'Hopefully she was looking down on us today'

By Kevin Egan

Ruaidhrí Fallon might have been just outside the 13-metre line when he took a pass from Ciarán Sugrue at Dr Hyde Park last Sunday, but with his side trailing by one point with four minutes to play in a Connacht final, not every forward would have opted to try and blast the ball past four Maigh Cuilinn players.

And when it comes to players who spend the majority of their careers playing in single-digit jerseys, there wouldn’t have been a word of criticism for anyone who would decide to tap the ball over the bar and go again. Except maybe in the St Brigid’s dressing room.

As Fallon put it, the handy option wouldn’t have gone down well with his colleagues.

“I probably would have got some stick if I handpassed it over the bar. It was coming down the stretch at that stage; I think we needed it!”

As the dynamic wing-back spoke to the Westmeath Independent, emotional family members came over to congratulate him on his heroics and a performance that was all the more laudable as it came just two days after his grandmother, Kitty Murray, had been laid to rest.

“Lord have mercy on her, it probably took my mind off the game for a few days, I was occupied with that,” he said.

“I’ve a cousin on the team, Billy (McDonnell), and my uncle (former Moate and Westmeath player John Murray) is a selector on the team as well, so we were all connected in that way. Hopefully she was looking down on us today and she’ll be proud of us.”

There was a lot to be proud of when it came to St Brigid’s heart, persistence, their composure and their ability to deliver at key moments. But there were also plenty of areas that would fall into the euphemistic category of ‘work ons’.

“We were struggling and maybe underperformed a small bit for large parts of the game,” Fallon admitted.

“It was probably uncharacteristic of our play all year. We were very good at that type of set piece off our own kickouts and opposition kickouts, and obviously it’s a lot tougher play when that primary possession is taken away from you.

“Maigh Cuilinn aren’t the sort of team you want to be chasing in a game; they’re very, very well drilled, very diligent in the way they carry themselves with and without the ball.

“But thankfully we kept knocking at the door, and in the last ten or 15 minutes broke in.”

With a sixth Connacht title in the bag, now just one behind Clann na nGael and four behind outright leaders Corofin, most clubs would look on with deep envy at the record of the Kiltoom and Cam parish side.

For Fallon, however, it’s not the wins that’s driving the team on, but one defeat in particular – their loss to Glen of Derry in Croke Park in January of 2024.

“It’s probably something we don’t say a lot, but it’s probably one of the main factors driving us. It might sound a bit negative saying that, but trying to aim to get back there … we were extremely hurt after that. There’s a lot of scar tissue still hanging around.

“Obviously we’re absolutely delighted to still be training together and playing football together at this time of year. It’s what it’s all about. We all love it so much, and enjoy coming down to training every evening and we’re all great mates as well. Thankfully now we get to play into the New Year again, so hopefully we can go that one step further.”

If they are to get that far, there’s no doubt that the topic of defending high balls into the goalmouth will come under review. Pádraig Pearses, Ballina Stephenites and Maigh Cuilinn have all gone after St Brigid’s in this fashion.

Seán Trundle is one of the main men in the firing line when opponents bring that approach, and he paid tribute to Conor Carroll behind him for keeping the team out of trouble on several occasions, with Maigh Cuilinn employing that tactic time and again.

“Conor has a real presence on the goal line and it is something we have to look at.

We dealt with it in the second half, they put in a few when they had the wind but I thought we coped well with it," he said.

“That is something for us to go back to the drawing board on, and see what we can do with it."

Overall, however, Trundle felt that it was a solid afternoon for the back division, on a day when the scores didn’t flow quite as freely as many would have expected for these two attack-focused outfits.

“We have been working on it all year, Evan Talty has been setting us up defensively and getting that zone defence set up,” Trundle explained.

“We were happy with the defence today. Sometimes we can switch off a bit and it is something we are going to have to work on for the next game, but isn’t it great to be here in December, with another game to talk about?”