St Brigid's GAA senior football team: Team of the Year finalist

St Brigid’s built on their Roscommon SFC success by winning their fifth Connacht senior club title in December of last year and they came agonisingly close to All-Ireland glory.

The Connacht success came just over ten years after St Brigid’s won the All-Ireland senior title and it was another glorious chapter in the club’s illustrious recent history.

When St Brigid’s previously won the Roscommon title with a youthful team in 2020, there was no Connacht club championship due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But when the Kiltoom club got the opportunity to enter the Connacht club arena last year, they made it count in style.

Having edged out Boyle in the Roscommon SFC final, St Brigid’s defeated Sligo champions Coolera/Strandhill (0-13 to 1-3) and Mohill of Leitrim in the Connacht championship (1-7 to 0-8). This set up a Connacht final meeting with old rivals Corofin, with the two clubs having previously met in the provincial deciders of 2006, 2011 and 2016.

Corofin are the most successful team in the history of the Connacht senior club championship, but St Brigid’s overcame the Galway outfit in the 2006 and 2011 finals and they did so again towards the end of last year (1-13 to 2-5).

Having played all three of their Connacht games in the familiar surroundings of Dr Hyde Park, Brigid’s made a trip to Tipp last January to play Cork champions Castlehaven in their All-Ireland semi-final at FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles. In a game where about a third of the pitch was covered with a white blanket of frost as the action got underway, an impressive first-half display by Brigid’s laid the platform for victory over the Munster champions.

St Brigid’s again played some splendid football in the All-Ireland final against Watty Graham’s Glen of Derry at Croke Park, and it took an inspired display from Conor Glass to deny Jerome Stack’s charges the Andy Merrigan Cup.

Four St Brigid’s players were selected on the football team of the year as part of the AIB GAA Club Players Awards for 2023/2024, with Brian Stack, Pearse Frost, Ruaidhrí Fallon and Ben O’Carroll the quartet chosen.

And although St Brigid’s were dethroned as county champions by Pádraig Pearses in last Sunday’s Roscommon SFC quarter-final, the Kiltoom men will, no doubt, be challenging strongly for major honours again next year.

The other Team of the Year finalists are Athlone Community College U-17 girls soccer team and St Joseph’s FC under-16 team.

The Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 takes place at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel on Thursday.

The Team of the Year category at the Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 is sponsored by Action Physio.