The Intermediate Championship final was just 12 seconds old when Eoin Woods stamped his lasting impact on the game.
The Carrickcruppen youngster has been one of the stars of the campaign and he shone brightest on the biggest day.
He latched on to the throw in and burst towards the oppositions goal, firing over the games first point before any other player had even touched the ball.
Woods kicked four points throughout the game, including the final two that confirmed Cruppen’s victory.
His powerful running and speed have been highlights of the championship. A final 0-4 haul sees him finish as joint top scorer for the campaign, alongside Richard Keenan.
The Camlough men came from Division 2B to be unlikely championship winners, and as their star man puts it, they “proved them all wrong.”
“I’m just happy to get over the line in the end. The work we put in during the year just to even get to this point, everyone wrote us off the whole time. But we proved them all wrong and finally got over the line”.
The youngsters in the red and white led the line throughout 2021 and did so fittingly in the decider.
Tiernan Kelly claimed the games only goal while Jack Cunningham, Richard Keenan, Lorcan McParland and Oisin O’Hare were all superb.
Between league and championship, Carrickcruppen played in 12 games in 2021, losing on just one occasion.
That defeat came against Clonmore on the final day of the league season. Although the league title had already been wrapped up.
Band of brothers
The bond the side holds is the key to their success suggests Woods. “We lost one game all year and that kind of showed there today. The togetherness in this team is mental.
I’ve never played in such a team where it’s just a band of brothers and I couldn’t be happier. I really couldn’t”.
Barry Flynn oversaw Carrickcruppen’s under 21 side that were crowned Intermediate Championship winners back in 2019.
Now the senior manager, Flynn has carried through so many of those youngsters who have brought immediate success to the club.
“The youths coming up there, we can’t take it away from the older boys in the team! The system we play, Barry (Flynn) and Chew (Paul Cunningham) have been brilliant throughout the year too, unbelievable.
He knew all of us from the under 21 win so obviously it was good to get somebody we knew on board. We all see eye to eye”.
“As soon as Barry and Chew came in and as soon as we started training, we had only eyes for one thing (winning the championship).
Obviously winning the league firstly, getting back up into 2A but now we’ve leapfrogged 2A and we’re up in 1B”.
“As soon as we came into this final, we were confident that we had enough to get over the line.
I’m not taking anything away from Culloville because they had some run but it’s just great to get over the line and lift the cup eventually”.
