Longford IFC Final: A proud honour for the victorious Fr Manning Gaels captain John Paul

It was a glorious day for the Fr Manning Gaels club with Sean Whelan’s last gasp winning goal bringing the Hennessy Cup back to the parish of Drumlish and Ballinamuck just as the game seemed destined for extra-time.

 After the match, the victorious Gaels captain John Paul Farrelly acknowledged that it put the ghost of the late, late defeat to Ballymahon in the 2022 final to rest. 

“I can’t believe that we won, I am speechless but absolutely delighted. We had a long time to think about that defeat for the last couple of years and this year we had a lot of great work done and that stood to us in the end. 

“We really battled and we were camped in during that second half, but I think that we showed great fight in that second half especially as Connolly’s really pressed up on us and we just could not clear the ball out of our half.

“But we plugged away and when we scored that crucial goal at the end, we were not going to let it slip this time, especially with those memories of two years ago still on our minds. 

“The goal coming so late gave them very little time to strike back and it was a killer blow for Connolly’s, and we knew that we just had to stay composed and the cup would be ours.”

The Gaels only held a one-point advantage at half-time, but they could have been further ahead as they missed two good goal chances, and John Paul admitted that should have been the case. 

“We played really well in the first half and we created those goal chances but John McKenna pulled off a brilliant save from Cian (Cassidy) and then we let the ball slip when we seemed to be closing in on goal with another move, so we deserved to be ahead by more. 

“However, Connolly’s were better in the second half and were on top and that’s to their credit especially as they drove the standards in this competition all year, so we knew we had a huge battle on our hands, but thankfully we just about got over the line.”

Farrelly stated that although they were disappointed with their opening round defeat to St Brigid’s Killashee, it did not deter them from believing that they could go all the way and be crowned champions.

“Sometimes in games we were a little bit inconsistent and that was definitely the case in that game, but we never lost belief, we never panicked because we knew that with six games in the group before the semi-finals, we could always come back.

 “We just knuckled down and stayed very positive and the management team of Niall (Sheridan), Sean (Hynes), Graham (Lee), and Liam (Lynch) built up our belief and deserve great credit for their role in our success.

“Looking ahead, we have a fantastic group of players and we would love to win (against Laois champions Crettyard) to progress in the Leinster Club Championship and go as far as we can. We have the panel and the management team that can enjoy a good Leinster campaign,” stated JP.