Out of half a century of All-Ireland club finals it’s difficult to pick one when you had two of the game’s absolute elite forwards facing off in the biggest club game of the year
Examine them for long enough and the similarities between the two are uncanny. Both sons of intercounty players. Both playing in a forward line containing their younger brother. Both rarities in modern football in that they were shoved onstage at intercounty level as teenagers, Canavan as an 18-year-old against Derry in the McKenna Cup, O’Callaghan as a 19-year-old against Kerry in the league.
Darragh Canavan in action with Tyrone in the 2021 All-Ireland final, also against Mayo. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Despite Tyrone’s struggles – or maybe because of them – Canavan has gradually assumed the mantle of the leader of their attack. He was their top scorer in the 2024 championship and put in man-of-the-match displays against Cavan, Clare and Cork. He was still only turning 24 in that championship but everyone could see that his time had come.
“As time passed, you could see he nearly came to realise that he had a duty. Yes, you have to work hard and tackle hard and be a team player the same as the rest of the squad. But there’s a process you go through if you do have that talent and that ability, you have a duty above and beyond what the others have.
This week in Cuala, you’d have found more people willing to give you their bank details than folk who would go on the record talking about O’Callaghan. Con is 29 this year, one of the most recognisable sportspeople in the country and someone who has been a public figure for most of his adult life. But his people know him and they love him. Most of all, they know he’d rather chew off his own arm than see team-mates or club elders waxing away about how great he is.
The Cuala lads were merciless. However unbelievable he’d been in the game, they’d wait for the interview to run and shush the bar, waiting for each dochreidte to fall from the speakers so they could jeer him. His brothers, his cousins, his schoolmates, his teachers even. Dochcredite, Con. Dochreidte.
In all truth, Ruairí has probably been the more consistent presence for Errigal through this campaign. Darragh took a bad hit to his shoulder against Killyclogher in the Tyrone semi-final and was only fit to play a full part in the final because it got delayed a week by Storm Ashley. Meanwhile, Ruairí ran up big totals against Pomeroy, Clonoe, Trillick and Clann Eireann, carrying his fair share and more.
Con-O-Callaghan Darragh-Canavan
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