Eirgrid All-Ireland U20 Football Championship final: Tyrone 1-20 Kildare 1-14
AS Paul Devlin flipped between standing with hands on hips and pulling at the peak of his baseball cap, searching for the right words to describe Tyrone’s All-Ireland U20 triumph, suddenly he felt the hand of ‘God’ on his shoulder.
“Wellllll kid!” came the shout from the Moortown man as he spun around, embracing the man before him beneath blue skies at Pairc Sean MacDiarmada, lapping up a moment that mattered way more than just any normal game of football.
Devlin and Peter Canavan soldiered together for years during the Nineties – a different time and a different place, the days when the Red Hands would regularly rack up silverware but a distant dream way back when.
As they searched for that elusive breakthrough, Devlin, from his defensive station, would often marvel at what wonders his team-mate might conjure up.
On Saturday, decades down the line, Devlin watched from the sideline while Canavan’s offspring - youngest son Ruairi - demonstrated his class on the biggest stage of his young career, bagging 1-7 (1-4 from play) as Kildare were brushed aside.
The subtle little movements, the outrageous ability, the near perfect technique – it’s all there. We’ve seen it before with Darragh too, of course, the potential for double vision in years to come already an alarming proposition for defenders across Ireland and Ulster.
Yet, unlike in his father’s playing pomp when so much responsibility came to rest on his shoulders, the Red Hands’s latest All-Ireland triumph was built on the most solid of foundations. Not just on Saturday either – right from the get-go of this campaign.
In the best Tyrone tradition, they simply broke their opponents’ hearts the longer the game wore on.
Some of the tackles, the turnovers, the hands in, occasionally with no regard for personal safety, was as joyous to behold as the flourishes applied by Canavan at the other end.
“The defence have been outstanding all year,” said Devlin.
“The game opened up, we had 11 different scorers, what more can you ask for? It’s not just Ruairi there, and he’d be the first to tell you that. It’s not just him doing the damage, it’s a load of lads there and they’re all working hard. Ciaran Bogue was outstanding, he works his heart out, he’s an outstanding lad all round.
“They’re never late, always head down, working so hard, and the lads got their reward today - All-Ireland champions.”
Fancied coming in, particularly in the wake of semi-final victory over Kerry and Kildare’s pedestrian performance against Sligo on the other side, Canavan added further weight to Tyrone’s favourites’ tag when he rifled high beyond Cormac Barker with just 19 seconds on the clock.
The travelling Lilywhite contingent, many of whom made the trip in hope more than expectation, must have feared the worst. But when Daniel Lynam palmed to the net under 50 seconds later, it was game on after a manic start.
From then until the latter stages of the first half, it swung back and forth. The buccaneering Michael McGleenan had shown plenty of power to get here, but there was no shortage of finesse at times as a wonderful pass infield for Dan Muldoon edged Tyrone ahead.
Kildare were causing the Red Hands bother going direct to the wings, and when Eoin Bagnall converted a free 17 minutes in, they led 1-4 to 1-3. That was the only time, and the last time, they would find themselves in this position.
Heading towards half-time, captain Niall Devlin proved what a talent he is with two outrageous scores as Tyrone opened up a 1-9 to 1-5 lead at the break. The first, after curtailing a Kildare attack before swapping passes with James Donaghy, was rounded off with a fantastic finish, before Devlin popped up with the last score of the half, unerringly splitting the posts with the outside of his left boot.
On big days, big men stand up. It’s no wonder he was the man asked to lead this group into battle.
Kildare persisted with direct ball in after the break, but they were now fighting a losing battle as Tyrone jerseys swarmed and stifled every attack. Four wides inside the opening five minutes didn’t help the Lilywhite cause either.
After that early goal, Harry O’Neill had kept a managed to keep a tight enough rein on Canavan – but in the final 20 minutes, as Tyrone’s lead stretched out and Kildare opened up, the Errigal Ciaran star lit it up in spectacular fashion.
Frees off from the ground, out of the hands, points off either feet, from short range, from distance - effortlessly so, it must be said – provided an exhibition finish as Tyrone cruised across the line.
“We’ve played five really, really tough games in little over four weeks,” said Kildare boss Brian Flanagan.
“Even though we are the biggest province in Leinster, we started the latest and that meant playing week after week. That’s tough, when you see four or five players dropping with cramp with 10 minutes to go, you just know that as well as being mentally tired we were physically tired as well.”
This was Tyrone’s day, and the joy on the faces of Devlin, Owen Mulligan – like a caged tiger along the line – and Dermot Carlin, men who have been there and seen it all, told its own tale on a sun-soaked evening none of those involved will ever forget.
Tyrone: S McMenamin; M Rafferty, B Conway, E Corry; J Donaghy (0-1), S Donaghy, N Devlin (0-3); R McHugh (0-1), C Daly (0-2), M McGleenan (0-1); C Cush (0-1), S O'Donnell, D Muldoon (0-1); R Canavan (1-7, 0-3 frees), C Bogue (0-1). Subs: G Potter (0-1) for Muldoon (48), F Taggart for O’Donnell (53), S Daly for Cush (60), L Donnelly 0-1 for Bogue (60), L McGarrity for Canavan (60+3)
Kildare: C Barker; H O’Neill, D O’Donoghue (0-1), M Maguire, T Gill (0-1), J McGrath, R Burke; B Gibbons, L Killian (0-3); N O’Regan (0-2), D Lynam (1-0), S Farrell, A Browne, A Fanning (0-1), E Bagnall (0-5, 0-4 frees). Subs: D Swords 0-1 for Lynam (37), J McKevitt for Gibbons (39), J Dalton for Browne (42), A Boyle for O’Neill (53), A Conneely for O’Regan (57)
Yellow card: D O’Donoghue (34)
Referee: L Devenney (Mayo)
