‘We like to do things the hard way’

Nigel Scally, who recovered from cruciate ligament surgery to play a key part in Kilbeggan Shamrocks’ victory over St Loman's Mullingar on Saturday, was thrilled with the outcome. It has been a long road to recovery for the former county footballer, whose resilience epitomises the spirit shown by team.

“It’s a great feeling to win this title again with the club. I’m delighted. If you were to say this time last year, I’d be here today, I’d have taken that. I had an operation at the end of October, almost a year ago, and worked hard the whole winter to recover. To be here today, joint captain with James (Fox) and the team, is unbelievable. A great feeling,” he said.

Scally’s career came under threat when he sustained the bad injury late last year, leaving him sidelined for the earlier part of the championship. He could only watch from the sidelines up to the semi-final stage.

“It’s not a nice injury to get, but thankfully the hard work paid off and it’s great to be here today, to be part of a winning team with the club,” he remarked.

The versatile performer said the team’s battling traits were crucial to the outcome. “It was about grit and determination, absolutely. We were a bit disappointed at half-time not to be further ahead. It was a dirty day out there and there was just a kick of a ball in it,” he noted.

“We had a bit of luck with the goal at the end. Thankfully the ball went in and it went our way; in 2018 we had a bit of luck and you always need that in finals.”

Victory, he said, meant a lot to the club and the entire community of Kilbeggan.

“We have new committee members this year, a new chairman and he’s really pushing the club on. There were lots of youngsters around last weekend at our training session and there’s a great buzz around. So, hopefully we can push on at intermediate level,” he said.

The plan now is to give the Leinster championship a rattle. “Our biggest regret in 2018 was not to give the Leinster junior championship a better run: we were unlucky in the first round and that team went on to win the Leinster. So, that’s our priority in the next few weeks, but we will enjoy this first.”

Asked if he was concerned when his side fell four points behind in the second half, Scally said: “I was and I wasn’t: they were really playing well, pushing through the lines. Their wing-backs were good, their number seven scored a great individual goal. But in the quarter-final, we didn’t go ahead until injury-time, so we knew that if we were there or thereabouts, we had a good bench to come on. Thankfully we pulled it back.

“I wasn’t overly worried. We did the same in the semi-final, made it hard for ourselves. We had goal chances at the end of normal time against Ballycomoyle that day and should have punished them. But we like to do things the hard way!” Scally added.