Motivated and driven — Brigid’s are ready

It won’t have been aired publicly, but a manager of Anthony Cunningham’s calibre wasn’t catapulted into the St. Brigid’s management set-up a second time just to win a county or provincial title. After the agonising defeat against Glen two years ago, Cunningham’s brief is concise and clearcut — bring the Andy Merrigan Cup back to Kiltoom for a second time.

But the former county senior football and hurling manager is around the block long enough to know that there are no guarantees in sport. While the hurt from January 2023 continues to fuel the players’ desire to become the best in the land, they’re learning all the time, and it’s that education which Cunningham hopes can get them over line in Croke Park on Sunday.

“You look at all the results over the last six or eight weeks. There have been no more than a few points in any of the matches.

“There’s no doubt that the draw and the replay in the county final helped us. The Moycullen match in the Connacht final was extremely close. You’re building and getting that experience, which is live, and you bring it into the next match.

“The Scotstown game will be a massive help to us, but we’ll need to improve. Dingle will be looking at things in a similar way. Hopefully, what we have learned can get us that point ahead by the final whistle on Sunday evening,” he said at the team’s press night in Kiltoom last Wednesday.

But there’s no greater obstacle than a Kerry team in an All-Ireland final. It’s second nature to Gaelic football players from the Kingdom to be on the cusp of reaching the pinnacle, as evidenced by the county’s three club sides reaching the junior, intermediate and senior club finals.

Dingle may have sailed too close to the wind in recent games, calling on all their powers of recovery to rescue what seemed like lost causes, but Cunningham is expecting the West Kerry outfit to bring their A game to Sunday’s decider at GAA headquarters.

“We’re going to need everyone against them, and more. It will probably be a very fast game and very attritional. You’d be very taken by their performance the last day, particularly in the second half. Ballyboden were favourites to win it out, but Dingle stuck at it and deservedly won it in extra time.

“Arguably the best two performances of the year were from Dingle in the Munster final and the All-Ireland semi-final. They didn’t panic in any of those matches. They just kept playing and stayed in the hunt. We’ll have to be at full throttle to live with them,” he predicted.

Trying to find that balance between channeling the disappointment from two years ago and being at their best on Sunday is key for St. Brigid’s in Cunningham’s eyes, and he’s hopeful that the intelligence among a relatively young group of players will make sure that any lingering hangover from the Glen disappointment isn’t in evidence.

“The hurt from two years ago was central last year and it has been to the fore this season as well. They want to put that nightmare in the last few minutes against Glen to bed. But that can’t consume you. It’s about knowing how and what to play, how to take your scores and defend.

“But I’d be lying if I said what happened two years ago wasn’t a driving factor among the players. But that’s the type of group they are — really driven, very professional and always wanting to get better.

“From a management’s point of view, they’re easy to manage. We have some great coaches here with Evan Talty, Owen Mooney, and John Murray. So there’s no stone being left unturned.

“Cian O’Dea, our strength and conditioning coach, has worked with Roscommon and Connacht. Hopefully, he’ll stay in the GAA because I have no doubt other sports are looking at him, he’s that good.

“But, overall, we know that we need to produce a massive performance to have any chance of winning,” he highlighted.

Given his experience on big-match days, is there anything Cunningham can bring to the table to, perhaps, tilt the pendulum in Brigid’s favour?

“I’m not so sure. We’d always be pushing the players. We have a good set-up that we’re happy with. But we have great players that really soak up everything — whether that’s analysis, how to get better or improve. One thing you’d be disappointed about is the guys that you don’t see, the ones that don’t get to play. But, in the long run, you’d hope that all it stands to the players involved here.

“I just think that they have to bring that hurt from the last day through. That happens in sport — whether it’s rugby, the Premier League, Gaelic football or hurling — you have to be a massive competitor to learn from your mistakes and be driven. Hopefully, that will get these players over the line,” he concluded.