By Shaun Casey

TONY Donnelly was the first Cullyhanna player to ever register a score in an Armagh SFC final. That was back in 2013 when the St Patrick’s men joined a long list of clubs that tasted decider defeat at the hands of Crossmaglen.

12 years on, Donnelly is preparing to line out in another county final. Mickey Murray, Kieran McCooey, Sean Connell and Gary Mackin remain from that team. Manager Stephen Reel and coach Ciaran McKeever also played. Captain Pearse Casey too, although he’s out injured.

They were back in the showpiece in 2016 but lost out to Maghery, although Donnelly wasn’t part of the panel at that stage. He was abroad in America and actually lined out for New York against Leitrim in the 2018 Connacht Championship opener.

“The boys were in it again in 2016 so that was our last one,” said Donnelly, “The likes of Mickey Murray and Sean Connell are still knocking about. The management was all there playing, myself. There’s a good mixture of experience and youth so it’s great to see.”

It’s been a phenomenal journey for Cullyhanna. Back in 2022, they were relegated to intermediate football and made the most of it, claiming Armagh, Ulster and All-Ireland titles during the 2023 season.

Now, they are chasing a first ever senior title in just their third appearance in the showpiece. Their opponents, Madden, are in the exact same boat and will be buoyed by their victory over defending champions Clann Éireann in the semi-final.

On August 15, Cullyhanna and Madden opened the championship campaign and on Sunday afternoon, they’re going to close it in what should be a final to remember.

“I would have never played Madden before until this year,” Donnelly said after Cullyhanna upset the odds in the semi-final against old rivals Crossmaglen.

“They are an exciting team – I’ve watched them in the last two or three years, they’ve always been there or thereabouts so they’re in the final with ourselves.

“It has the makings of an exciting game and we’re looking forward to it. There’s a lot at stake and somebody is going to be happy on the night, and I just hope it’s us again.”

Cullyhanna are the comeback kings having come from behind to win all five of their championship games. Late on in their opening round, Madden held a one-point lead but scores from Ross McQuillan and Kieran McCooey edged St Pat’s ahead at just the right time.

At half-time in their clashes with Pearse Og, Mullaghbawn and St Peter’s (when they needed extra time to come out on top), Stephen Reel’s men trailed. Crossmaglen were nine up with ten minutes left when Cullyhanna rallied and fired off the last ten scores of the game.

“I think that’s the only way to beat Cross – don’t give them any time to get back into it,” Donnelly continued. “We did that in the 2016 semi-final – we got a goal and put them out and the semi-final was a carbon copy really.

“It’s a thing that you can’t really train for (the never say die attitude). It happened in the All-Ireland run and we know now that we usually wait until we’re five or six points down and that we can come back.

“I think other teams know what we can do. You can’t get a big enough lead against us. I saw some of the Cross boys even saying that they needed to keep driving because they knew we were going to come back.

“And we felt that even at half time (when losing by seven), we were calm, and we knew we could step it up and it’s worked for us so far. We’d rather put on a full performance to be honest but whatever’s working.”

A series of two-pointers were key in the final quarter as Cullyhanna embarked on the most remarkable of revival’s. Aidan Nugent kicked nine of their final ten points, including a two-pointer that won the game.

“I think the two-pointers are a huge thing now,” Donnelly added. “Two or three frees from Aidan Nugent and you’re right back in the mix. If you don’t have a lad like Aidan in your team you’re going to struggle.

“It’s great that we have marquee players like him. Ross (McQuillan) was fantastic, Jason (Duffy) was brilliant, and I thought everybody stepped up when we needed to in the last 10 or 15 minutes.”