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"That gives me goosebumps&...

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"That gives me goosebumps" - Ronan Sweeney takes us inside Moorefield's epic comeback

98FM
98FM

05:48 18 Dec 2017


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The finale of this year's Leinster Club Football Championship was as frantic as it gets. 

Kildare's Moorefield had trailed Westmeath's St Loman's by six points with as many minutes to go but managed to battle back and secure a 1-4 haul that was just enough to pip their opponents.

Ronan Sweeney notched 1-1 for Moorefield and the former Kildare inter-county player joined Joe to discuss that epic comeback and his own role in it.  

"That gives me goosebumps" - Ronan Sweeney takes us inside Moorefield's epic comeback

00:00:00 / 00:00:00

"That gives me goosebumps," he admitted as he heard the commentary of the comeback for the first time.

"It's amazing to hear that. It captures the moment very well in fairness."

The match was slipping away from Moorefield when Sweeney intervened with the goal thanks in part to a great run by centre-back James Murray.

Moorefield's Kevin Murnaghan celebrates kicking the winning point late in the game ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne 

"He took the risk and he read that play very well and he drove so hard through the centre of their defence that they all kind of went to him and it just left me at the back post," said Sweeney of Murray.

"But even his hand pass just came at a perfect weight, that I didn't have to check my run or anything like that. The finish was the easy part really!

"All I thought about was keep it low, keep it on the deck, try and hit it by the keeper's legs and thankfully it went in. It was one of those ones where you half close your eyes and hope for the best.

"The next couple of minutes after that was just an amazing feeling because we got the real sense that we were going to win this thing, you know. Everybody sensed that and I think Loman's got one kickout after that but it was the only time they touched the ball after it. We owned it after that."

Sweeney is now 37 and very much in the golden veteran category but "the body is feeling better as the championship has gone on".

"Age is only a number. We finished that game with five 19 year olds on the pitch," he said, adding that "it's incredible" and the attitude and quality of these young players being one of the reasons he was so eager to return.

"Often it doesn't get the recognition. People don't realise how young these guys are but they're really good. They won a minor championship a couple of years ago." 

One of the heart-warming moments at full time was Sweeney phoning his Dad on the pitch as the latter was not able to make it to the game.

"It was great having the conversation with him on the phone because the emotions were high especially in the circumstances in which won the game," he said.


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