‘I just care about winning’: Cunningham and Kilmacud on a mission

Redemption Sunday. Only before all that, Shane Cunningham gets to field some gently churlish questions about Kilmacud Crokes being back in the AIB All-Ireland club football final – and what some people believe has got them there.

Being the south Dublin super suburban club, for starters. Having Galway All Star forward Shane Walsh on board, surely. Will last year’s final defeat to Kilcoo, who snatched victory from Crokes, with a classic goal late in extra-time, prove enough incentive to drive any club on again.

For Cunningham, centre forward and team captain, people are entitled to believe in all the above reasons, only he politely refutes them. Sunday’s showdown against Watty Graham’s Glen, the Derry champions playing in their first final, may indeed offer some redemption, only it’s the lone victory that ultimately matters.

“When it powered us, gave us the motivation, was back in April or May, when we had to dust off the cobwebs,” he says of last year’s final defeat. “So I don’t think the outcome of last February is going to dictate this game at all.

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“Definitely there were learnings to be taken, stuff we’ve worked on. But I would say yeah, with the characters in the team, the lads are very motivated no matter what they win, no matter what the outcome was last February.

“At training too, we’d a few savage sessions over a two-, three-week period, an awful lot of running, hard work. It would have been easy for lads to drop out, but they pushed through, and when all that was done, I was satisfied then we were on an upward curve.”

This time last year, Walsh was still with his native club in Galway, Kilkerrin-Clonberne, before making the big switch to the Dublin club last August. His presence in the Crokes team has been a source of considerable comment since, only Cunningham makes no apologies.

“Dublin, being the capital, attracts an awful lot of people from an employment [point of] view, and that’s exactly what happened with Shane. We’re not going out poaching players, didn’t advertise the fact we wanted Shane Walsh.

“He’s up in Dublin working, wanted to play club football in Dublin because he felt the travel back to Galway was too much on his body, which I can completely understand. But we were happy to take him as long as he fitted into the club, the team, and that his attitude was right.

“And it definitely has been right. It’s not just a case if someone wants to join, we invite them in; they have to fit into the club culture. I’ve no problem with a player who wanted to play their club football with a different county. There are probably more clubs than not who have a county player from outside their club.

“I understand it’s Shane Walsh, and along with [David] Clifford was going to [vie to] be footballer of the year, it was obviously going to gain an awful lot of commentary. When he was kicking his points in the All-Ireland final, and I knew he was coming to us, I was like ‘Oh God, this is going to cause an awful lot of havoc’. But it’s very normal for players to join a club in a county they’re working in.”

A Garda based in Dublin city centre, Cunningham is quick to defend the club’s status; urban size may indeed matter, but so too does rural and community attitude.

“It’s often easy to dismiss Kilmacud [as the super club], to me it undermines a lot of the hard work that goes into the coaching, the underage team, all the volunteers. Not just ourselves, the hurlers, the ladies footballers, and with Kilmacud Crokes, there are so many clubs within the club, the cycling club, the snooker club, mental health talks, tennis club. There’s so much going on, and it is literally the club of Stillorgan, in my opinion.

“I can understand where that comes from, we’re a big south Dublin club, but you wouldn’t really understand that until you’re down in the club, week in, week out. An awful lot of people who move up from the country, their sons and daughters end up playing, they often touch on how homely it feels, how much of a community spirit there actually is.”

After nervously overcoming Munster champions Kerins O’Rahillys last Sunday week, their position going into Sunday was nicely summarised when manager Robbie Brennan afterwards straight-faced quipped that all his team have done is give themselves an opportunity to be the first side to lose back-to-back All-Ireland club finals.

Kilcoo lost a final, to Corofin in 2019/2020, before they came back to win; Crokes have won finals twice before, in 1994/95, then 2008/09. Sunday’s final this time round has likely to come too soon for Dublin’s Paul Mannion.

“I’d love if Paul was playing, but he’s running out of time, even if he can play a small part we’d be delighted. A lot of people forget last year, we won the Leinster final, All-Ireland semi-final, came very close against a very good Kilcoo team, without Paul Mannion or Shane Walsh. There’s a collective team there that is very strong, but I would say we are a stronger team from an experience point of view.”

So will the sceptics give Crokes the credit they deserve if they do win?

“I’d say no, absolutely not. Does that bother me? Absolutely not either, I just care about winning, what your close family and friends think about it.”