Nov 27,2024
In their last two games early goals have proven crucial in settling first-time Dublin champions Cuala in their journey into the heart of the Leinster championship.
Luke Keating struck early to lay down a gauntlet against Naas in front of a packed Cedral St Conleth's Park two weeks ago.
And last Saturday night under lights at Parnell Park, Peter Duffy struck the killer early goal that ultimately separated themselves and Tullamore to send the team into their first AIB Leinster senior football final at Croke Park on Saturday evening.
It’s an adventure they have worked long and hard to navigate.
"I am loving it, we all are," Luke Keating says of the team’s 2024 success.
"Some of us have been on the go a long time and we have had some difficult days, so it has been a long time coming. The leap up the grades has involved a lot of work over a long period.
"We won the Dublin intermediate title in 2012 and a core group has been working hard since then to get to win a senior title.
"It took a lot for everything to align – a management team that shared our vision of how the game should be played, a club section that backs you, a football section that backs you and then the emergence of the younger players which we needed.
"So, it has been the perfect storm this year.
"In the last three years we have had that management team and that group of players.
"A former dual player himself, Keating knows how hard it has been for the club to keep challenging on all fronts.
They leaped into the mainstream primarily as a hurling force, winning back-to-back All-Irelands.
Now they are intent on creating more history.
"I played hurling until 2012, and I am always a huge supporter of Cuala being a GAA club first and foremost. There is room for all of us, the kids coming through both codes shouldn’t be put under any pressure to pick and should be able to play both if they can, which is the case."
They have been better known for their hurling exploits, but they play a lovely brand of football.
They play with bravery and go at teams. They try to express themselves and take opponents on.
There is a beautiful mix of the long, diagonal ball and the switching of focus from wing to wing in the opposition half.
Next, they face an Ardee side with an equally adventurous nature.
"Austin [O'Malley] definitely had a part to play in that style and he was a forward too," Keating says of his manager.
"We try to play the best we can. We are more than willing to defend. We attack if we can but there are some games where we are not lumping it in for the sake of it if they have numbers back.
"We just try to express ourselves as much as we can."
Keating says they have learned a huge amount playing against Naas and Tullamore.
"They were different tests. We found ways to win. They were incredible occasions, especially the game against Naas. If you can’t play these sorts of games it’s all the one.
"There are a few of us in the team waiting a long time for days like these and we have to enjoy every minute of them," Keating concludes.
