, well, if you met the man you would completely understand.
I don’t want to give too much away or they’ll know where to pick him up.
Biggest shaper on the pitch: Rory Owens. His mentality is “that ball will find its way to me, always does”.
Oldest player to have played for the club: Billy Murphy, 35 plus VAT.
Best Junior B story involving your club: Our fitness coach is former Man City player Scott Flitcroft. He played once in challenge game and after scoring a goal, he referred to it as ‘a hat-trick’ of points.
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