Gallagher: I never thought we’d be back

FOUR years on and St Gall’s midfielder Aodhán Gallagher still finds himself brooding over his last St Patrick’s Day visit to Croke Park.

The Antrim club arrived for their inaugural national football decider in high spirits after a splendid semi-final victory over Nemo Rangers, but in arctic conditions at GAA headquarters, their dreams of final success were destroyed by Galway side Salthill-Knocknacarra.

Gallagher grimaces at the memory. He recalls: “The cold was one of the most abiding memories. Regret and the overriding feeling that we had left it behind were the other things. We didn’t perform. When you don’t perform and you’re only beaten by a point, it gives you a bit of hope, but it doesn’t make you feel any better about the performance. I think there was so much hype after the Nemo game because it was such a good performance and maybe some of the hype got to the boys heads.”