Lynch: All-Ireland win is still sinking in

LONG before time was called in Saturday’s All-Ireland Intermediate final, Amie Lynch and her Knockbride colleagues knew they were bound for the steps of the Hogan Stand.

They crushed Galway opponents Caltra on a scoreline of 3-10 to 0-4 and in doing so became the first-ever team from the Breffni County to win an All-Ireland Intermediate title.

While the final itself was a lopsided affair, their run to national honours was the stuff of dreams, and Lynch says it will take some time for it all to sink in.

“It’s just sinking in gradually – it comes in waves. It’s great to think about and know that we’ve written our names in the history books. I think it will take some time for it to completely bed in.

“It’s raw emotion at this stage really. Knockbride is a relatively small community but we’ve a big spirit and thankfully we were able to put our best foot forward on the biggest stage of all.”

In 2024, Knockbride embarked on a run to the Cavan Intermediate final but fell short against Mullahoran, who went on to land the provincial title.

They made amends this time around, subsequently replicating Mullahoran’s Ulster Intermediate feat before a special day out on home soil in the All-Ireland semi-final. They swatted aside Naomh Ában of Cork and then completed the job last weekend in style.

Lynch said: “We’ve been building towards this for a long time. We got to the Intermediate final last year and lost to a strong Mullahoran side.

“It was great to get back to a county final and we beat Gowna, and then we kept on stepping up the ladder. We beat Naomh Ában on our home patch, which was another day we won’t forget in a hurry. It has been a gradual process, but I never thought it’d peak with an All-Ireland, so it’s brilliant.”

Asked about the magic ingredient, Lynch says that the blend of youth and experience is a potent one. Some of their star performers en route to Saturday’s All-Ireland final are teenagers who have already tasted major success with their school and county.

“We’ve a lovely blend at the moment. There’s experienced girls, some of us have been around 10 or 12 years, then there’s a great injection of youth as well. You have the likes of Aoife Rogers, Ellie Reilly, Gia McCabe, Abbie Reilly – girls who are 15 or 16 years of age coming in and putting in great performances on the pitch. Having that mix made us a very strong proposition for opponents and I think that’s been evident.”

Lynch also highlighted the support they’ve been offered from right across the community. That brought with it a natural level of hype, but they were able to keep their eye on the prize.

“Everyone in the community has really rowed in behind us – supporters, businesses, absolutely everyone. The support we’ve received has been amazing. We tried not to let the pressure of a big match in Croke Park get us and thankfully we were able to play the game and not the occasion.

“Looking around at the final whistle, there were really special scenes. I’ve never seen as many grown men and women crying – it showed how much it meant to everyone, young and old, in the entire community.”

Lynch also said that she’ll never forget the homecoming which was afforded Knockbride’s new All-Ireland winners back at the club.

“It was amazing. We were escorted in by our local Garda, and there was a massive turnout to welcome us home. There were lots of fireworks and music, and looking down on the crowd when we were up on the lorry was amazing, it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Now that they’ve reached the pinnacle, they can properly take stock of their achievements. They’re an ambitious bunch so it wasn’t long before they got back to training after their county and provincial triumphs, but now they’ve completed the set, they can really savour the Christmas period and beyond.

Lynch said: “When we won our county final, we had a few days celebrating. Our Ulster final was on a Sunday and we’d a great night celebrating, but we were back to normality on Tuesday. A lot of us our teachers as well so we had to get back to the classroom.

“We also knew we had another few games in us potentially, so we recalibrated quickly after winning Ulster. It was great having the opportunity to prepare for an All-Ireland semi-final on our own pitch. Now with no more football, there’s no end in sight for the celebrations and I’m sure they’ll run right into Christmas.”