McKinley’s prayers were answered with dramatic winner

St Malachy’s were celebrating their first Westmeath intermediate football title in a decade following their dramatic victory over Milltownpass in last Saturday’s final.

Manager Kenny McKinley took time to reflect on the heart-stopping moments when his side won that injury-time free which Morgan Gavigan calmly converted to give them victory.

“I was screaming into the lads, ‘hold possession and we’ll get an opportunity’. As myself and Aonghus were saying afterwards, years ago someone would have let the leather fly and taken the wrong option. But they kept working the ball and captain fantastic stood up. He powered through and I know Milltownpass people are saying, it’s a free (out), but I couldn’t honestly say. I was roaring for a free (in), myself, naturally,” he said.

“And when Morgan (Gavigan) placed the ball on the ground, I just walked away and prayed. Morgan hit it sweetly. He’s the biggest enigma you’ll ever find, but he responds well when you put him in a cauldron. He was cool as ice.”

Preparations were difficult as David Lynch was battling injury, while Alan Mangan was awaiting a decision of the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) to see if he could side-step a suspension. As it happens, both worked in St Malachy’s favour, with Lynch being a major influence.

“David Lynch was always going to play. We had an anxious wait for Buddah (Alan Mangan, who was only cleared after a DRA hearing) but we knew Eoin Glennon could step in. He came in against Tubberclair and was a serious unit. For a player who plays in the forwards, he stepped up to the plate,” remarked McKinley.

“We had a very tough conversation yesterday: on the one hand Buddah was back, and he was a hugely experienced player to come into the team, but then we had to tell another player who helped you win a semi-final that he was not going to be standing in the goals. But Eoin was brilliant, he knew exactly what we were about.

“I take my hat off to him and the other lads on the panel. Neal Kirby, who didn’t get a run today, is the life and soul of the club. He played all the league games; he’s always there, never a wrong word. There are others, too. They are just a great group of players.”

McKinley summed up the mood in the winners’ camp.

“We are over the moon. It’s not for the faint-hearted those last two games. It’s very hard to describe the feeling; it's euphoria, it will only sink in probably tomorrow. I was only involved in three county finals before, two as a player. And one with Ballymahon, which we lost, and that is a fair sickener, to be on that side of the fence,” he said.

“We were underdogs coming into the game and probably rightly so. Milltownpass were growing in strength; they are a serious team and we felt that if they got out of the group, they could come back and haunt us. So, massive credit to the players.

“Our team talk was to get it down to the last 15 minutes and no team is going to run across us in the last five minutes of the game. When we got that last attack, I was just urging the boys to be patient. I felt an opportunity would come and fortunately we got it there.

“We got out in front with a good start, but fair play to Milltownpass they came out of the traps really well in the second half and put the squeeze on us. We knew that wave was coming; Milltownpass have serious players in the likes of Sam Duncan, Liam O’Reilly, Noel O’Reilly, Gavin Glennon … these players are not going to lie down. We knew we would have to survive that period.

“They came at us and both slides missed chances. But that’s a final, that will happen. This game was always going to be won by just a point or two; neither team was going to steam roll the other. Hats off to David Martin, Kevin Burke and Andy Devine - they had Milltownpass seriously drilled. You could see that in their attacking play; they are a serious outfit.

“They have threats all over the pitch, but I felt our backs were heroic today. David Maloney had a fantastic game: he didn’t play in the earlier games, but he got himself back into the team.”

McKinley and his players had to deal with the disappointment of Castletown Geoghegan losing the senior hurling semi-final the previous weekend.

“We knew we were a match for any team at this level; between hurling and football, it is very hard to prepare, but we have huge characters in the dressing room,” he remarked.

“We met on Monday night for a yoga session and the guys were so down after losing the hurling (with Castletown Geoghegan) that we knew, mentally, we had to get ourselves up for this game. We had a good chat about the game and leaders stepped up and grabbed the dressing room. ‘We’ve come too far to let it fail’, was the message.

“It was the fifth time we have played Milltownpass in recent times and we knew how they would play. They may not have expected David Maloney in the team, or to see Aonghus (Clarke) up forward to stop their fantastic running game. That worked for us today. It fell right.”

Winning the title and returning to the senior grade is significant for the St Malachy’s club, he feels.

“It’s huge: next year St Malachy’s are celebrating 60 years as a club and it’s huge that they are back senior for that. It’s great for diehards like Mick Lowry, who trained me years ago with St Loman’s, Ciaran Kirby and Pat Garvin. Colm Geoghegan was a selector for three years and just stepped away due to work. But for people like that it’s great: we have huge support, driving us on,” he said.

“It is a very difficult situation: when I first took over I was told, ‘it’s all hurling, they won’t entertain you!’ The first two years I was involved I worked with Pat O’Brien and then I worked with Alan Mangan. They have given us the amount of time any hurling club could possibly give us while keeping their own plan on track. That’s all I could ask for.

“I can’t compliment Castletown Geoghegan hurling club enough. Every player I have is a hurler and the support I have got is wonderful.”