The question hanging over both clubs competing in the Senior Championship final is the exact same. If not now, when? When will Madden or Cullyhanna ever got a better chance to win a first ever Senior Championship title?
Sunday is Cullyhanna’s third appearance in the senior showpiece. Madden’s second. Championship football is about grasping opportunities and they don’t come much bigger than this one.
From the outset, it’s been a fairly wide open championship, but most would have backed a Clann Eireann and Crossmaglen final pairing. Not too many predicted that neither would see out the year.
Both Madden and Cullyhanna are here on merit and where they deserve to be. Cullyhanna certainly rode their luck against Cross, but had their noses ahead when it mattered most. Madden clung on and withstood the Clann Eireann second half revival to earn victory.
A lot of time has passed since these two opened the 2025 championship. That was back in mid-August and the St Patrick’s men, playing on home turf, eked out a win by the minimum of margins.
Late points from Ross McQuillan and Kieran McCooey denied the Raparees a result. That kickstarted a trend that has ran right through Cullyhanna’s campaign where they’ve come from behind in every single outing to win in the end.
Madden bounced back from that first round defeat to embark on a five-game winning streak. They hammered Pearse Og, Mullaghbawn and Armagh Harps before overcoming Maghery and Clann Eireann.
Darragh McMullen has been in electrifying form, carrying on the confidence of his breakthrough season with Armagh. Conor Grimley has been scoring regularly and their half back line have been attacking at will.
Shea Vallely, Oisin O’Hara, Peter Lappin and Tony O’Hagan are all viable man-marking options in defence. At midfield, Niall Grimley has been awesome, ably assisted by youngster Cahal Donnelly.
The midfield battle is where the game could be won and lost. Without their talismanic captain Pearse Casey, Jason Duffy has lined out at centerfield and will likely be joined by either Phelim Savage or Shane Conlon.
Madden probably hold the upper hand in that midfield battle, so perhaps Cullyhanna will devise a kickout routine to rattle that threat. And they’ll look to Sean Og Irwin to tie down Conor Grimley.
Up front, Cullyhanna have more than enough attacking options to give the Madden defence sleepless nights. Aidan Nugent has probably been the Player of the Championship and is the top scorer in the competition.
Shea Hoey hasn’t quite hit the heights expected but is still a real threat. As is Tony Donnelly. Ross McQuillan’s pace is difficult to defend, but perhaps he’ll sacrifice his game to go toe-to-toe with McMullen.
There’s so many question marks hovering over this one and we’ll have to wait to Sunday for an answer. One thing is for sure, history will be made this weekend, and the Gerry Fagan Cup will have a new home for the next twelve months.
