All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship Football final preview Coleraine face an Ard night at Croker Coleraine (Derry) v Ardfert (Kerry) Croke Park Saturday, 10th March @ 7.30pm (under lights) Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo). By Cahair O'Kane Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far, far away, Ciaran McGoldrick rattled in a fifth minute goal on a mid-summer Friday evening. Little did he know that he had done so in the fifth minute of an incredible journey that has taken them eight months, landed them at the massive doors of Croke Park and leaves them just one step shy of heavenly All-Ireland glory. That goal was against Desertmartin in the first round of the Derry Intermediate Championship on 21st July 2006. Eoghan Rua won that game by 1-09 to 0-04 and so began their incredible journey that has encountered more twists than a corkscrew, with the players waiting months for the Ulster final to roll around following the Stewartstown-Ballymacnab row that just seemed to escalate further as it rumbled on and on. The original game at Casement Park was marred by a brawl as both teams made their way to the dressing rooms after the final whistle. TV cameras captured the two minute long scuffle and the Ulster Council handed suspensions out to twelve players as well as fining each club €2,500. The pictures were thrust upon the nation but the Ulster Council would have acted quicker had they hired a tortoise on crutches. Now, after having finally secured Ulster victory, the team will take to the expansive Croke Park pitch on Saturday evening with a national title in their eyes and sixty minutes from being in their hands. As the lights beam effervescently down from the huge stands on three sides of the pitch and Greencastle either trudge or glide off the pitch following their Junior final, down on the hallowed turf will stand fifteen men, marooned with the biggest game of their careers moments away. The nerves will have hit their peak. The night that the Bannsiders were first able to go home and even think about dreaming of all this was the night they unceremoniously dumped Claudy out of the county championship. The Mitchells were holders and travelled to Magherafelt for the semi-final with every confidence that they could retain their crown. What they met was an incredible performance by Coleraine that, at long last, opened the eyes of the county to the quality that this team possesses. The quarter-final had seen them account for Newbridge, who had been installed as favourites when Ballymaguigan had been knocked out. Yet that result, while not unnoticed, was infrequently remarked upon in comparison to the talk after the Claudy demolition. With the scores shared around seven players, the notion that Coleraine were "nothing without the McGoldricks" was dispelled. There is no doubt that Barry, Sean Leo and Ciaran are key players to the side but the common consent throughout the county that they rely entirely on those three is grossly unfair on the rest of an extremely talented team. While it was they who did the point scoring and took the headlines, the likes of Niall Holly, Ciaran Mullan and Frank Diamond went about restricting Claudy to just eight points in sixty minutes in one of a number of outstanding defensive performances all season. The county final was one of the four "games of two halves" at Celtic Park that weekend such was the ferocity of the elements. With the wind at their backs and driven forward by a large crowd awaiting the club's first ever Intermediate county title, they had a sufficient lead at the break which ensured that, despite not scoring in the second half, they held off Foreglen to claim the honours. Then came the Ulster campaign. The Ballymacnab and Stewartstown brawl dominated GAA headline day after day after day. All the while, Sean McGoldrick and his team trained away diligently, not knowing what fate laid waiting. It took the Ulster Council a few days to decide to delay the Championship and a few months to sort out the delay. The 30-man scuffle was followed by appeals, suspensions, more appeals, and finally a replay of the match. Ballymacnab ended the drawn out process victorious, but the delay suited no-one, least of all Eoghan Rua. They had been training since the victories over Cloughaneely (2-08 to 1-09) and Belcoo (0-11 to 0-08), which had put them in the Ulster final. So, after months of waiting and wondering, there could only be one result - a draw, and back for a replay! And so the "shining lights of Ulster" headlines were prepared for the winners, with the game being held at Casement Park four days after the drawn game. Within twenty minutes, Coleraine had an eight point lead thanks to two goals from Mark McTaggart. They tread in choppy water for a long time after that but, rather poetically, the man who has done this all before guided them through the difficult patch and to provincial glory. Dungiven man Martin McGonigle, who now has a second medal to add to the one he won with his hometown club in 1997, pointed in injury time to secure victory and send his new side on to face Tourmakeady. Though even he never came this close to an All-Ireland. Manager Sean McGoldrick summed the game up perfectly in two short lines: "It was the opposite to the drawn game in that they got off to the good start on that occasion and then we came back. But tonight we made the positive start." The All-Ireland semi-final was described as "drab" by one Mayo newspaper, but there were certainly no complaints from the men north of the border who went to bed last weekend safe in the knowledge that, if they dreamt of Croke Park, it won't compare to what they will experience on Saturday night. Ok, so there won't be 80,000 crammed beneath the cantilevered stands, but the players will hardly care. The Hogan Stand housed around 8,000 for last year's final, and a similar number should be expected given that this is a double header with the Junior final, which sees Greencastle in action. Given the chance, would you rather play at a sparsely-populated Croke Park or a mucky club ground somewhere along a back road miles from civilisation? I know which I'd have. 140 yards of lush greenery, surrounded by the legendary hill (sorry, Northern Terrace to those wonderful FAI boys) instead of looking in from the outside, with the good old 21 yard line restored as opposed to the 22' from inside which Ronan O'Gara did so much damage last Sunday. This is every club player's dream, but one which very few will live through. These days are exactly what the GAA is all about. Far too often in recent years, the brass knobs sitting in the corporate boxes munching on their steak and discussing how much of a rise to put on ticket prices have forgotten about the men, women and children that make the organisation exactly what it is - absolutely unique. What other sport in the world affords the people who grew up together, lived side-by-side and worked hand-in-hand for the entirety of their lives, however long or short they have been, an opportunity such as this. Nothing compares to days like this, and Coleraine should enjoy it to its utmost. The fact that TG4 have chosen not to broadcast the game across the nation is a pity in one way, but a blessing in another. It's a pity for those who, for one reason or another (and there are always a few), simply can't make it to Croke Park. On the flipside, it should encourage those outside the club to go along and support their fellow countymen on their big night. Those who do hop in their cars, buses and whatever else on Saturday evening should witness quite a game if the runs of both teams thus far are anything to go by. Opposite Coleraine will stand fifteen men who have done this all before. This Ardfert side is the same side that this time last year was preparing for an All-Ireland Junior final at Croke Park. For a team that was twelve months ago playing at the bottom of the ladder to now be looking forward to a game of this magnitude is simply astounding. But their junior status last year did them no favours. Four years ago, they were in Division Five in Kerry but their phoenix-like rise has seen them claim four successive promotions, placing them right up with the big boys next year. They have annihilated all in their path in recent years and they will sit at the top table in 2007, but first things first. You might think that the league is different altogether but their championship record is equally astonishing - it's been over two years since anyone last beat them in a knock-out championship game, with Finuge's 1-12 to 1-04 Kerry JFC victory on 9th October 2004 being the last time they fell foul. Since then they've recorded fifteen consecutive victories that have led them to this tie with Eoghan Rua. 2005/06 was a brilliant time for the Kerry club. They amassed 23 goals and 72 points on their march to All-Ireland Junior victory, though it took just one of those goals to see off Loughrea at Croke Park on February 19th 2006 as the Kingdom side triumphed by a single point in an exhilarating match by all accounts. The goalscorer on that particular day was Stephen Wallace, and full-back Ciaran Mullan will have his hands full when faced with a man regarded as the second best full-forward in county Kerry, only behind a certain six-foot-six basketballer-cum-footballer. His blend of pace, eye for goal and accuracy from dead balls makes him a perilous threat to Coleraine's chances. He has appeared on occasion for the county's top XV but has struggled to make a breakthrough, though being a Division One player next year should help him immensely. It is Ardfert's goal-scoring threat that has carried them this far, and they were extremely fortunate to get past Kildare side Confey in the semi-final. The sides scored ten times apiece and the Leinstermen controlled the game for long periods but it was four goals at crucial times that carried Ardfert to a second successive All-Ireland appearance. Wallace raised the green flag once, with two goals from corner-forward Shane Griffin and one from centre-forward John Egan completing the 4-07 to 1-09 victory at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Their one (and seemingly only) weakness had been in midfield, but even that they appeared to solve in the penultimate match of this series. The new pairing of the stylish Brendan O'Flaherty and the workaholic Martin Ferris made a huge difference to the side, despite coming face to face with two bigger men. Ferris was man-of-the-match, and Sean Paul Henry and Ciaran Lagan will have their work cut out to stop them feeding the dangerous inside-forward trio. They had to bring pacy forward Darren Dineen off the bench to push them over the finishing line the last day, though perhaps that shows their strength when they have a man on the bench who can come on and kill the game as he did with two lethal points. Their defensive unit is a solid one backboned by centre-back Eamonn Corridan, who tends to just sit in front of his full-back line and protect. However, with Barry McGoldrick likely to line out at centre-forward for the Ulster champions, that doesn't look to be a viable option given the destruction that the county player can wage on any side. Their two corner backs, Mike and Brian Moloney, are feisty characters and Sean Leo McGoldrick against Brian Moloney looks like being an intriguing contest on its own. The third of the McGoldrick brothers, Ciaran, will face Mike Moloney and those two battles will be a key to deciding the game. If Coleraine can get a foothold in midfield early on and release good early ball to the corners, testing the Ardfert full-back line, then the thousands hopefully cheering Coleraine in the Hogan Stand might have something to celebrate. Something else, that is. 2006 is a year that will long be remembered on the banks of the Bann. Coleraine once won a Derry junior football championship title, you know? Only a decade ago. Had anyone said in 1997 that in ten years from now, they would be looking forward to an All-Ireland Intermediate final as the envy of the entire country, they'd have been given short shrift and told to go for a head examination. Yet here they are. And the year that will long be remembered is on the mouth of entering into the year that Coleraine pushed back the realms of fantasy and conquered Ireland. Probable line-ups: Coleraine: Ryan McGeough; Niall Holly, Ciaran Mullan, Frank Diamond; Cormac Trolan, Mark Mearns, Anton Rafferty; Sean Paul Henry, Ciaran Lagan; Martin McGonigle, Barry McGoldrick, Richard Carey; Sean Leo McGoldrick, Mark McTaggart, Ciaran McGoldrick. Ardfert: Dermot Dineen; Mike Moloney, Conor Flaherty, Brian Moloney; Sean Flaherty, Eamon Corridan, Francis Wallace; Brendan Flaherty, Mark Ferris; John Egan, Eamon Ferris, Jonathan Best; Shane Griffin, Stephen Wallace, David Wallace. Tweet

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