SFC PREVIEW: The Young Shepherd versus the Towering Giant in unique final

If there was ever a David v Goliath scenario in the world of Gaelic football Sunday’s Joe Mallon Motors SFC decider between Sarsfields and Maynooth certainly falls into it. The story of David v Goliath goes along the lines of a famous biblical account in which a young shepherd boy defeats a towering giant warrior and wins.

Swap the young Shepherd Boy for the Maynooth senior footballers and the Towering Giant their Sarsfields equivalent and you will see exactly what I mean.

Sarsfields are a side who expect to be in, not maybe every county final but certainly every few years, while Maynooth on the other hand have been dreaming of making it to St Conleth's Park, on the biggest day in club football in Kildare, for in excess of one hundred years.

The last time Maynooth made the journey to Newbridge on county final day was 110 years ago and earlier that year there had been a mighty battle not far from the town in the Big Smoke around O’Connell Street, that lasted six days before the rebel leaders, the underdogs, surrendered on Saturday 29 April 1916.

Little chance of Maynooth surrendering I’d suggest.

Don’t know if any of the Maynooth players had seen ‘action’ in the city centre back in the day but they did make it to Newbridge some months later when losing out to Clane 2-2 to 0-2, and they have been dreaming and hoping for a return trip ever since.

And what a journey Maynooth will have had in 2026.

Managed by Moorefield legend, Ross Glavin, few have won more than the former army man both on the field and managing off it than him and the fact that he has led his charges to the final in just his second year as manager, is indeed testament to his prowess.

Sarsfields, on the other hand have for them, gone through a barren period, that is if you call four seasons without making it to the final a ‘barren’ period but that is the stature of the Newbridge Club. It was back in 2021 when they last lined out on county final day, a final they lost out to Naas as the club from the county town went on an incredible winning run.

Managed by Mayo native, Vinny Walsh, and we all know what Mayo have done in 2026, the Claremorris native led Athy to success back in 2020 when they defeated Moorefield.

In his second year at the helm at Sarsfields Vinny is an astute manger, as he has proven, has the knack of getting the best out of players and on Sunday when they cross the chalked line of Cedral St Conleth’s Park, they will do so as one of the hottest favourites in this, or any county final for many a long year.

The layers have the Newbridge side at the almost unbackable price of 1/4 while the boys in black with the white sash are quoted at the tempting odds of 100/30, needless to say some of the shrewder and seasoned Sarsfields crew had their money down when their team was in or around 4s.

Looking at the sides Vinny Walsh and his management team have some major decisions to make before Sunday. Sarsfields have, and few others can match them in this regard, strength in depth. When you see players of the calibre of Daragh Ryan, Ben McCormack, Alan Scully, Jimmy O’Neill, Ryan Kearney, to name just a few, that started the sem-final on the bench, it gives you an idea of the strength of their panel.

Then when you consider, that when Sarsfields found themselves in a spot of bother against Celbridge in that semi-final they turned, initially to Jimmy O’Neill and Ryan Kearney, soon to be joined by Daragh Ryan and they all turned things around in an impressive second half performance, holding Celbridge to two points while hitting a second half total of 1-11 winning 2-17 to 2-9.

So no doubt some big decisions have to be taken by the Newbridge management side, but what a position to be in and what a lovely 'headache’ to have coming into a senior county final.

And what of Maynooth?

To say they are the surprise packet of the senior championship of 2026 would be a bit of an under statement.

And remember Maynooth and Sarsfields were in the same group in this championship, along with Caragh and Carbury and while Sarsfields won that head-to-head it was still all to play for coming down the stretch.

Maynooth advanced to the quarters setting up a battle with the 2025 senior champions Athy.

Not a game that would have lived long in the memory but for the fact that it saw the boys from the south of the county leave their crown behind them when, despite holding Maynooth to just one score in the second half, albeit a two-pointer, very late in the game to force extra time; going on then to get the better of the boys in red and book a semi-final spot.

The draw for the semi-finals at Cedral St Conleth’s Park, some twenty minutes after the second quarter was awaited with much anticipation and it is fair to say that most neutrals were hoping for a Sarsfields v Naas final and when they were kept apart in the draw, not purposefully I hasten to add, the hoped-for decider for many was not to be.

Maynooth, however, now had the task of taking on Naas.

And talking to Ross Glavin before that semi, he certainly made it very clear he felt his side had every opportunity to make it through.

And he was certainly proved right.

And while some, in fact many, felt Naas just did not perform on the day, in hindsight that is being somewhat disingenuous to Maynooth and its management team.

As Glavin points out in an interview in this edition of the Leinster Leader, he felt his side were not given the credit they deserved in knocking out the previous champions and the hot favs in successive victories.

So where will this one be won and lost?

Sarsfields have strength throughout, however it is their forward sextet, along with those who they introduce during the game, that would seem to hold the key.

The experienced and talented Barry Coffey leads the attack with county man Callum Bolton to his left, on his other side we will have to wait and see who is selected but it will be no surprise if either Daragh Ryan or Ryan Kearney get the nod.

In the full forward line Karl Hartley is buzzing big-time while Luke Mahon surprised many with his impressive display against Celbridge.

Matty Byrne and Gavin Anderson are solid, without being spectacular in the middle, while the half-back line of Daragh Conlon, Shea Ryan and the growing influence of Cathal White make up an exciting half-back line.

The first line of defence is also no mean line, add in a fine keeper, Cathal Moore, an expert free taker who has a top class kick-out and you can see just why The Sash are so much fancied.

Maynooth, on the other hand, is a team not as familiar as most of their opponents, although Mark Donnellan does not fall into that particular category.

The full back line of Cathal Quinn, Alex Tilly and Sean Mahon have done very well throughout this campaign; Niall O’Sullivan at no. 6 is a big player who can get forward and score while the wing backs of Conor O’Grady and Callum McCabe are no slouches.

Midfield is strong here, Ciarán Flanagan has enjoyed an excellent season while Matthew Diamond is becoming more influential in every game.

Up front the main man is undoubtedly Paddy Mahoney and while the corner forward was fairly well marchelled in the semi-final he still managed to end up scoring four points.

Sean Hever is a fine leader of the attack, Liam McDonald at no. 14 was very influential in the semi-final and while he only scored one point he did a lot of damage throughout.

Dual star Cathal McCabe also made a big impact last time out while Paul O’Dea, Paul Maguire, Paddy Ryan all did well and have done well in this campaign, not forgetting Neil Flynn.

This could be a lot closer than many expect, the last thing Sarsfields want is for Maynooth to be still in contention coming down the stretch, but at the end of the day one would have to go with Sarsfields regardless of who marches behind the band in the pre-match parade but also from those who be itching to see action off the bench.