Micheal McDermott is the club manager with the Midas touch.
The Cavan man first sprung onto the national radar in 2009 when he won a county title with Kilmurray Ibrickane in Clare, bringing them all the way to the All-Ireland final where they were beaten by St Gall's of Antrim.
From there, McDermott became the Clare senior football manager, taking them to the 2012 Munster final, with Cork getting the better of them.
McDermott returned to the club scene after three years in charge of Clare, and his next big success came in charge of Ramor United in Cavan, helping them to a first county title in 25 years in 2016.
Where McDermott goes, success usually follows. He helped Monaleen to back-to-back Limerick senior football titles in 2010 and 2011, and also inspired Wolfe Tones of Meath to county glory in 2021.
That triumph ensured he'd won county titles in three of the four provinces, and now he's seeking another, this time in Kildare.
We got the thoughts of Celbridge manager Michael McDermott after he saw his side claimed an extra-time success over Sarsfields in the Joe Mallon Motors Senior Football Championship Semi-Final.@CelbridgeGAA pic.twitter.com/zF9slA66RS
— Kildare GAA (@KildareGAA) October 12, 2024
McDermott was appointed Celbridge manager last year, bringing them to their first county final since 2017, although they lost to Naas. Now they're back again having beaten Sarsfields in a semi-final that went to extra-time, triumphing by 1-11 to 0-12.
"It was hard on the blood pressure. But it was a fantastic victory. We didn't play to our best but still showed great character to fight to get a victory," McDermott said after the game.
"Sarsfields made a real battle of it. They threw everything at us and levelled it with the last kick of the game.
"It was a big plus to get the wind for the first half of extra-time, to get a foothold.
"We needed to get a foothold to recover again, we got that. We showed great discipline in our defending all over the field to hold out for a two point victory."
The Kildare senior football final will be a big occasion in two weeks time as it takes place in the re-furbished St Conleth's Park, with the winners of Naas-Athy standing in Celbridge's way.
Taking place on the last Sunday of October, it will be one of the first games in the state-of-the-art new stadium.
"To go into the final on the back of a battle is what you need," McDermott told Kildare GAA afterwards.
"We have two weeks now to work on the things we wouldn't be happy with today. We were so heartbroken after 2023, and we knew it was going to be a hard ask to get back again, but hats off to the players.
"We've been fortunate with the way the games have been falling for us, even last week, we played on the Saturday and Sarsfields played on the Sunday so we got a close look at them.
"It's a toss of a coin between Athy and Naas. Naas will be favourites but Athy aren't going into make up the numbers. Championship football tends to throw up surprises."
