THREE (IN ROW) IS MAGIC NUMBER

CULLOVILLE U21 manager Liam Duffy says that there is no reason his club shouldn’t be targeting a senior club championship title after guiding his side to an incredible third U21 county title in a row.

Duffy is U21 manager along with Eddie Dale, Darren Rowland and Michael Nugent and they took the south Armagh side to the county U21 finals, (2023 being the Intermediate title) for the last four years in row, winning the last three.

Their latest victory came on Friday night after an extra-time thriller against an astute and physically strong Pearse Og.

“It is just a relief, it was a brilliant game of football and Pearse Og are a very good team, they had their homework and tied up all our main players for long, long spells and it just came down to the last few minutes when they kicked two two-pointers to win the game for us,” said Duffy.

“I don’t know how they went over.

“At the end of the day Pearse Og aren’t a bad team because they lost today, if we had of lost that game by a point we are still Culloville and we still have good players – that is it.

“Obviously we were behind the entire first half and we couldn’t reel them in and that is credit to Pearse Og they just wouldn’t let us get into the game. We have been finishing all our games strong and we knew if we take it into the last ten minutes that we might pull through. We went four points up but we just couldn’t shrug them off. They deserved the draw and maybe deserve to come back another night but we understand the rules that it had to be finished tonight and we are the lucky ones, we just got over the line at the end.”

Culloville could be on target to winning four U21 Armagh titles in a row next year, because they are only going to lose two players from their panel of 27 in 2026.

Having won an incredible three county titles in a row, it is an amazing achievement for the south Armagh club, whose trajectory is only going up. They won the senior U16 county title this year, while the senior team is playing in Division One A of the Armagh All-County League.

“I am not saying we are going to win it next year but we will be competitive over the next couple of years and that is where we want to be,” Duffy said.

“Our seniors are up in Division One A and that is the project, we want to challenge for the senior title. You look at all the clubs getting to finals, they are the same size as ourselves, Madden, Granemore, Maghery and there is no reason Culloville can’t get to a senior final and be competitive.

“This is what it is all about ultimately.”