Barry McCabe proud of Caherlistrane's young guns
CAHERLISTRANE manager Barry McCabe praised his side’s second-half display as they secured promotion back to senior football, highlighting the team’s resilience.
“The second-half performance was absolutely savage, in fairness. We’re against a gale-force wind. In the first half, we were turned over eight times in the forward line,” he said.
“We were a point up at half-time, eight points to seven, but hadn’t played well. In the second half, I thought we controlled the game from start to finish.”
McCabe reserved particular praise for 18-year-old Timmy Madden, who scored seven points in the victory.
“Timmy’s a mighty bit of stuff. He’s some bit of stuff. I’ve played with his auld fella Pat for 20 years. Ah, seven points — he’s only 18 now. He’s some bit of stuff,” he said.
McCabe also highlighted Caherlistrane’s recent underage success.
“If you take Evan Cunningham, Timmy Madden and Kian O’Donoghue, they won the U-17 A Shield last year, U-19 B North Board and U-19 B county final. This year they won the U-19 [North Board] league. Then we won the Division 3A league, and obviously the championship today.
“They’ve won six trophies in the last two years.”
Caherlistrane began the league with back-to-back losses before going on a winning streak. Having overseen Caherlistrane’s 2024 relegation before guiding them back up, McCabe reflected on the turnaround.
“We had a bad start, but then won 13 [games] in a row. And now we are county champions.”