Aghinagh football rises up and savours the view

Last week in Macroom, Aghinagh ended a 73-year wait for a first Mid Cork Junior A title 

2nd November 2021.... Aghinagh players celebrate after defeating Ballincollig in the Muskerry JAFC final at Macroom. 

Aghinagh captain Matthew McCarthy described it as ‘surreal’ and it’s as good a word as any for the moment when a history of setbacks and disappointment are eclipsed by one golden night in November.

These weren’t McCarthy’s setbacks. They were the cumulative sufferings of Aghinagh’s junior footballers and the four small parishes they represent - without a Junior A football title in Mid Cork for their entire 73 years of existence. A community bounded by the River Lee to the south and the Bogeragh Mountains to the north, and imprisoned by their own failures.