Faulkner celebrates century with league final success

GAA

Damien Donohoe

Young GAA players all over the world dream of playing for their county in Croke Park but only the very best ever get that chance and only a fraction of 1% of all those kids will play 100 times for their county. So for your 100th appearance for your county to land on the day your county play a final in Croke Park - and you win - is simply fairytale stuff.

Padraig Faulkner is the youngest player on the current Cavan panel to reach the century mark, after making his debut in 2016. The Kingscourt stars man told the Anglo-Celt just how he felt immediately after the Saturday nights game.

“Brilliant day. It fell lovely for me, it could have fallen on a different game because I was sick for one of the McKenna cup games but the luck of the draw, I got Croke Park on league final day and when else would you want to make your 100th appearance?”

When asked did he think he’d make 100 appearances for Cavan when he started out, the full-back replied: “I’m quite an optimist but I just wanted to get on the Cavan team. I don’t look that far ahead but this year it felt more achievable when you looked at the likes of Killian Brady, Ray Galligan, Killian Clarke, Gearoid McKiernan and Martin Reilly breaking the record and a lot o those things happened in the last two or three years that just made me think that I definitely could.”

“Mam and Dad flew in from America, they were meant to fly in this morning at 2:00 but their flight was cancelled so they got re-routed through Geneva in Switzerland and so they actually only caught the last 15 minutes. That was their best-case scenario so obviously they got it.

“I suppose looking at the first half they probably caught the best part of the game. Then I’ve a sister and she’s only home there from New Zealand two days ago, she was away for four weeks and then my fiancée had no luck as she is away in Vegas and LA this week so I was facetiming her after.

“Look, it’s nice to celebrate with ones close to you and obviously I got to talk to all of them there after the match and not only my family, it was the support after. You’ve kids coming up to you wanting pictures, wanting autographs, that’s lovely to see and I just love to instill that want to play for Cavan in young boys and young girls.”

On the game, Faulkner reflected: “With a team like Fermanagh, they sit behind the ball if they get a lead. Last week we were chasing the game whereas today we just stayed point for point with them and when the game got close, we opened them out a little bit more. Fresh subs and fresh legs were able to get on and finish the game strong.

“Coming in at half-time, it wasn’t a spectacle, we got a lot of turnovers in our forward line but that last pass was just letting us down. We weren’t getting shots from our attacks and it was something we talked about at half-time and even our work rate, actually the will and the want to progress and push forward. In the second half lads really stood up. Ciaran Brady gave an outstanding performance and everyone else upped their game following that.”

Faulkner played a key role in Cavan’s win as he kept Fermanagh’s key forward Ultan Kelm scoreless throughout.

“Funny enough I was going to come to Mickey (Graham) at training on Tuesday night following that loss in Kingspan Breffni and before I had the words out of my mouth to ask could I mark him, he told me that I was going on him. If he didn’t say it to me I was going to say it to him.

“I wanted that job, Ultan is a great player and a great ball-carrier. I was looking down through the programme and he’s kicked two points a game and in the last couple of games he’s kicked a 1-3 and 1-2 so he was obviously one to watch and we just had to keep him quiet.”

Cavan’s bench proved its importance in lifting their third cup in four years and the primary school teacher showered the entire squad with praise.

“It’s serious. And not only the bench but it’s the last that are on the panel progressing forward. I know there will be a few lads really hard done by today, lads that didn’t even make the 26. I’ve been in that situation at minor level and it’s not a nice feeling.

“It’s just a credit to Cavan that we had a full squad there today. It’s a credit to the subs that came on and finished out the game but I think a lot has to be said for the lads that don’t get a jersey but make Cavan a stronger team at training. That’s something we pride ourselves on.”