Same teams, same prize on the line in SFC final
The Killeshin Pipe Band with the Old Leighlin and Rathvilly teams ahead of last year's SFC final, the teams meet again in Sunday's final. Photo: Pat Ahern
There was a strange kind of atmosphere after the reigning champions beat Éire Óg in the Senior Football Championship semi-final two weeks ago. All the talk was about how poor Éire Óg were but little discussion on how Old Leighlin turned it around after the concession of an early three-pointer.
“The goal was a bit of a shock,” agreed the winning manager, Brian Lonergan as he looks forward to another final showdown against Rathvilly.
“It always is when it is so early. It was important to get the next score and Seamus Kinsella kicked a free which was massive for us. James Dowling kicked our next point. After conceding the goal we got the next two scores. Four or five minutes in we were only a point down. We recovered very well. Cathal Coughlan and David Bambrick, huge experience there in those moments really stood.” After beating Fenagh in their opening group game, Old Leighlin lost to Palatine, Éire Óg and Rathvilly. The 0-22 to 0-5 loss to Rathvilly stung.
“It was a very tough league phase of the championship for us. We knew if we could get to the knock-out stages and lads weren’t playing both codes we could recover and had a chance.
“In fairness after a poor group stage where we had Palatine, Rathvilly and Éire Óg three weeks on the bounce it was a very tough draw. Players took leadership after that. We started to train well. You could see a change in the tempo in training and players really led us home then,” explained Lonergan.
Their win against Fenagh all but assured the champions of a place in the knock-out stages. Then, in a close game against Bagenalstown Gaels, Aaron Amond kicked a one-pointer which the match officials, in error, ruled to be a two-pointer. Lonergan says the win helped but other factors were at play at training.
“The result was important obviously. We were looking to show things which were not directly football related. We knew we had to work harder, we had to commit more, we needed more energy. While we got the win luckily enough with a two-pointer that never was, the draw would have been enough to get us through,” the Old Leighlin manager reasoned.
Lonergan says the players took ownership of what lay ahead.
“Maybe we got a performance which wasn’t as good as we could have football wise but we ticked all the other boxes in terms of work-rate and showing desire again. As the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but, at the end of the day, when they cross the white line they are on their own. They really have produced.” And so Rathvilly come to Netwatch Cullen Park looking to atone for 2025 where Cathal Coughlan’s late, late point saw Old Leighlin prevail.
“I suppose over the last three years they beat us in a semi-final when they were down a man early. We felt we didn’t represent ourselves as well as we could have. Yet there was only a kick of a ball in it.
“Last year, there was only a kick of a ball in it too. They felt it was controversial enough at the end. We were under pressure where they had kicked six points in a row. In the second half we could have pulled away,” recalled Lonergan.
Judging on recent years, it should all come down to who produces most on the day.
“You would be thinking there is only going to be a kick of a ball in it. At the end of the day it could come down to who gets the most breaking ball or a few little decisions going your way. A score here, a score there can give a team momentum. Rathvilly have been outstanding. This is my third year with Old Leighlin and they have been the benchmark in terms of performance and consistency. We know we are in for a very tough game. We will do our best but Rathvilly will be favourites and rightly so,” argues Lonergan.
In many people’s eyes, the 2025 senior football final was Rathvilly’s to lose. The reigning champions were playing a side who had last win a title as far back as 2013 and had lost the following two finals.
But sport is not a science where everything can be calculated and reasoned out. In an epic finish, there was an element of controversy about a line call which was awarded to Old Leighlin and the challengers made it tell when they worked the ball out to Cathal Coughlan who scored the winning point.
The Rathvilly manager, doesn’t need reminding about the events of that day.
“We are hurting. We just have to take it on what it is. We are not looking at it as if it is revenge. We felt we were the best team in the championship last year. We didn’t perform in the final and Old Leighlin are the sort of team that if you don’t perform they will beat you,” says Kevin Byrne who has nothing but the height of respect for their opposition on Sunday.
“They have the quality and you saw that against Éire Óg. Not many gave them a chance. Éire Óg didn’t perform. Old Leighlin did and they came out on top. One thing about Old Leighlin, they will fight to the bitter end,” he points out.
The Rathvilly man says Old Leighlin have demonstrated once and for all that early season form and group stage results are only partially indicative of how a side is going.
“They didn’t win a league game all year. They finished bottom of the league group. In the championship, they were in danger of being in a relegation battle right up to the very end of the championship,” he points out.
Yet as the Rathvilly manager points out, when push came to shove, Old Leighlin found their championship legs.
“They got themselves into a quarter-final. That was all that mattered and then they had a fighters chance. I was at both games. Against Bagenalstown they were impressive and against Éire Óg they controlled the game very well in the last twenty minutes.” Byrne says his team has shown a huge appetite to get back into a county final.
“A lot of fellas have stepped up from last year. Kevin Murphy is a different player from what he was. He didn’t play the semi-final last year and was quiet in the county final. This year he is our top scorer by far and he is on fire,” says Byrne.
“Brendan Murphy has come back. Last year he missed a large part of the league if not all the league and this year he came back from the very start. He is training well and it has benefited us greatly.” In the semi-final, intercounty player, Padhraig Bolger, came off in the final quarter.
“Padhraig he will say was quiet by his own standards. It is good when you have Ed Finnegan, Eric Molloy and Brian Smith to come on,” asserts Byrne.
At this stage, Rathvilly have only one injury worry. A Carlow intercounty footballer is doubtful.
“Colin Byrne broke his hand after two or three minutes. He is the only one that is not fully right but I presume he will be right for Sunday,” predicts the Rathvilly manager.
