By Shaun Casey

BLOOD is thicker than water and the brotherly bonds inside the Madden changing room have helped develop a close-knit connection. When things get tough, the players know they can rely on the man next to them to get them out of a sticky situation, says Ciaran Rafferty.

Madden burst out of the traps in their terrific semi-final victory over defending county champions Clann Éireann and held out once the second half onslaught came to win by three points in the end.

Rafferty is now one of the more experienced heads in Mark Harte and Adrian O’Donnell’s team. He was centre-half forward when the Raparees collected the intermediate championship title over ten years ago.

This Sunday, he’ll once again wear the number 11 shirt as Madden chase a first-ever senior county title. This time, he’ll have his younger brother Donal alongside him, lined out at centre-half back.

There are the Sheridan brothers too, Jamie and Joe. Shea and Caolan Vallely. Niall and Liam Grimley. Conor and Eoin Grimley. The Grimleys and the Sheridans are all cousins as well. A tight-knit group.

“Even Mark and Adrian would say that we’re a very close-knit group,” Rafferty said after their semi-final win. “When games are close, we have shown that we stick together and the past couple of weeks we have shown that we can get over the line too.

“All the boys are very close. I suppose, if you see one of us out, we’re all out and we’ve all stayed together and really knuckled down. We’ve been training from last November just to get here.

“I remember one of the boys said to me last year when we got beat (by Clann na Gael in the semi-final) that it’s a long way back but thank God we’re here now anyway.”

Madden take on the challenge of Cullyhanna in Sunday’s decider and the St Patrick’s men are also aiming to get their hands on the Gerry Fagan Cup for the first time in their history, which makes for an intriguing final.

Cullyhanna were Madden’s first opponents in the opening round and late scores from Ross McQuillan and Kieran McCooey saw Stephen Reel’s side come out on top that evening with the minimum of margins to spare.

This weekend marks Madden’s second appearance on the biggest day, with their first coming way back in 1998. Like a lot of teams during the 90s and 00s, Madden fell at the feet of the all-conquering Crossmaglen.

Rafferty doesn’t remember too much about it but he hopes the achievements this year will inspire the next generation. The young ‘Madden ultras’ plant themselves behind the goals at every game and cheer on their team with hooters and chants.

“I was six and I remember absolutely nothing about it,” Rafferty said of the 1998 final. “I was told the week before the semi-final that Madden needed new heroes so that’s what we set out to do.

“I’m that old that I’m not even on TikTok but the boys are always talking about the Madden ultras, and we gave them another day out anyway.”

Madden’s fast start was key to their semi-final victory and after Niall Grimley popped the ball between the posts inside the opening 11 seconds, the Raparees never looked back and led for the rest of the game.

They followed that up with scores from Dylan Crilly and Conor Grimley (who finished with 0-7) to start off on the front foot. Rafferty nailed 0-2 himself, as did Aron McKenna. All-Ireland winners Niall Grimley and Darragh McMullen also got on the scoresheet.

“I think every team wants a quick start and the last day against Maghery we were slow out of the blocks,” Rafferty added, referring to their slender one-point win over Maghery in the quarter-finals.

“We did target to try and get out and make a quick start. We probably kicked a few wides that we would be disappointed with but at least we’ve had another couple of weeks to deal with that.”

On reaching the final itself, Rafferty, who was a member of the Armagh panel in 2014, continued, “It’s hard to believe really – I don’t even know what to say.

“We came in and probably nobody gave us a chance, but we thought that if we played the way we can, we’d be right in it at the end. We always say the only time to be ahead is at the end so we’re delighted.”