Pointing the way to victory – the elation of scoring the county final winner  

Tom Clancy is more used to recording county final drama as a well-known GAA journalist - this time however, he wrote himself into local history with his adopted club.

My number one: Tom with fiancé Lisa, now an adopted Knockainey supporter.

As a freelance reporter, mainly on the GAA beat, you end up in a myriad of places. In 2025 alone, I’ve listened first hand to John Kiely after Munster final heartbreak, witnessed a record breaking 4-12 from James Naughton, and ended up with a back-page story for the first time, as Dublin shocked Limerick.

As close as I have been to the action in recent years, there is always a remove that sees me on the outside. I have been to hundreds of games in the last eight or nine seasons as a reporter, but there is nothing like being a player.

Everybody who plays wants a day in the sun, right? At 31 years of age and down in the fifth tier of Limerick football, that moment arrived in near Hollywood fashion last Saturday.

Picture the scene, a little club in south Limerick, who haven’t won any adult title in 20 years, are level after an arm wrestle in the November rain. Their recently converted goalkeeper, who only transferred to the club this season, is standing over a 35-metre free in the last minute of extra-time.

 

In January, I requested a transfer from my native Ballybrown to little Knockainey, the part of Limerick I have been resident in since early 2022. Knockainey returned to football after nearly two decades in the wilderness in 2024. This wasn’t a Seanie Johnston or a Shane Walsh type transfer – there was no drama, no objections and no fuss.

Renowned as a proud hurling club, a blow or two has been suffered with two recent relegations sending the club down from senior to intermediate hurling.

So, I am the new man on the scene. The league was a disaster, we drew the first game, but from here on it was defeat after defeat. Having a team at all was deemed a victory. Every day there were new faces, different combinations, but persistence would pay off.

Having kicked the first score of 2025, a lovely two-pointer, the final score of 2025, a championship winning one, is one I will be remembered for.

Celebrations at the final whistle and indeed in the 48 hours afterwards were wild. It may be only Junior B but I sensed that many of my new teammates were craving this day. My new teammates loved every second of the party and rightly so.

That I ended up as the goalkeeper was bizarre. Free-taking was something I always wanted to do for Ballybrown – I hated if anybody else was given the responsibility and even on the days when I was quiet from play, the frees were a comfort.

Cian Leahy, and his brother Fiachra, have managed this team all year. Cian asked me during a league game, during which we were hammered, would I go into goals. I truly struggle with the shot stopping but my logic with persisting was simple. I would kick the ball out more than I had to save it so I could influence things that bit more.

Some of the inter-county converts, Limerick’s Josh Ryan included, were an inspiration. I was, shall we say, hoping to be the Junior B version.

Formerly an inside forward, I decided to row in with this idea. And as the championship wore on I bought into the club that bit more, including studying my teammates' names regularly to know who I was shouting at,.

Club colours were hung from my gate and two car flags were purchased the week of the final. It was time to go all in. I felt extremely nervous the morning of the match – full sure I would concede three or four goals, but a text from a good friend from Ballybrown, an hour before throw-in, eased me.

Tom with Patrick Reale whose free forced extra-time.

“No pressure, you already have one (a Junior B win)”, he was referring to Ballybrown’s win at Junior B football in 2017. However, this was different, I hardly featured in the business end of that win but now I had the potential to be important at both ends of the field.

The 2-9 to 1-11 triumph over Knockane was epic. Huge support for both clubs but on the day I firmly had the blinkers on. I didn’t pick out one face outside the fence and was zeroed in on the action.

Knockane, a small rural club from near the Tipperary border, were trying to end over 80 years without a title. However, that late free, won by Aidan O’Riordan, sunk them.

Having led by five points in extra-time, we were pegged back. I conceded from the only shot I faced all day. A 78th-minute penalty tied the game level once again, but about 70 seconds later, I had my Cluxton moment.

I had taken hundreds of these for Ballybrown – many missed – and took comfort in the fact that our other free-takers were going down with cramp – so I was at least the freshest choice for the job.

Jimmy-Barry Murphy, brother of referee Johnny, was our coach. In the warm-up my final free was straight over the blackspot. He roared “Two or three of those today and we’ll win this thing”.

There is perhaps no greater way of endearing oneself to a new club, a new community, than kicking the winning score in a county final.

People, who to me are still strangers, were shaking my hand and congratulating me. For some reason this was almost overwhelming. But a hug from my fiancé Lisa confirmed that yes, indeed, I had done something special.

I didn’t have a drop of alcohol in the pub Saturday evening, instead soaking in the magic of what this team had achieved.

An unforgettable afternoon with a club that needed a boost, 20 years and two days since its last title. The hope now is that one or two more can soon follow.