Brigid’s players bask in glory of successive triumphs

For St. Brigid’s, this was sweet. Their fourth county title in eight years, but their first time retaining the Fahey Cup since 2017.

The group has spoken openly about its desire to stitch together successive county titles. But with the standard at the top level in the county at a remarkably high level, Conor Hand knew how difficult it would be to remain kingpins of the county.

It is for that reason that he was beaming with pride after his Player of the Match display helped St. Brigid’s sit on top the throne once more.

“Back-to-back hasn’t been done for a good while in Roscommon and you can see why, going to extra-time like that.

“This really does mean a lot to us. We might have won a couple over the last few years but to win back-to-back is huge. That was a goal of ours,” Hand revealed.

After coming off the bench, Senan Kilbride played his role in another stirring county final. The 41-year-old knows better than most the importance of squad depth. For him the impact off the bench, particularly from Eddie Nolan, was vital in St. Brigid’s retaining their title.

“We were speaking about it at half time that if anybody comes on, you have to come on and make a positive impact. Eddie was brilliant and he changed the course of the game. He started dominating midfield. We were struggling there for a while. Charlie (O’Carroll) came on and kicked a few points, bang, bang, quickfire scores — great impacts all around.

“Lads who were taken off but came back on again — all of them made huge impacts. You are going to be disappointed being taken off but it is testament to their character that they came back on and did the job for us again,” Kilbride explained.

Captain Ruaidhrí Fallon insisted there was no panic after Tom Butler’s stunning two-pointer brought the contest to extra time. The captain praised his team-mates for lifting his morale after his overcooked pass to Eddie Nolan allowed Pádraig Pearses to salvage a lifeline.

“Damien (Mulligan) came in after a few minutes into the dressing room, so we had a chat ourselves when we got back in. I know it is still a young enough dressing room but there is a load of experienced players in there that can dissect those situations and advise players well.

“They are the sort of lads who can step up when we need it most, so it was a calm environment. You probably wouldn’t think that after myself throwing away the game, but it was calm enough. We set out our tasks to do in extra-time, and we went out and did them.

“It was a costly turnover. I had two options on and I just overkicked it but that is testament to the lads inside. They were straight away saying “head up” and they put the arm around me in that situation, so I thank them for that. It just has to be on to the next job,” Fallon noted.

Pearse Frost didn’t get to experience lining out in last year’s county final due to breaking a bone in his leg against Western Gaels in the group stages.

In that regard, Frost highlighted that Seán Trundle was a major help in him overcoming that injury to feature in the All-Ireland Series. Fast forward 12 months and the roles are reversed after Trundle suffered a broken leg against Roscommon Gaels.

In the euphoria that comes with winning a county title, Frost was keen to ensure that St. Brigid’s build off this win and give their affable full-back every chance to feature in the campaign by continuing to dig out results.

“In fairness Seanie was saying to me last year that we are going to keep going and give you a game to work towards.

“That is the exact same message we are relaying to him. He is such a big player for us. Seeing him go down like that, your heart would sink. It is a real motivation to give him a game to work towards,” Frost concluded.