Some stories are irrefusable, demanding their own place and their own space. On a weekend that Gaelic football took its first faltering steps into a new future and the hurling league saw the All-Ireland champions beaten, nobody could have guessed that the day would belong to the intermediate club final. But tragedy has its own way of taking the stage.
When Conor Loftus stood up to take the injury-time penalty with his team a point behind, nobody watching on needed the context explained to them. The intermediate All-Ireland final was due to take place a fortnight ago but it was called off at short notice because of the tragic death of Róisín Cryan, Loftus’s fiancee. And now here he was, standing over the penalty that would decide the game.
“When we got that penalty, I think I turned around and just said, ‘It’s either meant to be our today or it’s not,’” said Crossmolina manager Brian Benson. “It was like a defining moment of the year, it’s either going to happen or it’s not. Whichever way it went, it was going to go.
“We were very adamant that it was, ‘Goal. Go for it.’ That was the point – it was either going to be, or it wasn’t. Conor, the way he has taken penalties all his life, but especially in the last year, he’s kicked a good few penalties. They usually end up in the back of the net and thankfully it was the same again.”
Malachy Clerkin: Shane Walsh finds quirk in new rules to show FRC’s work is nowhere near done
Five things we learned from the GAA weekend: Dublin set out into the unknown while Tipp sound battle cry
GAA catfish saga: The way Irish people know and trust each other is coming apart
Unshackled from tradition, the GAA has made change the new normal
Life is short. In different circumstances, Ballinderry might have made a bigger deal of the fact that the penalty award was a pretty controversial call. To most eyes, substitute Stephen Duffy seemed to charge Ballinderry goalkeeper Ben McKinless, yet referee Seán Lonergan not only awarded the penalty but sent McKinless off into the bargain. It looked extremely rough justice for the Derry club to lose an All-Ireland final that way.
Loftus still had to do the needful. The Mayo forward has had the worst fortnight of his life and nobody would have held it against him had he not played the final, much less passed up the crucial penalty. But he slotted it home with no fuss and when the full-time whistle went soon after, his team-mates flooded to him. Loftus took their hugs and then ran down the tunnel, leaving everyone else to the celebrations.
“Obviously the last two weeks, three weeks, have been really tough in the club,” said Benson. “Very emotional. Obviously you see Conor there, as soon as the game is over he’s bolted down the tunnel. Like, while we’re all excited and delighted, our thoughts have to go to them, to Conor Loftus and the Cryans, it’s obviously really difficult for him.
“To see him bolt down the tunnel after winning an All-Ireland in Croke Park, I just think it says a lot about the fact that he could come out and play today for us. I have to acknowledge that.”
It took a lot for him to step up to the club’s biggest kick in years?
“Ah yeah, but that’s Conor. The couple of days after the funeral, we called into him in the house and he was very clear. He said, ‘Keep training, keep pushing on, keep driving on and make sure we’re ready to go whenever the game is played.’ It’s a testament to the man that he is, to be able to change his focus, to be even thinking about an All-Ireland final in the circumstances.”
Elsewhere, the far more daily-bread matters of getting the leagues up and going mostly survived the absolutely cat weather. While Kerry v Donegal was called off in the football league, Kilkenny went to Clare and nailed a 0-23 to 0-21 win in Division 1A of the hurling league. Mossy Keoghan was in terrific form for the visitors, whipping five points from play as Kilkenny recovered from a slow start to see it out.
“I think getting back to a couple of points by half-time was important,” said Derek Lyng afterwards. “Obviously they got a good start and then got four on the bounce and it was kind of looking like they could pull away. But we’re really happy. Just the attitude really more than anything. Not getting too carried away obviously but it’s good to get two points.”
Tipperary gave Galway a major hammering in Salthill, running out 3-25 to 2-16 winners in a game where their young guns Darragh McCarthy and Dylan Walsh were particularly impressive.
In football, Roscommon came back from seven points down early in the second half to beat Down by six in Division Two. And an injury-time goal from Seán Reynolds grabbed a two-point victory for Louth away to Westmeath.
