Our Season: Middletown make a case for the defence

LESS running, fewer sticks breaking and a county title at the end of it all – the 2020 season wasn’t quite so bad for Middletown folk.

Their September final win over Cuchulainn’s, just a few days before club activity was shut down in Armagh, was a long way away from where goalkeeper Fintan Woods expected to be when lockdown was introduced.

The versatile player, who has represented the Orchard county both in goals and out the field, had given up any hopes of defending the title that they had wrestled off rivals Keady the year before.

“I had written off 2020 in terms of any Gaelic games taking place,” said Woods.

“Like everyone else, I did a few 5km runs and then caught myself on.”

But as the year progressed and spring moved to summer, hopes of a condensed season came into view – as did a mighty quarter-final.

With Derrynoose remaining at senior level and Lurgan side Sean Treacy’s moving up, it meant that a quarter-final was required, and it just so happened to pit heavyweights Middletown and Keady against each other.

The management of Sylvester McConnell, Barney McCann and Conor McCann had a limited window to work in, so they opted against the slog and instead aimed for the finesse ahead of their clash with their rivals.

“The management took a new approach to the shortened season,” Woods continued.

“This meant training involved less running and fewer sticks being broken than usual. We focused on ourselves on our game-plan. The management had total belief in us.

“It was the best Armagh Hurling Championship in years with Sean Tracey’s, Lurgan stepping up to senior and St Malachy’s, Portadown fielding a team in the Junior Championship.”

Middletown warmed up for the clash with games against the likes of Portaferry and Eoghan Ruadh, Dungannon, and when that quarter-final date arrived in August they felt that they were perfectly cooked.5

There was also a bit of extra motivation with Keady Michael Dwyer’s winning the Intermediate Football Championship knockout clash against Middletown a few weeks earlier with a large portion of both teams, including Woods, playing both hurling and football.

It may not have been a classic, but it was hard-hitting affair with little separating the sides.

In the second half Keady were building momentum before Dean Gaffney stopped it with a well-taken goal and Middletown eventually ran out 1-17 to 0-16 victors.

“We had a few good challenge games against Portaferry and Dungannon and it’s great when top teams in Ulster want to come down to you for a game,” Woods said.

“Then it was Keady and people love to see the fireworks that can be on show when we clash. It was a typical derby game with us getting over the line.”

Whether they liked it or not, the victory instantly meant that Middletown were red-hot favourites for the title outright.

Since 1990, the Middletown-Keady stranglehold on the trophy had only been interrupted once when Cuchulainn’s won the 2013 championship after a thrilling replay win over the Lamh Dhearg outfit.

It was Derrynoose who were next to try and join that list as they tried to cause a huge upset against Middletown.

Given that he works in opposition territory, Woods enjoyed the build-up to the semi-final clash.

“I actually teach in Our Lady’s and St Mochua’s PS, Derrynoose, so the craic is always good in the lead up to a game between us. There’s always plenty of slagging going on between myself and the class.”

Still, any thoughts of a Derrynoose win were seen as more than fanciful despite the underdogs getting to within six points in the previous season’s semi-final.

Six points was the number once again in their 2020 encounter, although incredibly it was Derrynoose’s leading margin in the second half.

Buoyed by Conor McNally and Davy McCreesh goals and some sharp-shooting from Aaron Fox, the outsiders led 2-10 to 1-7 five minutes into the second half and the biggest shock in Armagh club hurling for decades looked on the cards.

Middletown, however, awoke from their slumber and hit 1-10 without reply to rescue the situation.

Woods feels that the side’s knowhow, sharpened from massive battles down through the years, was key to rescuing the situation.

“Derrynoose went six points up in the second half but we never panicked. We showed our experience and beat them by 10 points.”

That left the side facing a county final against Cuchulainn’s, who had shown seven years previously that you could never take them for granted.

They also had John Toner managing them this season, and he had shown his winning pedigree by guiding Armagh Harps to the football title in 2017.

The Orchard hurling community may be small in members, but they are tight-knit – and Woods said that as well as the change in circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the final would have extra emotion attached to it.

“There was a lot of emotion in the build-up to the county final,” he said.

“Cuchulainn’s had recently lost two club legends in Jimmy Carlisle and Gerard Devlin, so we knew they would throw everything at us.

“The game was also fixed for the same weekend as Middletown and Armagh great Ryan Gaffney’s wedding so we were disappointed that it couldn’t be changed. But that drove us on and we made a promise to celebrate Ryan’s big day by winning the championship.”

And that’s exactly what they did as they cruised to the title.

The opening quarter was a close affair but Middletown increased the intensity, as they had done in the final 20 minutes against Derrynoose, to secure a 0-12 to 1-3 half-time advantage.

With Nathan Curry and Martin Moan impressing, Middletown ran out winners 0-20 to 1-6.

It was a fifth title in six years for Na Fianna and although there would be no Ulster series, Woods said it was a fitting finale – and one he didn’t deem possible just a few months beforehand.

“It was disappointing that we didn’t get a run at a provincial championship but after thinking there would be no season it was mighty to finish up with another championship.

“We had the tough end of the draw, having to beat Keady, Derrynoose and Cuchulainn’s to win the championship, but that’s what we wanted.”