Christy O'Connor: Loughmore-Castleiney find joining that elite provincial doubles bracket isn't easy

The Belfast club were a real force in football in the late 1970s and early 1980s, appearing in five finals between 1977-’84, winning in 1977, while they were Ulster hurling champions in 1973, albeit having secured that title against Kevin Lynch’s after a walkover.

Cuala and Na Fianna only joined that select group nine days ago, while Slaughtneil also took their provincial haul to eight titles last weekend. And Loughmore-Castleiney were aiming to join that elite group yesterday.

It's been a unique time for clubs who have appeared in provincial finals in both codes. Padraig Pearses, who lost last Sunday’s Connacht final, were appearing in their third decider is six years but their first provincial final appearance had come 37 years ago when they lost the Connacht hurling final to Athenry.

Roscommon Gaels played in the first Connacht club hurling final in 1970, which they lost to Liam Mellows, five years before they won successive Connacht football titles in 1975 and 1976. They may operate under a different name, James Stephens, but the sister club of Ballina Stephenites – who have won three Connacht titles – also featured in the last Connacht club hurling final played in 2007, when they were well beaten by Portumna.

In total, 16 clubs have played provincial finals in both codes; Cuala, Na Fianna, Ballyboden St Enda’s, Kilmacud Crokes, Slaughtneil, Dungiven/Kevin Lynch’s, St Finbarr’s, Padraig Pearses, Roscommon Gaels, Ballina, Lavey, St John’s, UCD, Portlaoise, Cratloe and Loughmore-Castleiney.

The Barrs are the only side to have won All-Irelands in hurling and football, but Cuala now have a chance to emulate that feat in the coming weeks. Portlaoise never won a Leinster hurling title but they were within a whisker of achieving the double in 1987 when they won the football and lost the hurling final to Rathnure. Kilmacud nearly managed the double on the same day in 2022 but they narrowly lost the hurling final to Ballyhale.

Fifteen of the 16 clubs won at least one title in one code, while a number went close to securing titles in both codes. Thirty years after UCD became the first side to win successive All-Ireland club football titles in 1974 and 1975, the Dublin college agonisingly lost successive Leinster hurling finals in 2004 and 2005.

Joining that elite bracket has never been easy. Seventeen years after they were crowned Munster hurling champions, Loughmore-Castleiney came up short yesterday in their bid to add a provincial football title to their sideboard.

Errigal in ecstasy, Kilcoo in agony 

Losing a second Ulster final in three years will have devastated Kilcoo but the manner in how they coughed up the winning score will haunt them for years. Years.

Despite being down to 14 men, and with Errigal Ciarán having applied massive heat on the Kilcoo kickout in the last ten minutes, Niall Kane had still given a clinic in how to get off kickouts under such pressure. Kilcoo only lost one kickout all afternoon, while they’d also got their two previous points off Kane’s restarts.

With the sides level with one minute of additional time to play, Kane clipped a kickout to Callum Rogers. Peter Harte and Ben McDonnell were closing in on his space and, while Rogers had Ryan McEvoy behind him, he tried to punch the ball to Shealan Johnston who was attacking the space over his right shoulder. It was a panicked play in the circumstances, especially when Rogers had his back to Johnston, but it became a crisis when Rogers didn’t get enough force on the ball and Harte intercepted it before slipping the ball off to Padraig McGirr, who passed it into Peter Óg McCartan to kick the winning score.

In a game of tight margins, Kilcoo had put themselves under needless and unnecessary pressure when Darryl Brannigan was red-carded on 45 minutes. That pressure did eventually tell - despite Kilcoo having more shots (21-17), Errigal had more shots (6-4) in the final quarter. McCartan was massive in that period, scoring two of those shots and being fouled for a converted free.

Errigal just found a way, as they have done all year. They lost three long kickouts in the first half, which Kilcoo translated into three scores, but Errigal denied the Down side those opportunities in the second half.

Errigal scored more off turnovers (1-4 to 0-5) than a Kilcoo side whose hallmark is the damage they inflict off turnovers. Moreover, they slowed down the speed of Kilcoo’s rapid transition play off turnovers, limiting them to just four lightning breaks and just 0-1 off that possession.

Errigal were also able to get the job done – as they sometimes have this season – with Darragh and Ruari Canavan limited to 23 combined possessions and just three shots from play, which amounted to only 0-1. Darragh did have assists for 1-3 but the Canavan brothers were restricted to just seven combined possessions in the second half.

Errigal just found a way, but Kilcoo will be haunted by how they allowed the Tyrone side to eke out that path to elation.

Crokes get the job done – again 

In the lead-up to yesterday’s Munster final, one of the standout trends was the low concession rate of both teams, with Dr Crokes only having shipped an average of 1-8, while Loughmore had only coughed up an average of 0-9.5 per game.

Crokes had conceded six goals in seven games but they’d never shipped any more than 11 scores. For all their attacking talent and firepower up front, that defensive parsimony has been a hallmark of this side. And it was evident again yesterday when shipping just 1-6. Loughmore’s late goal did put an extra layer of make-up on the scoreboard but they still only managed ten shots over the 60 plus minutes, while also manufacturing one other half-goal chance.

And still, Pat O’Shea would have been furious with Crokes’ first half display, especially when having an incredible 77% possession but only getting off six shots. After one kickout, Crokes held on to the ball for three minutes and 38 seconds but Tony Brosnan got bottled up before he could get off a shot and Crokes turned over possession again, which was a consistent theme of that opening half.

Crokes protected the ball far better after the break but they’d upped the ante straight from the throw-in, landing three points from three shots in five minutes. They put real heat on the Loughmore kickout, totally cashing in on that tactic in the fourth quarter when landing four of their six points in that period from Loughmore’s restarts.

Brosnan was outstanding when kicking 0-5 from play but this was another standout performance from Micheál Burns; as well as scoring 0-3 from play, Burns was centrally involved in 0-4 and was fouled for two converted frees.

Job done for Crokes in Munster. Again.