Daniel Duffy: Cargin comeback kings while All-Ireland Champs Kilcoo set for Mourne ultimatum

It was fair to say what unfolded in front of me on Sunday at Corrigan Park wasn’t expected.

The last Antrim Senior Football final I attended was in 2018 when the game finished 0-5 0-4 to Cargin against their rivals Creggan in Ahoghill, it was brutal, Sunday’s game up the Whiterock Road couldn’t have been more different.

It had everything.

St Mary’s Aghagallon were the hungrier of the sides in the first half and built a five point lead at half time with the help of goals from Adam Loughran and Ruairi McCann.

In fact one Cargin supporter said to me at half-time: “If we don’t have a good 10 minutes at the start of the second half we can forget about it.”

A penny for that man’s thoughts when McCann grabbed his second and Aghagallon’s third goal of the game. The St Mary’s faithful must have thought that illusive Antrim crown would be theirs.

Thankfully for Cargin that supporter wasn’t on the pitch and Ronan Devlin’s side didn’t lie down, they dug in and came back when in truth they looked dead and buried as they trailed by eight.

But Erin’s Own have been to the well before clinching the title in five of the last seven years, and their big players stood up when they needed too, none more so than the evergreen Michael McCann who grabbed the goal to put them within one of their opponents.

At the full time whistle you could sense the relief in the air as Cargin completed what was an unlikely comeback but you couldn’t help but feel for Audi Kelly’s St Mary’s side who had given it everything. They lost in the final last year but Sunday’s game in west Belfast will no doubt be harder to take.

McCann was part of the Erin’s Own sides that had so much success in Antrim over the last decade. He said “this Championship is the best one yet" and you couldn’t argue with that, the manner of the comeback when it appeared all was lost.

For me it will live long in the memory, and thankfully erase the memory of the 2018 final.

Ongoings elsewhere

Elsewhere Portaferry got the better of Ballycran in the Down hurling final in a tight game at Pairc Esler as they collected the title for a 22nd time despite their captain Connor Mageean being shown a red card in the second half.

Loughgiel secured their ninth Antrim Senior Camogie title in a row thanks to a win over their rivals Dunloy. Dunloy will be hoping for better fortunes when their senior hurlers take to the pitch on Sunday at Corrigan Park when they face Cushendall.

What's next?

This Sunday I will be making the trip to Pairc Esler to see if Kilcoo can get their hands on the Down title once again as they contest the showpiece final for a 12th year in a row.

The journey with Kilcoo to their All-Ireland success earlier this year was a special one especially in the manner they won the final at Croke Park against Kilmacud Crokes courtesy of Jerome Johnston’s last gasp goal in extra time.

The manager that day was Mickey Moran, and my lasting memory that afternoon was watching him on the hallowed turf of Croke Park kissing the pitch where Johnston grabbed that decisive goal. In all of Moran’s time in football management he had finally got his hands on an All-Ireland title.

This year will be different, Moran no longer in the dug out as Conleith Gilligan and Richard Thornton take the reins.

Both men have been key in the Magpies success over the years and although Moran is no longer with the club will be a good sounding board for guidance if needed.

I visited Kilcoo the night GAA President Larry McCarthy handed out seven All-Star awards, the entire community turned out to welcome the Uachtaráin to the club.

What took me back was the sheer number of kids draped in their Kilcoo gear to train under the watchful eye of Down manager Conor Laverty.

Whatever will be will be on Sunday but you can see the future is bright for the men from the Mournes.

Their opponents Warrenpoint haven’t won a Down Senior Football Championship since 1953, not many will remember that day they beat Burren.

Time has passed though, they won the Ulster Intermediate Football Championship in 2014 and narrowly missed out on the senior title but a solitary point against who else, Sunday’s opposition Kilcoo in 2019.

They’ve made the final the hard way too, beating a much fancied Burren side at the quarter final stage in a penalty shootout and Loughinisland.

Manager Shane Mulholland spoke earlier in the championship that Kilcoo were the team to avoid in the last-four draw, but on Sunday there will be no hiding place as they will go eye to eye.

They say you’ve got to beat the best to be the best, Sunday is their opportunity to prove they are.

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