Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) v Glen (Derry)
Páirc Esler, Newry, 3.45pm
On the 351st day, their paths will cross again.
From south Derry to south Dublin, folks have been waiting the guts of a year for the magnet to find the fridge, for Watty Graham’s Glen to find Kilmacud Crokes once more.
There has been an inevitability they would meet again from the moment Derek O’Mahoney blew the final whistle of the 2023 All-Ireland club final at Croke Park on January 22nd last, because while it signalled the end of the game it certainly didn’t signal the end of the story.
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For several weeks the outcome was tossed about in GAA committee rooms, debated on radio phone-in shows and became part of the everyday discourse in coffee shops and pubs across the country. It was front-page news, stuff was said, reputations were hurt.
For a period it became a harum-scarum game of pass the parcel, nobody prepared to make a decision.
Eventually, some 18 days after they had left Croke Park with the Andy Merrigan Cup, Kilmacud Crokes were again declared champions. But by that stage there were no real winners, because everybody emerged from the storm having lost something.
But everybody gets a shot at redemption now on Sunday. Whether they will admit it or not, this is the game both Kilmacud Crokes and Glen have been waiting for all season.
Long before either club had retained their county title, this fixture blazed like a balefire in the distance.
The clubs have been on a collision course for months, each carving a path back towards the other, carving a path towards this All-Ireland club senior football semi-final. Has there ever been a bigger one?
The players and managers will, as you’d expect, only play what’s in front of them. You can’t win a match from 12-months-ago and all that. But the fallout was too big for this encounter to take place without last year’s final looming as the backdrop.
Kilmacud beat Glen 1-11 to 1-9 last January.
However, the game ended in controversy because Crokes had too many men on the field during the last play of the game when a substitution was not properly completed.
And then the saga unfolded.
The GAA told Glen no investigation could take place unless they lodged an objection first. On the Tuesday after the game, Glen lodged their objection. Crokes subsequently lodged a counter-objection.
Both clubs were summoned to meet with the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee, after which the CCCC ruled the game should be replayed. Crokes set about challenging that proposal and the spectacle threatened to rumble onwards before Glen decided to drop their objection.
“Due to the ongoing proceedings, we as a club now do not believe the conditions exist for a replay to be contested. Consequently, Watty Graham’s, Glen would like to withdraw from this process,” they stated.
On Thursday, February 9th, the GAA “formally awarded the 2023 All-Ireland Club Championship to Kilmacud Crokes”.
It was over but it never quite felt resolved.
So here we are, magnet meets fridge again.
But much has changed, particularly with Crokes who have lost one-third of their team.
Of the starting 15 from the All-Ireland final, only ten lined out in their recent Leinster club decider against Naas.
Michael Mullin is working in Chicago while Cillian O’Shea and Ben Shovlin have taken a year out to go travelling. Aidan Jones played in the Dublin SFC but has since gone to Australia.
Conor Ferris was the goalkeeper in last year’s final and while still involved with the squad he lost his starting place ahead of the Dublin SFC final. His replacement, David Higgins, wasn’t even part of the Kilmacud squad for last year’s All-Ireland decider and would have been better known as an outfield player.
Conor Casey, who was the last sub introduced in the All-Ireland final, has also taken a year out to go travelling. Crokes played much of the Dublin championship without midfielder Craig Dias, who suffered a concussion, but he has now returned to the engine-room.
Glen, on the other hand, enter the fixture with effectively the same personnel. All 15 starters from the All-Ireland final featured during their recent Ulster club campaign.
Crokes rode their luck at times along the way to claiming their historic third consecutive Dublin SFC. They needed a last-gasp goal to force extra-time against Raheny in the semi-final before eventually winning out after a penalty shootout.
But apart from spirited resistance in Ardee, they breezed to a third Leinster crown on the bounce, while for Glen every game was a battle to retain the Ulster title. The Derry champions will hope that competitive edge works in their favour on Sunday.
Crokes averaged 17 points per game in Leinster and enjoyed an average winning margin of just over 7 points. Glen chalked up an average of 11 points per game in Ulster with an average winning margin of just over 2 points. Glen last scored a goal in the Derry final, while Crokes netted one in all three of their provincial championship games.
However, Glen were arguably playing stronger opposition and a tight-fisted defence has been the foundation on which much of their success has been built.
In their last six games, from the Derry quarter-finals until the Ulster final, 0-11 was the highest score put up against Glen. Their average concession rate across those six matches was just 8 points per game. They have only shipped one goal in their last six outings.
Kilmacud’s average concession rate from the Dublin quarter-finals until the Leinster final was 11 points per game. They have conceded three goals in their last six matches.
Crokes will need Dias to be at the top of his game in the centre of the field against Conor Glass, who is Glen’s anchor.
But have Glen the firepower to win a shootout against a team bringing gunslingers Paul Mannion and Shane Walsh? The Derry champions will probably need to keep it tight and low-scoring, and the choice of venue is unlikely to harm their chances.
This weekend in Newry, two clubs with nothing else in common but one previous Sunday in Croke Park will play a game of football. It might just be the most significant All-Ireland club semi-final of all time.
A rematch, 351 days in the making.
Verdict: Kilmacud Crokes
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