Memory of Carrigallen defeat drove St Mary's to Junior A glory says captain Ashley Maziya

There is nothing like the pain of defeat to drive a team on and certainly St Mary’s Kiltoghert used the pain of last year’s loss to Carrigallen to get over the line against Glenfarne Kiltyclogher in Saturday’s Vistamed Junior A decider, writes John Connolly.

That’s the view of St Mary’s captain Ashley Maziya who stressed the quality in the club’s second string team and the ambition those players have: “I just remember after that Carrigallen game, sitting down in Pairc Sean and just feeling, it is very hard to describe - I just said if we ever got the chance again, we have to prove ourselves.

“A lot of us wouldn’t get the recognition we probably deserve because we’re training just as much as the seniors, doing the same amount of work. So it is brilliant to get acknowledged and the win for the club.”

St Mary's break Glenfarne Kilty hearts as huge crowd enjoys tight Vistamed Junior A Final - GALLERY

St Mary’s Kiltoghert were celebrating in Drumkeerin on Saturday evening as their second string team dashed the hopes of Glenfarne Kiltyclogher to win the 2023 Vistamed Leitrim Junior A Championship title on a 0-11 to 0-10 scoreline. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there with his camera to capture pics of the celebrations and the big crowd who thronged into Pairc Naomh Brid ….. see who you can spot!

The pain of losing this year’s Senior Final was also a factor: “It was but we met up during the week at training and said that this is our last training of the year, we’re the last team of the year in St Mary’s and we’ve not been lucky with finals compared to last year so we said we’d have to bring something back for the club so we’re happy we’ve done that.”

Ashley admitted there was some worry when Glenfarne Kilty opened up a three point lead but faith in St Mary’s system  helped see the Carrick men across the line: “I was worried but I knew that if we did the simple things right, played the system that we always play that we’d probably get there, it is all about patience really. Having that experience from last year definitely helped us to get over the line.”

The fact that so many of the St Mary’s team came up the ranks together made Saturday all the more special but Ashley was quick to pay tribute to long serving Brian O’Donnell and Caolan O’Grady for their impact: “A very young group of lads, we would have played all the way through together since U12, U14. If you look at the pictures in the clubhouse, same boys are playing together since day one. A few older lads there as well, they were a great help - the likes of Brian O’Donnell, Kiki O’Grady and they were a great help with the training.”

McKenna & St Mary's break Glenfarne Kilty hearts with injury time winner

ST MARY'S KILTOGHERT 0-11 GLENFARNE KILTYCLOGHER 0-10

The St Mary’s captain also stressed the importance of the club’s second team playing Intermediate football next year to help with the continued development of the club’s young players: “It will be brilliant, that is what we wanted to do this year. We didn’t get there last year so this year we said we have to get there, we have to play a good standard so that we can bring our club up. 

“As you can see, the numbers we have is mental, its crazy and then we have the likes of Brian Keaney, Josh Maye, all these boys and very good footballers and it’d be great to get them playing at a high standard if they’re not getting a few minutes with the Seniors so very happy to do that for the boys and the club.”