With Donegal’s Karl Lacey on the sideline for Kilcoo, Down manager Conor Laverty playing and much history between themselves and Burren, the Down SFC final had the potential to send us in a number of intriguing directions.
That the day will be remembered not for Kilcoo’s win, and their fifth consecutive county title success, but for who refereed the game was a curve ball we didn’t anticipate.
It wasn’t your typical “club rails against controversial refereeing decision” either. Brian Higgins actually had a fairly uneventful afternoon but only got the nod to officiate late on following an eventful couple of days.
Kilcoo’s initial objection to Paul Faloon refereeing the game was rejected by the Disputes Resolution Authority but he was still replaced by leading whistler David Gough from Meath, who then became unavailable, prompting the Higgins call-up.
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An official statement is anticipated. What’s certain is that a tireless Kilcoo will return to the provincial championship following an entirely businesslike 2-12 to 0-9 win over Burren.
Laverty made a rare start, his first of the campaign, and got through a tonne of good work while second-half goals from Micheal Rooney and Paul Devlin helped the Lacey-led side build on a 0-8 to 0-3 interval lead.
It was tighter in Portlaoise where St Joseph’s overcame the local town side by 0-7 to 0-6 to record their first Laois SFC title success since 2000.
On an afternoon that demanded more steel than silk, a couple of Eoghan O’Flaherty points from frees left St Joseph’s a point up at half-time and they retained that narrow lead at the final whistle.
Veteran Portlaoise forward Paul Cahillane lit up a low-scoring and laboured second-half with a terrific Portlaoise point but St Joseph’s held on with important final-quarter scores from Brian Daly and James Kelly.
St Joseph’s will be joined in the Leinster club SFC by Killoe of Longford and Wexford’s Shelmaliers.
Mark Hughes’s stoppage-time point from a free secured a 1-8 to 0-10 Longford SFC final win for Killoe and their first county crown since 2020.
Ultra-experienced manager Luke Dempsey oversaw a patient and purposeful performance from the Emmet Óg club, who got their goal early in the second half through Hughes, who clipped 1-5 overall.
Clonguish got a strong kick from their bench and wiped out the deficit by the 60th minute before Hughes pointed that free to win for Killoe.
In Wexford, Paul Hearne’s 63rd-minute point proved the difference as Shelmaliers defeated Castletown 1-12 to 1-11. Castletown scored the first 1-2 of the game and were led by the evergreen Ben Brosnan, but Hearne hauled Shels back into it with a goal early in the second-half.
Cratloe claimed a Clare SFC title against the head under former county manager Colm Collins after defeating St Breckan’s 1-10 to 1-8. Cathal McInerney struck 1-6 for a Cratloe side containing three of Collins’s sons – Podge, Sean and David. Afterwards, boss Collins said his goal at the start of the year was simply to stay senior.
Kilcormac-Killoughey, beaten by Shinrone in last year’s Offaly SHC final, gained revenge with a 3-26 to 3-8 demolition in their county final rematch in Birr.
In what will go down as one of the club’s greatest ever displays, Kilcormac-Killoughey led by 1-17 to 0-6 at half-time and cruised home from there with second-half goals from Cathal Kiely and Charlie Mitchell.
Cushendall repelled a late Loughgiel Shamrocks revival at Corrigan Park to take the Antrim SHC title on a 1-20 to 1-19 scoreline.
Trailing by five points in stoppage time, Loughgiel pulled back 1-1 through county man James McNaughton, who hit 1-10 in total, but his late attempt to level it from a long-range free sailed agonisingly wide.
