Aaron Niland pleased to finish 2026 on a high with Clarinbridge U20's
“It’s a great feeling,” stated Clarinbridge captain Aaron Niland after captaining his club to county under-20A glory. “We don’t have much of it in Clarinbridge anymore. Unfortunately, we’ve kind of gone out of it. But hopefully this can start something.
“After the first day, our minds were off it because we were focused on Tommy Larkins (senior) last weekend. And it’s a quick turnaround from that as well. We were only thinking about this game this morning to be honest.”
“He’s been savage with us this year in fairness. Got lads back hurling,” continued Galway’s All-Star nominee about manager Niall Armstrong’s influence on the squad.
Armstrong, also a current senior panellist, returned the compliment about his star player who delivered another player of the match performance.
“They (the team) don’t feel sorry for themselves. We’ve had enough feeling sorry for ourselves. They lost a minor. Aaron lost with Galway this year, an All-Ireland Final, All-Ireland under-20 final. He wasn’t going to lose today. And I’m just delighted for him.
“I think we’ve the hardest working team in this competition to be honest,” continued the Calasanctius College Oranmore teacher.
“That team there has only lost two competitive games ever. They lost the minor final (2023), and they lost to Castlegar in the group. That’s the only games they’ve ever lost. When they play well, they are the best team. They won a Féile. So, they’ve lost two games in 20 years. I’ll take it.”