Mark Keane was crucial for Ballygiblin as they won the junior club All-Ireland hurling title with a 1-16 to 0-11 win over Sligo side Easkey.
It's a special moment for this Ballygiblin side, after heartbreak in last year's final. It's somewhat extra special for Mark Keane, after his unusual but but incredible journey today's final.
After making his mark in the AFL with Collingwood, Mark Keane returned home to play with the Cork footballers, scoring a memorable goal to knock Kerry out of the 2020 championship.
Congratulations to all at @Ballygiblingaa.A lovely gesture to the great man himself. 🙏 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/kM1NbZiHwF
— Valley Rovers GAA (@ValleyRoversGAA) January 14, 2023
After ending his AFL contract early, he decided to play for Ballygiblin, where they came just short in last year's final. Mark Keane was also heavily involved with Cork, playing in all their championship games.
Today, he completed one of his dreams as he won an All-Ireland title with his local club, and spoke on why he made the decision to play hurling.
I spent three years over in Melbourne so I was happy with that. I decided to come home in the off season and play football for Cork, it was always a dream of mine to play football and hurling for Cork.
Last year, I said I would decide to join the hurling squad. It was actually last year when playing for Crk, we worked on a thing that the centre back would always run through just in case, and that was always on the back of my mind playing centre back.
We tries to limit the goal scoring chances, and they only got one shot on target. We'll leave them scoring points all day, while we showed we will score the goals.
As It Happened
Ballygiblin came flying out of the blocks with a goal after just 10 seconds, when Mark Keane came flying through the Easkey defence, before Darragh Flynn slotted it in the net.
0 nóim
@Ballygiblingaa 1-00@EaskeyGAA 0-00
Féach ar seo! Cúl iontach lua faighte ag Darragh Flynn le haghaidh Baile Uí Ghiblín!
Ballygiblin start the game with an early goal! 👌
#GAABEO #TheToughest @GAA_BEO | @officialgaa | @AIB_GAA
BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV pic.twitter.com/khgdC2SfPt— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) January 14, 2023
Easkey were able to recover and were within touching distance of the Cork side through the first half with some lovely scores, but Ballygiblin were able to keep the scoreboard ticking to go into the interval with a 1-8 to 0-6 lead.
27 nóim
@Ballygiblingaa 1-06@EaskeyGAA 0-06
Cúilín deas ó Michael Gordon!
Lovely point for Easkey with a goal between the two teams! 👌#GAABEO #TheToughest @GAA_BEO | @officialgaa | @AIB_GAA
BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV pic.twitter.com/YlH2LP80pA— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) January 14, 2023
The second half started off with impressive scores from both sides, as Easkey attempted to find a way back into the game , but Ballygiblin's stubborn defence kept out any goal chances.
While the Sligo side can be proud of their efforts, Ballygiblin just had too much to run out with an eight point victory to win the Junior All-Ireland title.
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