‘Rio’ revels in SFC Final triumph as Errigal return to the summit

Twelve months on from the devastation of losing their County title to Trillick after extra time in the final Errigal Ciaran returned to the same venue and this time they had the minimum to spare at the final whistle to prevent the St.Macartans from retaining the O’Neill Cup.

A expected it was another ding dong tussle that went right to the wire and while there was no scores in the final ten minutes plus injury time the game was that intense that a lot of people didn’t notice that fact. Players from both sides put their bodies on the line with big hits and turnovers the order of the day and one of the heroes in defence for the winners was Ciaran “Rio” Quinn.

“To be honest I didn’t even know that there wasn’t a score in the last ten minutes as the game just goes by you in a blink so you have to make the moments count,” admitted the experienced defender.

“It was an intense and tough final and I’m definitely feeling the affects of it now. That’s what moments come down to sometimes in big games, just diving on the ball and trying to do something to stop your opponents from scoring. Just get your body in the road and it is all about doing whatever it takes to get over the line.”

While Quinn and the rest of the Errigal Ciaran defence were trying to keep Rio at bay up front Ruairi Canavan was on fire with half a dozen points including a terrific score from the right wing which proved to be the winner.

“Aye he’s a great cub and a smashing player,” said Rio.

“You are lucky that you don’t have to chase after him at training as it certainly keeps the ankles fresh! We have a number of young lads in the squad and it great to see them becoming the men that they are turning into.”

By the 41^st minute Errigal Ciaran had moved into a four point lead but a quality score from Mattie Donnelly was followed by a well taken Ciaran Daly goal to leave everything up for grabs again.

That’s when Errigal Ciaran had to really dig deep and Quinn admitted that it was no surprise that they came back and said that the pain of losing twelve months earlier helped to prove key in the end.

“We knew that Trillick were going to come back at us, that was inevitable as they are such a good team,” he said.

“They have set the bar over the last few years and that is were you have to get to and its just all about getting to that final whistle and being just a point in front, that is all that it takes but you have to work very hard to get into that position.

” It definitely takes the pain and hurt to rifle you up and go at it again. That’s what makes the GAA special. You have to bottle that stuff up and then when it comes to doing it you have to unleash it and make it count. It just all boils down to the day and thankfully we just had enough to come out on top against them this time.”