Ben O'Carroll haunted by St Brigid's finish line trip

The 2024 All-Ireland club final was almost won but St Brigid's were overtaken on the home straight.

Ben O'Carroll of St. Brigid's. Picture: INPHO/Dan Clohessy

Ben O'Carroll has a vivid memory of the 2024 All-Ireland club final and the finish line coming into view.

"About seven minutes left, I was like, 'Jesus, we're actually going to win this'," recalled the St Brigid's forward.

With four minutes to go, they were still four ahead. At full-time, crucially, they trailed by one.

O'Carroll played a starring role for Brigid's in that game but was powerless to prevent Glen reeling off 1-3 in the closing stages to turn an apparent lost cause into a narrow win for the Derry side.

If there's any consolation for St Brigid's, it's that Glen had to lose one, the previous year against Kilmacud Crokes, to win one. And Brigid's have made their own way back now to the final, preparing to face Dingle this weekend.

"It was definitely one of the worst defeats I've suffered so far in playing," said attacker O'Carroll of the 2024 loss, who also referenced the subsequent 2024 county final loss to Padraig Pearses.

"Both defeats are probably mentioned a bit, just when you're in meetings or whatever. The management touch on both those defeats because it can be a source of motivation as well but look, you can't overly look back on them as well. You kind of have to plough on and just try to play the season itself that is ahead of you without looking back too much. You can't dwell on things too much but yeah, they are a source of motivation."

In a separate interview this week, club and county colleague Ruaidhri Fallon suggested that Brigid's might be coming in under the radar a little. He reckoned that Scotstown, whom Brigid's beat in the semi-final, along with Dingle, captured the public's imagination more.

That's certainly debatable. By taking out the Mayo and then Galway champions in Connacht, and stopping a brilliant Scotstown team with an ultra-efficient and eye-catching All-Ireland semi-final display, built on a platform of defensive excellence, they have won plenty of fresh admirers. Between what they do so well, and the sheer variety of Dingle's attacking play, it could be a cracker on Sunday.

And how about Senan Kilbride as a potential matchwinner, for the second time in his career? You wouldn't have predicted that one only a few weeks ago when the star of the 2013 final win over Ballymun, with 1-3, returned to the squad. The 40-year-old had been away in Abu Dhabi for five years.

"You'd have seen him as some form of celebrity around the club," said O'Carroll, who modelled aspects of his attacking game on the veteran. "He was always one that you'd look up to. There's a lot of players from that team that you'd look up to. There's a few of them still involved, like Gearóid Cunniffe, he was captain in 2013, he's still training away and is very good. Obviously Ronan Stack as well, Eoin Sheehy. They were all lads you'd look up to but especially Senan because he was such a brilliant player.

Kilbride started the Connacht final win over Maigh Cuilinn but was held in reserve as an impact sub for the Scotstown game. Whatever his playing role on Sunday, O'Carroll expects Kilbride to be an important figure again.

"He doesn't say too much but when he does say stuff, everyone listens," said O'Carroll. "There's more emphasis on what he says, more than how much he says."

O'Carroll himself was troubled by groin trouble in the months after that last final in 2024. Now back to full fitness, UCD will also be hoping to avail of his services for an Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup quarter-final tie at the end of the month.

"I was onto the UCD management and they were very understanding that I haven't been able to play because of the club final," said O'Carroll. "I think the quarter-final then would be 10 days after the club final. So we'll see."