“Our lads certainly gave everything they had,” - Aughavas manager Keoghan

Aughavas put forward a brave challenge to a Kiltimagh team that was impressive across the field in Saturday’s Connacht Junior Club Final in Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada.

After the game, Aughavas manager Gabriel Keoghan was disappointed with the result but proud of how his team played.

“You lose a Connacht final, you are going to be disappointed,” he said. “They were a much better team on the day, but our lads certainly gave everything they had.”

The eight-point defeat the south Leitrim men suffered reflected the difference in standards between the two teams, but it is still a bit of a harsh result for an Aughavas side that was in the game in general play, according to Keoghan.

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“I’d like to have been closer at halftime. I think it should have been a bit closer. Eight points is a bit hard on us, maybe. They were, probably three, four points better than us,” he said.

He was proud of his team’s performance as they created chances, won frees, and attacked up the field, but a bit of inaccuracy at key times kept them from really challenging for the win.

“We needed to kick the frees and to be fair to the lads, you know, they forced them, pulled them a bit, and they've been kicking them all year. But this happens — pressure comes on, and they're young lads. They'll learn, and the experience will be great for them, you know, and they'll be better for it. But yeah, look it, I think we could have been closer.”

Aughavas fell behind after failing to take early chances and getting hit by impressive forward play from Kiltimagh. 

But Keoghan says he is happy with how his team responded to a difficult first half.

“At halftime, it looked probably bleak enough for us, but we felt that we'd be able to just tag on a few, and we did get a few scores. We got it back, but they seemed to be able to go and get one when they needed one.”

“I'm very proud of the lads there in the second half. They really knuckled down and, sure, look it, there was a bit of a gap in physicality there, and you could see it — our younger lads, physically — but they never died.”

Kiltimagh came down from the intermediate championship in Mayo last season after a difficult couple of years in that division, narrowly avoiding relegation in 2024.

The gulf in physicality between the sides was evident from the beginning as the young men from Aughavas came up against a Kiltimagh team that was a good distance further down the road in terms of development.

“I think we could have been closer. Kiltimagh, undoubtedly a better team, and I am sure they will push the All-Ireland very hard — they look like a team that is priming for that.”

“There's a gap there, and there is — they’re possibly a strong enough intermediate club in Mayo, I'd say … Aughavas are coming from a different place, and they’ve made huge strides. We couldn’t be prouder,” said Gabriel.

Keoghan, the Cavan man, does not know if he will be at the helm again next season as they take on the challenge of intermediate football. He, along with a late addition to the coaching staff and joint manager from Ballina, Darragh McCarthy, masterminded Aughavas’s revival this season.

“He’s been absolutely fantastic with us and brought a load of fresh stuff to it — a super guy, super manager. He was a big help.”

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The season has seen Aughavas regain intermediate status in the championship and reach the final of the Division Two league earlier in the year. 

Meanwhile, they became the first Leitrim team in nearly a decade to reach a Connacht final.

“It’s a massive base for them to build on, and the age profile of the players is exactly where you want it to be now. Please, God, they’ll stay around. A lot of lads move off, but they have the age profile that, if they stick around, there’s absolutely no reason why they can’t pull in intermediate championships in Leitrim,” said Keoghan.