CULLYHANNA are on the way to Croke Park and it’s a dream come true for the south Armagh club.
Stephen Reel’s side manoeuvred their way past Kildare’s Allenwood on Saturday by three-points to qualify for the All-Ireland intermediate final.
Ross McQuillan’s goal just after the turnaround proved the crucial score which set up a decider with Cork’s Cill na Martra – 2-12 to 0-15 winners over Roscommon’s St Kevin’s, Castlerea – this weekend.
It’s been a historic season already for the St Patrick’s club. They became the first ever team to hail from the Orchard county to win Ulster at this grade and now have a chance to repeat the feat on the national stage.
“I don’t know, it’s hard to put into words,” said Armagh attacker Jason Duffy after Cullyhanna’s victory. “It’s just unbelievable. To be going to Croke Park with your club, it’s once in a lifetime stuff.
“It’s really hard describe. You’ve never there before so you don’t know how to put it into words but it’s unbelievable stuff.”
With 15 minutes remaining in their All-Ireland semi-final, Cullyhanna held a confident five-point margin, but Allenwood kept pressing forward, trying to keep their own Croke Park dreams alive.
While McQuillan’s goal was the difference in the end, Duffy notes that his side could have raised more than just one green flag. Duffy himself was involved in a goal chance within the opening seconds of the game while McQuillan also could have hit the net before half time.
“I don’t really know what we were at near the end there. They put the pressure on with a full court press and I suppose we struggled a bit, but we did enough to get out of it in the end. We held our nerve and Aidan (Nugent) kicked a point just to seal it towards the end there.
“Just small wee things, the pass from me over Gary (Mackin’s) head and then Ross was probably caught in two minds, maybe the simple score was the better option both times and we’d have been two points up.
“I suppose those are things that you can take, and you can learn from them. We didn’t play well there today and we’re still in an All-Ireland final so we’re happy enough. The goal was massive, the pace from Ross straight through the middle and then he made no mistake.”
It’s a short turnaround for Stephen Reel’s troops. Eight days between a last four contest and an All-Ireland decider may not be ideal preparation, but Duffy and the Cullyhanna crew won’t be complaining.
“We did a bit of the dog work over Christmas, and we knew that if we got over this game then there was only a week in between so we wouldn’t really get much done,” added Duffy, who has made three appearances in Croke Park with Armagh in recent years.
“So, we’ll probably be just doing our homework and getting the recovery right, resting up and getting ready, getting dialled in for all the wee small things in the build-up.”