All roads will lead to St Margaret’s for the Cuala 2nd football team on Wednesday night as they seek championship glory against Portobello. The Junior E championship final will throw in at 7 o clock, with a big crowd expected at the North Dublin venue. The Cuala side suffered defeat at the hands of Portobello in the group stages so the motivation of righting that wrong will be a key factor.
That opening group game saw Cuala travel to Rathmines in late July for their first championship game of 2025. Hopes were high among the group as preparations had gone well but in a disappointing first half, Portobello took control and held a 7 point lead at half time. Knowing that they were capable of more, Cuala seized back the momentum and started to claw back at the host’s lead. After a much improved 2nd half, they held Portobello to a single point in the 2nd half but ultimately that was enough to see them take the win by the narrowest of margins.
Cuala now knew that they needed to win their remaining two group games, so rather than falling at the first hurdle, they laced their boots up and got back going again. Our 2nd game was a home fixture where we welcomed our neighbours Foxrock-Cabinteely to Hyde Road. With a renewed drive and hunger evident across the whole team, they played the much better football from the start and held a 6 point lead at the half time whistle. Fox-Cab made the comeback we expected from them as the 3rd quarter progressed, but we weathered the storm and finished the stronger team to seal a 6 point win. Along with some great support play and attacking football, the hunger, drive and maturity in the performance was great to see for the home attendance.
It now came down to a 3rd round clash with St Maurs where the winner would see almost certainly see themselves in the county semi final. Each player in the group knew the task at hand, with everyone focussed on this crunch game. The slow start from the first round game was certainly not repeated here as Cuala showed their true potential from the first whistle. A brilliant display of attacking football and teamwork saw them lead by 1-12 to 0-1 at half time. No game is ever won at the half time whistle, and St Maurs came out fighting in first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. Knowing a semi final place was within their grasp, Cuala managed to regain control of the game and finish with a convincing win.
This meant a county semi final was in store for this team, the first time to reach the semi final since 2022. A long journey up the M50 to face Fingal Ravens was the reward for finishing 2nd in the group. In a closely fought and tense game, some good points from Molly Basquille helped Cuala into an early lead. Fingal Ravens weren’t going to make things easy as they finished the half with 3 points to see the sides level once again at half time. 30 minutes of football stood between us and a championship final. These 30 minutes could be our last championship football of 2025. However, on this night each and every Cuala player stepped up to the challenge and in the last 10 minutes(plus 7 long and agonising minutes of injury time) we proved to be the fitter and hungrier side. The cheers at the final whistle were a mixture of elation at reaching the final and relief at closing out a game which could have easily gone either way.
After that narrow loss in round one, the team has met every hurdle with a renewed focus and cleared each one on their way to the county final. They now have their sights set on championship glory and bringing the Junior E title back down the M50 on Wednesday night.
