'First time in Division 1, this is marvellous' - Carrigaline boss savours victory

PLEASED BOSS: Michael Meaney, Carrigaline manager. Pic: Jim Coughlan.

Carrigaline manager Michael Meaney was understandably emotional following their fully merited 0-10 to 0-8 win over Nemo Rangers in the McCarthy Insurance Cork Division 1 football league final in Shanbally on Friday night.

Having bagged the Division 2 title last season, the victory comes after suffering relegation from the Premier SFC in 2023.

“First time in Division 1, this is marvellous,” he said. “And to beat the likes of Nemo and the manner that we did. I think we were very disciplined. Very well worked and very well drilled with Kevin (O’Sullivan, coach).

“The lads took a lot of criticism, that they were soft at the start of the year, but we’ve proved our worth.

“But, look, we park this tonight and we’ll move on. We said during the week whether we won or lost, the most important thing is to get ready for Ballingeary.” 

The victory was all the sweeter as they had to regroup after being forced to drop down to SAFC last October.

“My wife said to me today, if you were told then you’d be in a Division 1 league final, you’d be looking at yourself. But, we believe in the players, and the results showed we weren’t too far away.

“And we got the break today. We had a good league campaign and the lads brought that forward. Nemo beat us by five points in the group stage, the goal was the difference then.” 

Sean Mellett’s penalty save in the third minute proved to be a telling statement for Carrigaline.

“That was huge. That could have changed the whole game (had it gone in). That drove us on and it gave us a bit of a cushion.

“The important thing is to park this tonight, we will mark it. We need to come back down straight away. Ballingeary is going to be a different ball game compared to this. We’ve a tough group (Ballingeary, Cill na Martra and Kiskeam), three good football teams. There will be nothing easy.” 

The boss had a special word for man-of-the-match Éanna Desmond who scored five points and David Griffin who was introduced on his return from injury.

“Éanna is going well all year. He proved it again today. He is a solid young fella. He is dedicated off and on the field. You could meet him in the gym any day of the week. He showed strength means an awful lot in football. But as well it’s how he retained the ball.

“David got injured against Nemo in the last league game. David being a dual player, it is important we nurture him along and be sensible about it. He is a good lad, he is after coming back from a cruciate last year as well.

“There is a great relationship with the hurlers, Eddie Murphy is after coming in as coach.” 

And Carrigaline have another special occasion to look forward to when they contest the Division 2 hurling league final against St Finbarr’s next week.