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Towards the end of February in 2008, a small G.A.A club in mid-Cork was revelling in the ultimate achievement.
The small village of Carrigadrohid was host to a homecoming for Canovee G.A.A Club, who returned from Dublin with their first-ever All Ireland Junior title.
Canovee triumphed over Tyrone’s The Rock to seal an historic win.
As The Southern Star’s front page from the time reads; ‘grown men had left Croke Park in tears last Sunday as the club took its first All-Ireland.’
‘“Ladies and gentle-men, boys and girls, welcome to the capital of Cork,” Dave Healy, Chairman of the Canovee GAA Club said as he welcomed celebrating supporters.’
To add to the sense of occasion, it was also Chairman Healy’s birthday, a cocktail that left him without his voice before long.
‘Yesterday was a dream-come-true. It was a joy to see twenty-eight boys running out on to Croke Park,’ he roared to a cheering crowd.
‘Captain fantastic’ James Scanlon came in for special praise, as did Canovee’s medical team who kept the players fit all season.
Healy drew attention to the sense of pride and community, saying he noticed Canovee colours being worn ‘instead of the Manchester Uniteds, the Arsenals and the Liverpools.’
Frank McCarthy, chairman of the Mid Cork Board, said all the other twenty clubs in Muskerry were so very proud of Canovee.
“On the big day in Croke Park they showed the spirit – the real pride that Canovee are synonymous with. That was very evident yesterday on every one of the panel, every one of the players who played yesterday and that pride in this place and that’s what won the All-Ire-land title for them.”
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