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Palatine, Eire Og and the Conlon Cup will form a great partnership at 3.45 on Sunday afternoon at Dr Cullen Park, when they meet in the Michael Lyng Motors Carlow senior football championship final, in a repeat of last years county final.

Reigning senior football champions Eire Og were pushed all the way by challengers Mount Leinster Rangers, in the semi final at Dr Cullen Park and had to rely on all their experience before they advanced by four points to the final in a lively encounter. Rangers got off to an excellent start and a were 1-1 up after three minutes before Bryan Carbery scored the town’s men opening score. Eoin Doyle with the point and Gary Doyle with the goal after good work from Andy Hickey. With play moving swiftly up and down field the exchanges were hard and robust and the sides were level at the break Eire Og 0-7, Mount Leinster Rangers 1-4. Three goals in the last half, two for Eire Og and one from Mount Leinster Rangers ensured a lively second half.

Brian “Skeach” Kelly will more than likely line out for his beloved Palatine as they try to dethrone reigning champions, Éire Óg, in next Sunday’s county senior football final. Nothing unusual in that you might think. Sure hasn’t he been playing senior football for Pal for the best part of a decade and a half. Well three months ago, Skeagh was in no position to take to any football field. In actual fact his very life was under threat! Following a clash of heads in the Palatine’s clash with Kildavin/Clonegal he was left with quite a bruise on the side of his head. He went to hospital immediately after the game as a precaution but was discharged that evening and told to take it easy for a few days. That he did and was ready and willing to return to the training field. However he was still complaining of headaches and blurred vision. He thought nothing of it but the Pal management team were not happy to let him return. That first night back he was practising a few frees before training when Mick Lillis Pal’s trainer told him he was unhappy to let him resume. The club arranged an MRI scan in Dublin to make sure everything was alright and it was from there that things began to get interesting! He returned home but almost immediately was summoned back to Beaumont hospital where he was informed that he had a life-threatening clot on his brain. As he said himself, he still didn’t realise how serious the situation was. He felt fine. It was only when he asked a member of the medical team attending him to rate the severity of his condition on a scale of one to ten that it really became clear to him. She told him it was at least nine and a half! At that moment all thoughts of playing in this year’s county final disappeared from his mind! The doctors told him that if he had taken part in that training session and received even minimal physical contact, it could have been enough to have killed him. If the clot had moved as much as one milimetre it would have been fatal. He was immediately put on clot busting drugs in the hope of avoiding surgery and thankfully these were successful. Still he was not to go near a football field for at least the rest of the year, if not for ever. But once he was on the road to recovery like any GAA player, the lure of the game was too much. He was back for the latter part of the championship and apart from the unusual sight of him sporting a rugby scrum cap, everything is back to normal and he will be looking for his second county medal on Sunday. That possibility was far from his thoughts three months ago when, as he put it, “they were thinking of opening my skull!” Brian’s story may be an aside but it is just one of those things that add to the occasion of any county final. Every club has its own stories. Reasons why they just cannot afford to let this opportunity slip. I’m sure Éire Óg have their own. As I said here last week, it’s one of the things that makes a county final unique. 

The Michael Lyng Motors Carlow senior football championship final, between the top two teams Palatine and Eire Og ended level 1-10 a piece on Sunday last. The game provided the passion, the spills and thrills, and all that is good in a hard-fought sporting encounter at Dr Cullen Park.

Michael Lyng Motors SFC Replay

What is it about Éire Óg? Since the club’s foundation in 1960 all of 48 years ago, it has become the major force in Carlow gaelic football. In defeating Palatine in last Sunday’s county final replay, they annexed their 25th senior football title. It wouldn’t take a mathematical genius to work out that this gives the Teach Asca club an enviable record of one title during just about every second year of its existence. There are some clubs around the country who dominate their own domestic championships with the amazing Crossmaglen Rangers in Armagh being the obvious example. However I’d say there aren’t many clubs who have had such an influence over such an extended period as Éire Óg. If there was one period during the club’s decorated history that did stand out however, it must be the glory years of the nineties. During this time, an unprecedented five Leinster club titles were brought to Carlow. The holy grail of the All-Ireland eluded them however. During this period, the whole county mobilised in their support. I remember many bus journeys all over the country from St Mullins. We followed them to places like Newbridge, Knockmore in Mayo, Longford and of course to Croke Park. That first appearance in an All-Ireland final will never be forgotten. While ultimately defeat was to be suffered at the hands of Skibbereen’s O’Donnovan Rossa, it was the sheer joy and excitement that the team brought to a county starved of GAA success that will remain in my memory forever. I have no problem in saying that Éire Óg were robbed of their All-Ireland that year by two astonishing decisions by the match officials. In the drawn final in Croke Park as they defended a one point lead in the dying stages, Garvan Ware was bundled over in the Hill 16/ Cuscack stand corner of the field as he bent down to lift the ball. No free was given and from the resulting breaking ball, the late Michael McCarthy slotted over the equaliser. If the sense of injustice was palpable that day, it was multiplied a thousand-fold following the replay in Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds. This time as the game entered its dying stages “Smoky” Joe Hayden stood over a sideline kick with his team two points down and needing a goal to snatch the title. I remember watching the flight of the ball as it came in from the right-hand side. Of course the goal area was a mass of bodies but, as if in slow motion, the ball made its way to the corner of the net untouched by forward or defender. Cue bedlam all over the place as Carlow people celebrated the first ever senior All-Ireland for a team from the county. Again however, deflation. The goal was disallowed for reasons I have yet to discover. A memorable journey had come to an unforgettable end. I have already mentioned some of the names that will forever be synonymous with this great team but there were so many. Anthony “Muckle” Keating, Colm “Rooster” Hayden, his brother Brendan, Willie Quinlan (who played his part last Sunday at the age of 41!), Joe Murphy, John Kearns, Alan Calinan - all names that were so familiar, not only to Carlow GAA followers, but to people all over Ireland. If there was one ground that Éire Óg followers will regard fondly it must be St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge. Leinster titles were won and many great battles were fought there, none more than the games against An Tóchar of Wicklow. Some of the football played in those games is still the best I have ever seen. I think it is this that makes Éire Óg what they are. They play an open, entertaining brand of football. Of course in this day and age, they also know how to compete in the physical stakes, but there is also a big emphasis on skill and that, at the end of the day, is often what makes the difference between winning and losing. When they salvaged a draw in the first game against Palatine, it was felt that their record of never having lost a final replay would remain unblemished. I still felt that Palatine could do it but as usual I was wrong. Éire Óg’s know-how and their savvy again came to the fore. In a tempestuous affair, (with two bookings before the ball was thrown in), they held their composure better than their opponents. They got the goals at crucial stages and in the second half were quite comfortable in defending their cushion. Palatine will look to the loss to a red card of Paul Reid, who was having a huge influence on the game, as a turning point, but having only retired level at half time and facing into the stiff breeze for the second half the writing was on the wall. Éire Óg now go on the familiar journey into the Leinster championship as they face Kiltegan of Wicklow in the county grounds next Sunday. Will they add another chapter to their illustrious history? Time will tell.

Fresh from their county title win seven days previously, Eire Óg senior footballers advanced to the quarter final of the AIB Leinster club championship. They defeated Kiltegan at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday in a highly entertaining game.

Éire Óg senior footballers are still in the Leinster championship when they drew level with Colmcille of Longford after extra time in Dr Cullen Park on Sunday.

Offaly champions Rhode powered their way to the AIB Leinster club senior football championship final when they defeated Éire Óg by 14 points at Dr Cullen Park on Sunday. The sheer physical size of the Rhode team and their footballing ability was something the Éire Óg men could not come to terms with.