The Canovee GAA club is located five miles east of Macroom at Carrigadrohid in the Lee Valley, where it has enjoyed a fairly modest and low-key existence since it re-formed after a 13-year relapse in 1931. Prior to that, gaelic football had been played in the area since the Association's inception. Over the years, there has been no shortage of local success, including 16 Mid Cork junior championship hauls - more than any other club has managed in the Muskerry division. In 2007 - following wins over Naomh Abhan, Blarney, Eire Og, Iveleary (after a replayed divisional final), Nemo Rangers and Ballydesmond - Canovee reached their fourth-ever county JFC final. Herein, they added to the victories of 1950 and '68 (not to forget the 1973 county intermediate success) with a stunning 1-8 to 0-9 defeat of Kildorrery at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday October 28. Not a bad way to mark their first county final appearance in some 34 years! And all the more incredible when one considers that they actually lost their first-round Muskerry championship clash with Aghinagh by a point before regrouping and bouncing back in considerable style! The divisional and county crowns represented only the beginning of the voyage for the relatively-unknown Leesiders, as their first foray into Munster club action saw them defeat Kerry champions Keel by 2-9 to 2-6 to qualify for the provincial junior club championship final. Poignantly, they carried the distinction of being the first club from Muskerry to participate in a Munster club final. The Munster decider was staged in Askeaton on Sunday December 16 and Canovee kept their dream run going with a great victory over O'Callaghan's Mills from Clare. This meant an All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Lancashire champions John Mitchells from Liverpool at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on January 19. The Rebel standard bearers had no difficulty in seeing off their opponents by 1-11 to 1-4 with their defence excelling and the midfield pairing of Eamon Lyons and Brian O'Donoghue putting in Trojan work. Next up was an All-Ireland semi-final meeting with St. Colman's of Galway on Sunday January 27 and it was the mid-Cork men who booked a Croke Park thanks to a 1-6 to 0-5 win. The Limerick venue was scene of Canovee's Munster final defeat of O'Callaghan's Mills and they revelled in their return to Askeaton by leading the game from start to finish, despite a spirited late rally from St Colman's. Full forward Kevin Walsh passed a late fitness test and he fired the goal that gave the winners a commanding 1-5 to 0-2 interval advantage. Michael Ring's charges added only one more point after the turnaround but their superiority was never in doubt. Canovee then completed their dream voyage when defeating Rock by 1-8 to 0-5 in the All-Ireland junior club football championship final at Croke Park. The rest of the Rebel County may have been on strike but there was nothing but solidarity and unity in the Canovee camp as they powered past a side containing Tyrone senior star Ciaran Gourley in their ranks. After the opening two points of the final were shared, the winners took control of the first half to register 1-4 without reply. Kevin Walsh pointed and Paul Healy added his second score of the match before Walsh found the net for the game's only goal three minutes from the interval. The onslaught continued and Rock were crumbling as Walsh and Denis O'Sullivan added to the tally to give the Munster champs a 1-5 to 0-1 half-time cushion. The match was over as a contest long before Rock captain Martin McCreesh drove a penalty wide in the fifth minute of stoppage time. One could forgive goalkeeper Tim Lyons for pinching himself to see if it was all really happening. Having started out with Canovee as a ten-year-old some quarter of a century earlier, Tim never expected an opportunity like this to arrive in the autumn of his club career. What's even more astonishing is that the quiet-spoken custodian had retired from the game at the tender age of 23 due to the demands of working in the sawmill business but made an inspired decision to return to action three seasons ago: "The nature of the work meant a lot of overtime and late nights but I decided to return three years ago and we reached three divisional semi-finals in a row. But this year we won the Mid Cork junior A championship and then the county title. Everything since then has been a bonus." It's been a long year. By the time of their All-Ireland final, the Canovee players had been in training for thirteen months. They began their 'season' on January 24 2007 and just never looked back. "I knew we had the bones of a good team here, with the likes of Pat Dunlea and Con Dunne, who have represented Cork at junior and minor levels respectively," says Tim. "So I felt we had a good chance this year even though we were beaten in the first round. Once the boys got knocked out of the hurling, we had the full panel training and things fell into place." This is the most exciting thing to happen in Canovee since the parish scooped an amazing football/hurling/camogie intermediate treble in 1973. Tim continues: "It has been a fantastic and unbelievable journey. We have been branded the best team to ever come out of Canovee and it's great to be a part of that, whether it's true or not. We've had our breaks along the way. We got a bye against Limerick in Munster and we trailed Keel by nine points at one stage in the semi-final and I thought it was over. But we came back and then beat O'Callaghan's Mills in the Munster final with a last-minute penalty. There seems to have been a sing-song in Canovee every weekend recently. "An All-Ireland title is fantastic for the people of Mid Cork, never mind Canovee. We felt honoured and fortunate to be representing our region in an All-Ireland series and to do them proud. "It's great for the young lads of the area too because it will give them more interest in gaelic football and the GAA. Hopefully it will serve to make our games more attractive compared to soccer and rugby. That would be an achievement in itself." Away from football, Tim has been employed by Palfab Sawmills in nearby Lissarda for the past 14 years. The company is owned by the O'Callaghan brothers, who themselves are true GAA stalwarts, having strong affiliations to the Macroom club. "They have been fantastic," the Canovee goalie concludes. "Not only are they into the GAA in a big way and very supportive, but they also bring employment to about 200 people in the village of Lissarda, which is a great boost for the locality." The Canovee team that bet Rock in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park was: Tim Lyons; J McCarthy, J Scanlon, Timmy Lyons; J O'Brien, T Murphy, B Ahern; E Lyons, B O'Donoghue; T O'Mahony, P Dunlea 0-2, D O'Sullivan 0-2; C Dunne, K Walsh 0-2, P Healy 0-2. Sub - D Cronin for O'Sullivan. Tweet

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