With jerseys, club flags and music speakers packed into the bus, a bleary-eyed panel of u15 footballers pulled out of the church carpark at 5am en route to Claremorris, County Mayo.
After a team breakfast at the Bush Hotel, Carrick-on -Shannon the Eamonn Rooney coach pulled into the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence ready for the day ahead.
Division 1, Group 1 saw us drawn against St Mary’s, Athenry (Galway), Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin), and the glamour tie against New York. The Group 2 teams included Westport (Mayo), Glanmire (Cork), Naas (Kildare) and Laune Rangers (Kerry). So, at 11:30am, after all the hype, planning and weeks of senior match half-time raffle ticket sales, the John West National Féile Peil na nÓg 2023 was happening, as Patrick McTiernan threw in the ball.
New York were physical, aggressive, and pressed up on the ball from the off. Their team masseuse (yes you heard correctly!!) clearly had their players well warmed up. Whether it was our early start, the long drive, or the extra portion of Bush Hotel baked beans, Carryduff, by contrast were slow, sluggish and made hard work of the opening encounter. It finished 0-5 to 0-1 with Owen McHugh eventually getting our single score, early in the second half.
Next up were Athenry who earlier drew their first match against Kilmacud Crokes, the Dublin County champions. This was a much more open contest. Carryduff played the better football throughout, with some great inter-play, culminating in quality scores, and a super penalty strike by Danny Knight. But with greater composure by the Galway champions in front of goal, they ran out eventual winners 3-4 to 1-3.
The wind was a major talking point for the final group match against Kilmacud Crokes. But a valiant effort from goalkeepers, Ciaran O’Neill and Cal McClean was insufficient to deny Crokes the victory and their top slot finish in the group; 4-1 to
1-2 the final score. Shane Walsh, who was watching from the stand, clapped his clubmates into the Cup semi-final. Onwards to the shield competition for us. Incidentally, Crokes won the Cup final against Westport after extra time, building on their last win in this competition in 2019.
In fact, a semi-final tie to Group 2’s third place finishers, Cork’s Glanmire, was our reward. This was knock-out competition. Coaches, supporters and players knew this was now “die dog or s*** the licence!!” The boys found their spirit – played some brilliant football with scores from Owen McHugh, Fintan McArdle, Daire O’Neill to name but a few and we put the Rebel County team to the sword; 2-7 to 0-5 the winning margin.
As if it was written in the stars, the shield final would feature a rematch against New York – a chance for James Melia and Joseph Kerr to again go toe-to-toe in midfield and Fionn Dougan to shake off the touch tight marking of Cian Boyle, the Statin Island wing-back. However, a confident and self-assured Carryduff team showed the New Yorkers what Down football is all about – with quality points from Fintan McArdle, Owen McHugh and the crucial goal coming from the boot of Rory Armstrong. Solid defending, doggedbacks-to-the-wall football and the encouragement from the Carryduff crowd helped the boys over the line; and when Jon Finn blew the whistle to end the 2023 Féile Shield Final (1-2 to 0-4), the joy, emotion and realisation of what the team had achieved for themselves, their families and their club began to sink in.
So after a long day the boys returned home with the Division 1 Shield and All-Ireland Féile medals in their pockets. More importantly than that, they returned with memories that we hope will live long. As Uachtáran CLG says,
“the value of the GAA isn’t in a trophy cabinet – it is in being part of something bigger than oneself, the memories and the friendships made will be more valuable than a medal.”
On this occasion, the boys have both – and Carryduff GAC can now enjoy its place on both the Féile Football and Féile LGFA Rolls of Honour hereinafter.
Some Fantastic photos below taken by Niall Boyle and more can be seen on his website https://niallboylephotography.pixieset.com/feilepeilenanog2023/
