In an action-packed weekend of GAA club action, the Kildare Senior Football Championship played host to a classic Newbridge derby, where Sarsfields launched a mammoth comeback to beat their neighbours and progress to the semi-final.
The two clubs which call Newbridge their home are separated by less than five kilometres and are a mere five-minute drive from each other, the result of which is one of Kildare's most revered rivalries and as Sarsfield's midfielder Callum Bolton puts it, 'lads boxing the head off each other'
The two sides met in yesterday's Kildare SFC quarter-finals where Sarsfields mounted a brilliant second-half comeback to poach a sensational one-point win. A strong wind and lacklustre game saw Sarsfields head in four points worse off at the break before Bolton's side slipped another two points after the break leaving the score 0-08 - 0-02.
Despite the six-point deficit, a brilliant counter-attack goal brought Sarsfields alive with the goal being followed by a barrage of points to draw level. While the sides traded blows for the remainder of the game, it was veteran Alan Smith's point that proved the difference between the two sides with the final score finishing 0-11 to 1-09.
29 September 2024; Evan O'Brien of Moorefield in action against Colm Harnett of Sarsfields during the Kildare County Senior Club Football Championship quarter-final match between Moorefield and Sarsfields at Manguard Park Hawkfield in Newbridge, Kildare. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
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Callum Bolton revels in the aggression of Newbridge derby
With Sarsfield's win coming in the most sensational fashion, it was little surprise that the man of the match, Callum Bolton, had just as sensational a post-match interview.
From giving his own heckling teammates the fingers to revelling in the violence of Newbridge's finest clashing it had everything one would expect from the aftermath of a club championship derby.
Asked on Clubber TV about what was so special about a Newbridge derby, Bolton was ecstatic about the fury they contained:
Every time we play these boys it's obviously a local derby, there's no holds barred, everyone's going hell for leather it doesn't matter about your tactics.
It's lovely like, I've only played in five or six now and every time it's the exact same, the first few minutes is just lads boxing the heads of each other every game so it's lovely, it's just a brilliant day after as well.
Bolton went on to talk viewers through the game, calling it 'dog eat dog' stuff and telling Clubber TV that everything goes out the window as soon as the ball is thrown in.
We weren't hoping it would be as much a battle as it was but we went in and from the first minute as always it was a battle, it was dog eat dog and you're running around there and tactics kind of go out the window for the first few minutes and you just beat your marker and try get through the game as a team because its the same every year.
We'd brilliant tactics going into it we thought we were well set up and then you get caught on the bat and everything goes out the window for a few minutes.....We adjusted well in the second half I think, we didn't really panic when we in four points down at half time....we just circled the wagons and got back on track. I was going over to take (a pivotal free) and he (Alan Smith) told me to go on away from it. I was like 'alright fair enough' and he absolutely leathered it, it was lovely.
While it may have been Bolton live on TV, there's no doubt that his description of the Newbridge derby was playing out in local derbies across the country this weekend in what was a fantastic weekend for the club championships.
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