Crossmolina double-act aiming for glory with Brigid’s

25 years ago, when Crossmolina were the club football kings of Ireland after edging out Nemo Rangers by a single point in that year’s final, Damien Mulligan was the team’s anchor at centre-back, and Peadar Gardiner was quite literally his right-hand man, lining out in the number five jersey.

The connection never fully severed. Mulligan recruited Gardiner as part of his team in Belmullet when they won the Mayo intermediate championship and reached the 2021 senior title, and when Gardiner served as Mayo U20 manager, winning a Connacht title last year, Mulligan was part of the senior management, which was in regular contact with the U20 setup.

The decision to go to Kiltoom in South Roscommon wasn’t without risk however, and while it’s been smooth sailing for them so far, the waters get a lot more choppy this Sunday when they take on Pádraig Pearses in the 2026 Roscommon final.

Even though Brigid’s went all the way to Croke Park, they were fortunate enough to scrape past Pearses after a replay, and there’s an argument to say that once again, this could be the toughest test they’ll face this side of Christmas, even if they get through.

The weight of expectation bears down heavily on the shoulders of management, as anything less than a Connacht title could be seen as a regressive step, and despite this, Mulligan was delighted to take on the challenge.

“Honestly, I was delighted to be even thought about in those circles,” is how he recalled his reaction to the initial phone call from the club, speaking at their media briefing last week.

“Seeing the run they had last year, the group of players they had, I'm really excited to be involved with those guys.

“As for what people expect of me and the squad, every person is entitled to their own opinion. We can only look at the opinion of the group we have, our own functions, our own standards and our own direction.

“The conversation started very, very early about what that direction was, and that was to get to a county final. We’ve worked very hard throughout the year to put ourselves in that position.” 

St Brigid’s haven’t diced with death at any stage in this championship yet, unlike their opponents on Sunday, who will go into the final after taking 80 minutes to beat both Michael Glaveys in the quarter-final, and Boyle in the semi.

It’s an incredibly competitive championship, and a far cry from where the Roscommon club football scene was when Crossmolina made their march through to Croker. That journey, once they came out of Mayo, started with a comprehensive win over Kilbride at Dr Hyde Park, and Roscommon were in the midst of a 17-year drought in the Connacht senior club championship. Now, you’ve to go all the way back to 2015 (Castlebar Mitchels 3-8 Clann na nGael 0-15) to find the last time the Mayo senior champions beat their Rossie counterparts.

“From what I’ve seen so far, if it was a knockout championship, any senior club would be capable of beating you here in Roscommon. It is competitive, club football in Roscommon is strong, and it should be strong when you see how good Roscommon teams have been in the Connacht championship and in Connacht minor and U20 championships. They’re the current champions in all three, so you'd expect the club scene to be strong,” was Mulligan’s diplomatic answer to how he saw the local fare, relative to Mayo.

“I’ve worked with Damien before and obviously we work well together, and then when St Brigid's are interested that's a no-brainer because you don't get those opportunities very often, if at all,” is how Peadar Gardiner described his initial thoughts on a role that he defines as “supporting Damien in whatever way he needs”, but largely coaching, with a sprinkling of performance analysis.

“We all know about the calibre of players but there’s great people involved with the executive here,” he continued.

“It's a brilliant community and it reminds me of my own club Crossmolina to be honest, you know we're a very rural club, very similar to Brigid's, and there’s the same ethos and the hard work going on behind the scenes.” 

Neither Gardiner nor Mulligan were able to come up with a definitive answer when asked if anything surprised them about the club in their time here, but Gardiner remarked on one significant advantage that resonated with him as a North Mayo native.

“They’re very coachable, they're very knowledgeable of the game of football, they understand the game of football, they understand the new game and the new rules so it's very player-led here. We just add little bits and pieces to try and improve them and try and work with them individually,” he said, before citing location as a huge difference from some of his previous roles.

“Players can attend every training session which is a big help! It’s something new to me, based in the northwest of Mayo.

“Here you have access to your players all the time. That’s key because you only have a certain amount of hours every week with them and there's so much to do now in gaelic football, there's so many facets to the game, so you need the time.” 

Of course, Mulligan and Gardiner aren’t the only members of that 2021 Crossmolina panel still involved in this year’s club championships.

Stephen Rochford, the corner-back on that 2001 team, was in O’Connor Park on Sunday helping to guide Tullamore to a 2-16 to 1-13 win over Ferbane in the Offaly decider, with Joe Keane in attendance in his capacity as part of Mike Solan’s new management ticket in the Faithful County. They now advance to meet either Cuala or Castleknock who meet this coming Sunday in the Dublin decider, with Shairoze Akram of Ballaghaderreen and John Vahey from Breaffy hoping to pick up their first Dublin medals in the Castleknock colours.