Steelstown Brian Ogs are All Ireland Intermediate football champions!

All Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final
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Steelstown Brian Ogs 3-14, Trim 2-05

There's football in Derry city after all!

Hugh McGrath's been telling us; Neil Forester has been telling us and every single Steelstown Brian Ogs performance since they defeated Lissan back in September has been telling us. Now the All Ireland Intermediate Club Championship trophy has announced it as loudly as Forester did from the steps of the Hogan Stand - Steelstown Brian Ogs are All Ireland champions!

Steelstown celebrate their All Ireland Intermediate title triumph over Trim in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)Steelstown celebrate their All Ireland Intermediate title triumph over Trim in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)
Steelstown celebrate their All Ireland Intermediate title triumph over Trim in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)

A fairy-tale season got the Hollywood finale it deserved in Croke Park as the city men dismantled a talented Trim outfit to make their dreams a reality. Winning any All Ireland is remarkable enough, winning one is the style Steelstown have is breath-taking.

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This group of players has achieved football immortality. They may not realise it now amid the euphoria of the singing, the hugs and the odd beer bottle or two but they will at the 10th Anniversary reunion of February 6th 2022; they will at the 20th anniversary reunion and they will at the 50th. This was history for a group of players who got what their efforts deserved.

Sport doesn't always work that way. Just ask Forester who in 2016 sat under the stand at Owenbeg after his third Derry final defeat contemplating if it would ever happen. He was brave enough to front up to the media that day after Castledawson ripped his championship dream from him and that same bravery has become instilled in the panel he's led to glory.

And this won't be the end for this squad who are more than capable of establishing the club as a force in senior football.

Steelstown Brian Ogs manager Hugh McGrath and Chairman Paul O'Hea celebrate on the Croke Park pitch after becoming the first Derry club to ever lift the Intermediate title. (Photo: George Sweeney)Steelstown Brian Ogs manager Hugh McGrath and Chairman Paul O'Hea celebrate on the Croke Park pitch after becoming the first Derry club to ever lift the Intermediate title. (Photo: George Sweeney)
Steelstown Brian Ogs manager Hugh McGrath and Chairman Paul O'Hea celebrate on the Croke Park pitch after becoming the first Derry club to ever lift the Intermediate title. (Photo: George Sweeney)

That's for another day though. This one was for the All Ireland champions.

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Hugh McGrath named the same 15 that started the semi-final victory over Kerry's Na Gaeil and a shuddering Shane O'Connor tackle only eight seconds in signalled Steelstown were intent on matching the physical threat of Trim.

Indeed the game had that perfect start teams want on the big occasion, the problem for Steelstown was it was Trim's perfect start as Daire Lynch seized on a breaking ball to slip Mikey Cullen through. Eoghan Heraghty was quick off his line but the Trim forward produced a lovely, low finish and Brian Ogs found themselves three behind with only three minutes played.

First All Ireland final and an early setback, the ideal scenario for panic to set in, right?

Steelstown fans celebrate in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)Steelstown fans celebrate in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)
Steelstown fans celebrate in Croke Park. (Photo: George Sweeney)

Wrong!

The goal barely registered with the boys in blue who settled into their tried and tested game-plan and they found in Croke Park a willing partner on which to weave their intricate passing moves.

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Corner back may not be the sexiest position on a team that regularly posts big scores and boasts the firepower Steelstown does but Diarmuid Baker has spent the best part of a year rewriting that rule and it was a now trademark break from the back by Steelstown's 'Player of the Year' that set up Eoghan Bradley from the Brian Ogs first points and they never looked back.

Further scores from captain Forester and Ryan Devine tied the game by the ninth minute and Steelstown were already looking every bit the All Ireland Intermediate champions.

The Brian Ogs pace and mobility was pulling Trim all over the place and they cleverly used that movement to win first half marks with McMonagle grabbing one and McCarron two as the city side forged ahead.

All day the Steelstown forward produced a textbook display of movement and finishing but it was only possible because of the grip Devine and Shane O'Connor had in midfield. Trim were starved of possession and struggling to lay a glove on the Derry men.

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Only indecision stopped McMonagle scoring one of the goals of this or any other season when he was adjudged to have over carried after a 80 yard run that left defenders in his wake but with a 0-10 to 1-02 interval lead, Steelstown were already in the driving seat.

The second half looked like going the same way until a 36th minute red card for Eoghan Concannon threatened to derail the Brian Ogs' plans. It looked incredibly harsh for a foul on Trim's Ciaran O'Rourke but if this was crisis No. 2 for Steelstown, they reacted in similar fashion to that early goal.

Within seconds they had broke the length of the pitch and won a penalty when Eoghan Bradley was cynically pushed by Alan Douglas who received a black card for his troubles. Up stepped Cahir McMonagle and when that happens there's only one outcome and Steelstown were 1-11 to 1-03 up.

Indeed during the black card, the Derry men outscored Trim by 2-01 to 0-01 and the game was over as a contest.

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The second goal was a thing of beauty as Ben McCarron got himself on the end of another flowing move, stepped inside Conor Quigley and unleashed a rocket of a left footed in the far top corner for 2-11 to 1-04 with 42 minutes on the clock.

From there it became a procession for the new champions as Oran McMenamin got amongst the scorers and there was a third goal courtesy of a fine move and first touch of the game for substitute Emmet Deane who fisted home at the far post.

The final whistle brought scenes they will be talking about for years, just like they will be talking about this achievement for years.

Gaelic Football is alive and well in Derry city!

Steelstown scorers: Cahir McMonagle (1-4, 2f, 1m, 1 pen), Ben McCarron (1-4, 1f, 2m), Emmet Deane (1-0), Eoghan Bradley (0-2), Neil Forester (0-1), Ryan Devine (0-1), Oran McMenamin (0-2),

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Trim scorers: Mikey Cullen (1-0), Eoin O'Connor (1-0), Aaron Lynch (0-4, 3f, 1m), Ciaran O'Rourke (0-1),

Steelstown Brian Ogs: Eoghan Heraghty, Oran Fox, Kevin Lindsay, Diarmuid Baker, Donncha Gilmore, Jason McAleer, Eoghan Concannon, Oran McMenamin, Ryan Devine, Shane O'Connor, Neil Forester, Ben McCarron, Mark Foley, Cahir McMonagle, Eoghan Bradley. (Subs) Morgan Murray for M Foley, 23mins; Gareth Logue for E Bradley, 53mins; Emmet Deane for D Baker, 57mins; Rory Maguire for C McMonagle, 60mins; Mickey McKinney for J McAleer, 63mins.

Red Card: E Concannon, 36mins.

Trim: Peter Farrell, Gerry Dwane, Luke Moran, Declan Dowling, Conor Quigley, James Toher, Ciaran O'Rourke, Rob Bourke, Sean Fitzgerald, Ciaran Caulfield, Alan Douglas, Daire Lynch, Mikey Cullen, Aaron Lynch, Eoin O'Connor. (Subs) Ben Holden for D Dowling, 39mins; James Murray for D Lynch, 39mins; Ian Birmingham for J Toher, 46mins; Owen McGrath for M Cullen, 46mins; Declan Dowling for G Dwaine, 56mins;

Yellow cards: L Moran, 30mins; Ciaran Joyce for S Fitzgerald, 57mins;

Black Card: A Douglas, 38mins;

Referee: Barry Judge (Sligo)

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