Embracing St. Brigid's 'huge expectations'

When Jerome Stack stepped down following St. Brigid’s All-Ireland club final defeat against Glen in 2023, Anthony Cunningham’s rapid appointment smacked of a club ready to make hay while the sun shone.

But those best laid plans hit a stumbling block in last season’s quarter-final, meaning that Cunningham’s second coming as Brigid’s boss didn’t meet initial targets.

It’s not that the former Roscommon manager has reined in Brigid’s ambitions but, for now, a Fahey Cup would suffice and allow the Kiltoom-based side to build momentum from there.

“For a club like Brigid’s, the target is always to get to a county final — probably more so this year after losing to Pearses last year. There are high ambitions within the club. The standards are always very high, even in terms of how the club is run and the facilities here. So there are always huge expectations.

“Everything has to be ran right. There are a lot of players behind the ones we’ve seen in the championship to date. They’re really pushing hard to get on the team.

“Some of them have enjoyed a good run with the intermediates. The club has fielded two teams in the top two leagues and championships in the county. We’re the lucky ones that have got over the line to reach the final. A lot of work goes into that,” he explained.

Even though a shock Michael Glaveys victory in the third round of the group stages threatened the throw the cat among the pigeons once more, this time it wasn’t fatal — allowing the players and management recalibrate and go again.

“We took the Glaveys result on the chin. There are no guarantees in any championship game you play.

“In the back of our minds, we were effectively through. It’s never any harm to shake up the focus and question some of the decisions that were made on the field that night. Lads improved from that, they knew it wasn’t good enough and just got on with it. There were quite a lot of learnings to take from it.

“Glaveys deserved to win the game. We took some rash decisions and paid the price. There was a lot of soul searching done but lads wanted to improve. They were very honest in the knowledge that they weren’t at the standard expected of them.

“Subsequently, there was a big push for a high performance against Roscommon Gaels. You still probably wouldn’t be going full throttle at a quarter-final stage, but we were good that night because there was a point to prove after the Glaveys game,” he continued.

So what is the lie of the land heading into Sunday’s eagerly-anticipated showdown against Pádraig Pearses?

“We’re definitely going to have to improve again to beat Pearses. In the two matches I’ve seen them play, they have been mightily impressive. Boyle had them on the ropes and were up by seven points going into the last ten minutes. But they ground out the result, as they did against Oran in the previous round.

“They shot the lights out with a high-class, effective performance against Faithleach’s. They were really good and dominant in every aspect, particularly their younger players who have really developed. That’s a testament to the great club that Pearses is.

“It’s a very well-run club. Frank Canning and the boys have their sights set on the biggest prize, which is, for them, a Connacht or even an All-Ireland title. They have been huge ambassadors and done extremely well.

“They’d have been disappointed with last year’s result down in Sligo because, behind the scenes, they’re an ambitious club. This year, they’ve played the best football that I’ve seen any club team play, so we have to get up to that level to match them,” he highlighted.

And Cunningham is aware that Sunday’s opponents have the personnel to make further improvements.

“Finals take on a life of their own. Something unusual can happen, a freakish score can go in, or someone can get injured. You really have to perform on the day. You mightn’t reproduce the high-quality of a quarter-final or semi-final but, for us, we’re going to have to show a lot of grit and be on top of our game to beat them.

“Pearses just have so much pedigree. They can bring in impact subs and I’m sure we’ll see Niall Daly and others in the final. Their seasoned players have helped develop these younger players. It’s very like what’s here. So it’s going to be really tough, but that’s what you want. You won’t get every match easy, especially a final,” he noted.

Despite the plaudits Cunningham places at Pearses’ feet, he will trust his own players to deliver in what should be a high-quality renewal of rivals.

“Sometimes you hear we don’t have the players in Roscommon for county set-ups. But this is as strong a final as you’ll see in Connacht or indeed in most of the country.

“I’ve been around the block in a few other counties and the standard is really high here. I think Roscommon followers can forget that.

It will be really difficult to get over the line. We know the task that’s ahead of us. But we’d still be extremely confident about the ability within the group because that’s what we’ve trained for all year,” he concluded.