THE CELBRIDGE SENIOR footballers are the owners of a unique record in that they have reached every single county semi-final over the past 10 years.
Sustained consistency over the course of a decade. But later today, they will contest just their first county decider since 2017. And that’s where the sustained inconsistency creeps in.
They broke through that last-four barrier by holding off Athy with a five-point win earlier this month thanks to goals from Paddy Brophy and Fergal Conway. A relieving step forward, no doubt, but there’s still one more box to tick. One that has been unchecked by Celbridge since 2008.
Cavan native Michéal McDermott took over as manager of Celbridge at the outset of this season, giving him plenty of time to observe and consider what has been missing in their quest up to now.
“Probably the rub of the green, and maybe mistakes at crucial times,” he says in conversation with The 42 ahead of their county final showdown with back-to-back champions Naas.
“Maybe belief [too], I just can’t put my finger on it because I wasn’t there for any of those losses. But what I saw with the group at the very start of the year was they just wanted to put it behind them and really go to see if they gave it their best this year, where would it bring them? That’s what the whole year has been about so far.
“We’ve followed the same routine throughout the whole year and it’s proven fruitful for us along the way. We’re getting ready for Sunday and the players are looking forward to a real battle but they’re not afraid of it. They’re looking forward to the occasion, and who knows what’s going to happen by six o’clock. It would be fantastic for the club to get over the line.”
McDermott is a well travelled manager. In his own county, he was in charge of Ramor United. He lives in Clare where he was in charge of Kilmurry-Ibrickane when they reached the senior football All-Ireland final in 2010. He has also ventured to Limerick where he was at the helm with Monaleen, while in Meath, he was the manager of the Wolfe Tones club before an opportunity in Celbridge came before him.
At inter-county level, he has managed the Clare and Limerick footballers.
His latest post has been his longest commute so far – about an hour from where he works in Virginia in Cavan. But distance isn’t a factor for McDermott when there’s an invitation to work with a driven team.
“When I spoke to the committee, they were ambitious. They knew they were there or thereabouts and they’ve suffered a lot of heartache over the last number of years, losing a lot of semi-finals, mostly to the team that went on and won the final.”
Their semi-final horrors has naturally been the focus of the narrative around Celbridge, but within the camp, there was a different fear gripping the team.
After emerging from the group stage, Celbridge were paired with the 2019 county champions Sarsfields in the quarter-finals. And as for how they feel about the semi-finals that they’ve fumbled before, McDermott could see that the players were already healed.
“Given the tradition that Sarsfields have in senior football, I felt the quarter-final was a bigger challenge than the semi-final. We won our three games in the group stages, which leads to a vulnerability coming into a quarter-final.
“It was a huge game and I think beating Sarsfields brought a bit of relief, that they got over that game. They knew themselves that it was a good display, a good performance and it took the fear of the semi-final coming that we had a tough quarter-final. Losing semi-finals before has never even been mentioned and that’s the good thing about them. People would look in from the inside and think it was a monkey on their back, it didn’t seem to be at all for the players.”
Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Final
— CillDroichidCLG (@CelbridgeGAA) October 11, 2023
Sunday October 22nd
Netwatch Cullen Park, Carlow
4pm
Celbridge v Naas
Calling on all of Celbridge to get behind our lads. Show your support by flying a flag on your home or business or post a message.
🔵⚪️⚫️🔴#BígíLinn #CillDroichidAbú pic.twitter.com/KKoFKOY3G9
Celbridge come into this final with a 15-year hunger but Naas will be no stroll this Sunday afternoon in Carlow’s Dr Cullen Park. The county final isn’t happening in its traditional spot of St Conleth’s Park due to redevelopments at the Newbridge venue.
Back to the challenge that Naas pose this weekend. Along with being the back-to-back title holders, they also emerged from a difficult group this year which included Athy, Sarsfields and Maynooth to further cement their place at the summit.
After 10 consecutive semi-finals, Celbridge will hope that they’ve been starving for long enough.
“They’re a really good quality side,” McDermott says about the challenge that awaits his side this weekend.
“I don’t think they have been beaten this year in championship. They had a draw with Athy but they haven’t been beaten. They have quality players in every line of their team and they’ve shown that they’re formidable champions.
“Do we fear them? No. Do we respect them as really good champions? Yes. But it’s a challenge that lies ahead of us, like every other challenge during the year and we’ll relish taking it on.
“When you lose for a number of years in semi-finals, there has to be a hunger and ambition to come back again, get over the first stumbling block, and that’s what drove me to the task in hand. We got over the line from the semi-final this year, and now the next stage is ahead of us. We’re under no illusions that it’s going to be one hell of an ask against Naas in the final, especially with them going for three-in-a-row.”
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