While those of us at Clones were focused first and foremost on the match being played out in front of our eyes at St Tiernach’s Park, there was plenty of interest too in what was happening down at Croke Park. Updates were being shouted over and back amongst us in the Mayo fraternity in the stand and plenty in the convivial Monaghan crowd were also brought up to speed about Kilmeena and their club exploits in recent months.
By the sounds of it, Kilmeena won the All-Ireland Junior club final twice over today. Well on top in normal time and leading by three with just seconds left, it looked like the job was done then. But then their Kerry opponents Gneeveguilla struck for a last second goal to force extra-time.
It must have taken significant effort for Kilmeena to recover from that blow and then go on to claim the win – and the All-Ireland title – in extra-time. In doing so, though, they provided all the proof that was needed about their true calibre. They’re a team of champions and they showed that in spades today.
Although I wasn’t at Croke Park myself today it was great to be able to keep up with the action on Discord (where, incidentally, Mike kept up a live blog of the Monaghan game, messaging every significant development during the game) and it was from that source too that news came about the narrow loss suffered by Castlebar Mitchels in the LGFA All-Ireland Intermediate final – hard luck to them in that one, it’s clear they gave everything in today’s final but it just wasn’t to be – as well as the hurlers’ NHL Division 2B draw against Wicklow. I hope our club members who were on Discord today found the match-day chat as informative and useful as I did.
Because Rob was in Croke Park, along with Stephen Drake, we were able to spread our resources nicely and this will be reflected in our output on the podcast over the coming days. Our ‘Final Whistle’ bonus episode for club members is online already and this will be followed tomorrow by our match day review show from Clones. We’ll also have a special episode focusing on Kilmeena’s All-Ireland triumph. I think it’s safe to conclude that it’s going to be another wild week for us on the podcast.
Tonight has the making of a wild one out west. The Kilmeena team were due back at base at 9.30pm this evening so I’d say the festivities are warming up nicely at this stage. These celebrations are both overdue and well deserved following today’s historic win for the club at HQ. Enjoy the night, all, and huge congrats on doing the business on the big stage today. You did your club and county proud today. Fair play to you.
Big for Mayo.Success breeds success
I was at the match and as a Knockmore man I was proud to see our neighbors and fellow Mayo men win in croke park. It was a heart stopper but the Kilmeena men held tight when it counted. Great day for Mayo and Connacht
Great win for Kilmeena. It looked like the curse of Horan ball would do them in but in Carney they had that extra bit of class to see them over the line……just barely!
As a covey I take no pleasure but also great admiration in saying congrats to kilmeena. Well done enjoy the celebrations . Would love to be in theBuickfield Inn tonight
Fantastic performance, heart in mouth towards end of normal time, but they got through the storm and were deserving winners
Congratulations to Kilmeena. Great to see a small club like that going all the way. Provides great hope for other Mayo junior sides like Kilcommon and Islandeady that are not a million miles off the Kilmeena standard at all.
How was Jack Carney? Is he good enough to step up and establish himself for Mayo?
The massive blow of conceding a last second goal in normal time would have finished many teams but the guts and character in this Kilmeena team shone through. Deserved to win in normal time and even more so in extra time. Thank God for TG4 youtube and Midwest radio letting us follow both games. To Larry Duff, yes Jack Carney looked the real deal and well at home in Croker. A real shame Castlebar ladies couldn’t finish the job but by God they left it all on the pitch.
Great game in fairness and it was end to end stuff for long periods. Looking at it yesterday you’d never think it was Junior standard with the pace of the game and ferocity of the hits. Well done and congrats to all in Kilmeena. They shoud’ve won it in normal time. But to come back from that and go on to seal the deal was an even greater achievement. Congrats to all involved.
Jack Carney looked very good yesterday and he would be well able for inter county based on that performance yesterday. Another key contributor though who should get a mention was the Kilmeena keeper. I thought he was excellent and not only defended his box well but he has a very good kick and was able to pick out players with his kickouts nearly every time. I would be also be considering him if I were James Horan.
You are right about Carney & the keeper JPM. I also thought no.4 & 5 Ryan & Feehan would not be out of place in an inter county set up.
Great day and I’m sure celebrations are ongoing.
Super win for Kilmeena and a real boost to every follower of Mayo football. Look forward to seeing more of Jack Carney in a green and red geansaí in the coming years.
Hard luck to the Mitchels ladies, they really came roaring back after a disastrous start to the game. Dublin’s Sinéad Ahern was probably the difference between the two sides, in the end.
The Kilmeena game is still available on YouTube on the tg4 page
https://youtu.be/Z7Zh6RspBts
Only 4 mayo teams have won a club all Ireland
Really impressed by the way they played and even more impressed as the final whistle blew, when Niall Feehan immediately went to console defeated opponents next to him. A touch of class.