It was county final weekend in Sligo this week, so Tourlestrane won. Again.
They beat my club, Coolera-Strandhill. By a decent margin. Just like they did in the 2019 final. And the 2018 semi-final replay. And many other times in recent years.
It was dispiriting, deflating, crushing even. Go to the thesaurus and pick your word. It probably applies.
It was worse because we thought we had a chance this time. We had won our previous four games by double-digit margins and the lads were a joy to watch. Racking up good scores and not conceding much.
Meanwhile Tourlestrane were coming back to the pack. Or so we thought. They had been taken to extra-time in the semi-final and hadn’t looked as dominant as usual in their path to the big day.
But we were wrong. And as the cliché goes, it’s the hope that kills you. The parish had never been so well-decorated, but in the end we wanted the ref to blow it up. To put us out of our misery. We knew for most of the second half that it wasn’t going to be our day.
I looked out at the players sitting on the Markievicz Park turf afterwards. Listening to victory speeches that weren’t about them. Watching green and yellow jerseys lifting the cup and jumping and cheering. Again. And they hadn’t really landed a blow. Another winter of regrets. Another county final gone.
Players and supporters gathered in a sea of red in Coolera House afterwards. Former players had travelled back from all around the country for the game – by my count 13 of the 15 from our team in 2005 were there, as were many others. We had lost finals too, and remembered the importance of club solidarity in getting us through them.
And as the evening progressed the company and craic started to overcome the disappointment. We thanked the players for the fantastic football they played this year, we told each other that we mustn’t leave it so long next time, and we said that life goes on and we’ll look forward to another crack at Tourlestrane in 2022.
On the day after the 2005 final the defeated Curry team came to Strandhill. Not an easy thing to do, but we appreciated it. And so I was glad to hear that the lads had spent Monday singing songs with Hughie Lowry before meeting up with their Tourlestrane counterparts that evening. It’s all part of getting over a big loss.
One day Tourlestrane won’t win. Maybe it will be us who does, or maybe someone else. But one way or another a county final is a big thing. And it’s nice to know it still feels that way.