Cullyhanna’s goal-scoring hero Caolan Reavey dedicated their Ulster Club Intermediate Football Championship to teenager Dylan Vallely who tragically died last month.
The 16-year-old passed away from injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Dylan was a member of the neighbouring St Michael’s, Newtownhamilton club, but Reavey remembered his support for the St Patrick’s after they won the Armagh title:
“People have come and gone in this club, people have passed away – young Dylan Vallely, he was in the club when we won the county final. Boys like that motivated us – that was for Dylan.”
- Cullyhanna captain Pearse Casey kicks Intermediate final winner against brave Ballyhaise
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Cullyhanna fulfilled their promise of adding the provincial crown to that county success, but only after an epic battle on Sunday against Cavan champs Ballyhaise in Clones.
The 21-year-old was the top scorer in the 1-10 to 0-12 victory, with 1-2 from play, but he was delighted to see captain Pearse Casey step forward to register the winning point in the third minute of added time:
“Pearse has been very unlucky with injuries. This is nearly the first year he’s stayed injury-free. He’s a real leader. We all look up to Pearse, he’s a legend in the club.
“Boys like that help bring you on, especially us young boys. The likes of him, Mickey Murray, Barry McConville – this could be Barry’s last year, hopefully not. We work for those boys, we know how much it means to them, this club.”
The encouragement from his team-mates played a part in his goal, a score which helped turn the game in Cullyhanna’s favour:
“At that stage we were four down, and then we pushed on. I actually hadn’t scored in Ulster so it was a bit of a surprise. The boys always say ‘Your goal’s gonna come’ and it finally came, thank God, at the right time.”
It wasn’t just words but actions, though, a constant desire for improvement, as he recalls:
“We were very disappointed with our League. At the start of the year we wanted to do ‘the double’ but in the League we fell short. The county boys only came in the last three, four games and the standards they set just raised it for everyone.
“Aidan [Nugent] and Jason [Duffy] would be the first boys at training. I remember the first session, I was there two minutes before it started, and Aidan goes ‘You need to be here 20 minutes early, kicking’.
“Ever since then we’ve been out kicking, working on our goals, and it finally came through there with the goal finish. We spent 10 minutes before every training session taking [goalkeeper] James [Carragher] out and hitting for goals – probably going for the spectacular ones, top corner, but all that hard work paid off.”
The rewards keep coming – and Reavey wants more: “It’s probably the only trophies I’ve won with Cullyhanna, never won anything at underage. It’s Senior [Championship] next year, we want to push on.
“We don’t want to stop here, we want to go as far as we can because this is a strong team, a lot of young boys, U21 success, and those boys are coming through. We strive for greatness in this club.”
Indeed that attitude is exemplified as Cullyhanna now set their sights on an All-Ireland – although they will celebrate provincial triumph first, of course:
“We’ll enjoy the next few days, looking forward to it. We have four weeks to prepare. We’ll have a few days on the drink and then we’ll knuckle down. We know it’s Allenwood from Kildare, so we’ll have our homework done.
“We’re one game away from Croke Park. That’s the aim. You always want to play in Croke Park. This is our chance and we’ll take it with both hands.”
