Watergrasshill hero Seán Desmond: 'I had one thing in mind – get it into the back of the net'
MATCH WINNER: Watergrasshill's Sean Desmond celebrates winning with team physio David Lockyer. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Seán Desmond’s recently discovered self-belief was the difference.
A man who for so long did not back himself went and backed himself to the hilt when the game-winning moment presented itself.
This full throttle All-Ireland intermediate club final was 11 seconds into the fifth and final minute of injury-time when Anthony Cronin’s delivery took a wicked deflection off Tynagh defender Shane Fitzpatrick’s hurl and broke in behind for Desmond.
Thirty or so metres out, Desmond carried and carried before carrying his team to All-Ireland glory with a killer-cool finish.
A 23-year-old who found confidence from a striker’s role with the local junior football side will never deliver a more important finish than that which he placed into the bottom right corner at the Hill 16 End.
“I had one thing in mind – go for the jugular and get it into the back of the net,” said the captain. “When you turn around and see the whole sea of red and they’re up on their feet, you’re just delighted.”
Eddie Enright was otherwise preoccupied. His gaze was fixed in the other direction. As the play built towards the winning score, the Watergrasshill manager spotted an unmarked Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry forward deep in opposition territory. While busy taking corrective action, there was no one else he’d rather have wanted with sliotar in hand.
“He's a finisher. Simple as,” said Enright. “We missed a few of those breaks in the first half from a goal chance point of view, so it was good to get that chance at the end to get us over the line.”
Had Watergrasshill not got over the line, they would have been disgusted with themselves. They threw away chance after chance. Could have had four goals inside the opening 10 minutes. Came away with just one.
Finished the half with back-to-back wides. Finished the hour with a dozen wides. They still managed to finish as champions, only the fourth Cork club - after Blarney, Ballymartle, and Kanturk - to lift the silverware in question.
Watergrasshill, 1-8 to 0-7 ahead at the break, drifted in the third quarter. Their shooting drifted most of all. Only one third quarter score. And no score at all for 14 minutes.
Around the same time, Shane Moloney drifted from midfield to left half-forward. In doing so, he drifted to centre stage of this final. The former Galway senior hit his team’s opening six points of the second half. One Cusack Stand side beauty after another. They moved Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry, on 44 minutes, in front for the first time since the eighth minute.
This final then went tit for tat. Level six times in the final quarter. Ben Moran took over from Moloney as Tynagh's leading contributor. First-half goal scorer Adam Murphy, Brendan Lehane, whilst corner-back Garry McHugo was hanging off him, Desmond, and sub Dylan Roche were the Hill men on target.
Stunned by the sheer lateness of Desmond’s 65th minute blow, the East Galway side had no response in the incredibly short period of time they had to fashion one.
Their manager, former Dubs boss and Galway selector Mattie Kenny, reached for all the emotions you’d expect a manager to reach for when their team loses an All-Ireland in such fashion. Gutted, disappointed, etc. A seventh All-Ireland final defeat for Galway clubs at this grade. A roll of honour no one wants to be at the head of.
“Going into injury-time we could have got our noses in front, then they got the equaliser and went a point up. We had Ben’s equaliser and I think we might have got a chance.
“In around full-time, not extra-time, I thought he had half a chance to go two points up. I felt myself that we needed that because they were playing very well as well, they were creating chances. Going down that stretch into injury-time, I felt we needed that second point to see us through. If we got that, we could have defended a little bit deeper.”
Watergrasshill, a side that didn’t win a county championship group fixture between August 2020 and August 2024, have become market leaders in the art of winning tight squeezes. Half of their eight wins on the road up the Hogan Stand were by a single score.
Seán Desmond, a man who has been very honest about his lack of self-confidence during those barren years, saw his sixth goal of the campaign saturate them in All-Ireland elation.
A complete transformation all around.
A Murphy (1-8, 0-2 frees, 0-1 ‘65); S Desmond (1-3); B Lehane (0-2); A Cronin, D Roche (0-1 each).
S Moloney (0-10, 0-4 frees, 0-1 65); B Moran (0-4, 0-2 frees); K Moloney, D Jordan, P Killeen, N Moloney (0-1 each).
A Foley; S Field, D McCarthy, I O’Callaghan; A Spriggs, D O’Leary, K O’Neill; A Cronin, S O’Regan; C O’Leary, S Desmond, L Foley; B Lehane, A Murphy, P O’Leary.
D Roche for Foley (45); P Cronin for Spriggs (49); J McCarthy for P O’Leary (60).
B Lynch; J Whelan, M Power, G McHugo; S Fitzpatrick, D Jordan, K Moloney; P Killeen, S Moloney; B Moran, J Conroy, N Moloney; P Breheny, J Dervan, C Jordan.
N Quirke for C Jordan (53).
C McDonald (Antrim).
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