When you watch a football game featuring players from different eras, you aren’t just witnessing a match—you’re seeing the continuum of the sport itself. The past, present, and future collide on the pitch, and the result is a unique and profound experience.

The veterans remind us of the game’s roots, the traditions that have been passed down through generations. The current stars demonstrate the peak of modern football, a dynamic and thrilling spectacle shaped by decades of evolution. The young players show us the future, where innovation and progress will take the game to new heights.

The veterans like David Moran, Tommy Walsh, Barry John Keane mixing it with the modern-day heroes, David and Paudie Clifford to the potential senior stars such as Tomás Kennedy, Ben Hanafin, Emmet and Cian O’Shea – a blend of eras that highlights how football, despite constant change and innovation, remains rooted in its core principles—passion, skill, teamwork, and love for the game. The old guard, the present stars, and the future talents are all part of the same story. They may play differently, but they are bound by the same goal: to leave their mark on football and inspire the next generation of players.

Story of the game: 

The story of the game was our profligacy in front of goal in the 2nd half and a strangely subdued first half performance.

Tommy Walsh was a late withdrawal through a groin strain with Gearóid Dillane taking his place and Tomás Kennedy moving to full forward. Daniel Bowler also entered the fray, taking up his usual position at wing back with Cormac Coffey dropping deep shadowing Paudie Clifford.

Fossa were fastest out of the blocks and had racked up 1-04 without reply by the 13th minute, their goal coming from the boot of Eoin Talbot who finished neatly past a helpless Rob O’Connor.

Our first score arrived shortly afterwards from a Jack Savage free and Jack was to add two more from frees to our only score from play from Tomás Kennedy in a poor first half performance; by this time, Fossa had added another 4 points, one a massive effort from David Clifford from distance which split the posts.

The half time break brought some respite and changes with Tommy Walsh and Darragh O’Connor entering the contest,  both being assigned to the full forward line.

We upped our game considerably and began to win more of our one to one battles - we had added four points without reply by the 6th minute, Jack adding 3 and Tomás chipping in with a nice score from play - it was game on now but Fossa stemmed the tide with a point of their own.

The pivotal moment in this period of dominance arrived when Tommy offloaded to Tomás but his rising shot was well saved by Fossa custodian Shane O’Sullivan. We traded points from here to the midway point with Jack very much to the fore and Cormac forsaking his marking duties on Paudie Clifford to raise another white flag.

We began to win more possession around the middle with Tom & David prominent, backed up by some fine play from Darragh McEllligott and Ross O’Callaghan, with both driving from deep and carrying the fight to Fossa. 

The score now stood at 1-11 to 0-10 but the next 10 mins saw us squander a number of good chances, where we fired 4 wides, some from good positions whilst Fossa added another 3 points. 

Jack was still defiant however, Tommy and Tomás carried the fight to the opposition with Jake Foley now much more involved and in the final minutes Jack added an additional 3 points, now 1-14 to 0-13 as the clock ticked into the red.

The final action saw Jack again, raising a white flag with both umpires signaling the score but the referee, from the middle of the pitch deemed otherwise and following consultation with his umpires the score was disallowed; there was one more twist, as Darragh O’Connor was fouled in possession and following some jostling, the referee issued a red card - the final whistle sounded soon after and our exit from the competition was confirmed.

Tonight was a disappointing outcome given the poor performance in the first half and the squandermania in front of goal - we had 13 wides in total to Fossa’s 4 and their clinical efficiency was the difference between the sides at the finish.

We would like to wish them all the best in the semi finals. 

Final score: 

KO’R 0-13

Fossa 1-14

Team: Rob O’Connor, Darragh McElligott, Ross O’Callaghan, Donagh Buckley, Ben Hanafin, Jake Foley, Daniel Bowler, David Moran, Tom Hoare, BJ Keane, Shane McElligott, Jack Savage ( 0-09), Cormac Coffey (0-01), Tomás Kennedy ( 0-02), Gearóid Dillane. 

Subs: Tommy Walsh, Darragh O’Connor ( 0-01),