In all five of their championship games to date, Cullyhanna have had to come from behind to secure the win. Last Saturday’s semi-final with Crossmaglen offered another opportunity to display their never say die attitude.
Stephen Reel’s men trailed by nine late on and their season looked doomed. But that’s not how Cullyhanna do things. Inspired by Aidan Nugent, they kicked the final ten points of the game to edge out their rivals by the minimum of margins.
Ross McQuillan was the other scorer during that late blitz. He really stepped up in the final quarter when his side needed him. Despite being well behind at different stages, the St Patrick’s club always believed they could win.
“We probably never really showed up in the first 10 or 15 minutes and Cross can really blitz you,” said McQuillan. “You have Oisin (O’Neill), Rian (O’Neill), even Fitzy (Ronan Fitzpatrick), they can all kick two-pointers for fun and they couldn’t miss.
Comeback kings
“I suppose we regrouped at half time, we were here against St Peter’s, Mullaghbawn, Pearse Ogs. The majority of our games we’ve come back and we’re relying on that experience from our All-Ireland year in the Intermediate.
“We came back in big games there too. Unfortunately we like to do it the hard way but we’re well used to it. Because we’ve been there so many times, we’re never really beat.
“Even last year, we were a kick of a ball away from a similar comeback (against Crossmaglen). Whenever you lose it never gets talked about but this one, this one was a nice one to get but it doesn’t mean anything if you go on and get beat.”
Crossmaglen were lethal in the opening 30 minutes and charged into the break with a 0-15 to 0-8 led. The Ranger didn’t kick a single wide in the first half and dominated throughout, but Cullyhanna didn’t panic.
“It’s the same story every time you go in (at half time),” McQuillan added. “You look at your kickouts and we were getting hammered on ours, we couldn’t win anything. Even the ones we did win, they were scrappy and we were getting bottled up coming out.
No panic
“I lost one, (Jason) Duffy got blown up for too long with another. Cross were just tenacious in the first press. They hit a purple patch again on our kickouts in the second half.
“Really when the ball it’s the ground, there’s no secret to it, it’s just who wants to go in and win it. Even in county games it’s the exact same and club is no different. It’s just about when the ball hits the deck, who wants to go in and get it.”
It’s all about Madden now and McQuillan hopes the Cullyhanna community will enjoy the two week build up to the county final. “We’ve a wee village but there’s a serious amount of pride in it,” added the 2025 All-Star nominee.
“Especially when our next door neighbours are Cross, who have been dominant for so long. We’re always the little brother or even less maybe in their eyes. There’ll be a lot of excitement but for us, it’s really just about going in, getting the job done and winning.”