It was a long time coming for Multyfarnham.
61 years they were waiting for a Westmeath Championship. The village ticked that box when they defeated Ballynacargy in the county Junior A football Championship final just one month ago.
The small club, based on the outskirts of Mullingar had never in their history won a Leinster Championship. They ticked that box on Saturday when they defeated Erin Rovers of Offaly in Cusack Park.
Multyfarnham Leinster Junior Football Club Champions 2017
Brilliant display from the Westmeath Title Holders!! pic.twitter.com/qipRG2dFOP— Westmeath GAA (@westmeath_gaa) November 18, 2017
For Ciaran Madden and Ronan Wallace, two of the team’s younger players, success like this is a rarity.
The pair have had intermittent, but no major success in their underage careers. They are more accustomed to losing finals, they are more accustomed to heartbreak in the maroon jersey.
As Madden says himself, “It feels like forever that we’ve been losing finals.”
But speaking to the pair, what immediately comes across is their appreciation that they are not the only ones to have through hard times with this club. And many other rural clubs will relate to their story.
Well done @MultyGAA on winning the Leinster championship! Enjoy the celebrations 🚛 🍾🍻#GAA
— John Heslin (@jheslin14) November 18, 2017
“For 30 or 40 years, the club had been getting hammered. But a lot of them lads that were playing then stayed coaching us and giving us advice through the years,” said Madden.
Those who have gone before them in the Multyfarnham jersey suffered some tough beatings in their day. They’re the men that have coached the likes of Madden, Wallace, Daniel Loughrey, Anthony McGivney and the other young players who played a key role in this weekend’s famous triumph.
The club stuck together through the difficult times, and that’s why the two lads immediately deflect this triumph to them, to their coaches, mentors, helpers, the older members of the team and their neighbours. The die-hards of this club.
“John Moran, a Multyfarnham man is down at the pitch at every training session giving us water. Another man called Sean Kelly – he put all his time and effort into underage with Multy. He was just soldiering away with us when others mightn’t have seen anything in us,” said Madden.
Next year, Multyfarnham will compete in the intermediate Championship in Westmeath. It’s their first time to be an intermediate club since 1957.
So it’s no wonder the celebrations went long into the night.
“There were some scenes at the end. The whole town went nuts. We went through Mullingar in a big truck, beeping the horn and having the craic,” said the lads.
“It was great to bring the cup back to Multy as well. It’s only a small little village, there’s only about 300 or 400 people living there,” added Madden.
Wallace paid tribute to the team’s managers, who brought that bit extra to the table.
“Our two managers. They coached the team that defeated us in the Junior Championship final two years ago, they brought that little bit extra for us,” said Wallace.
“After we won the county, everything was a bonus after that. But once you come to the Leinster final, we knew we had to put our heads down and take the chance,” he added.
Take the chance they did.
What a year, what a club.
They now advance to the All-Ireland stages of the competition.
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