All-Island glory for Arranmore on home turf

It was a great weekend for the island of Arranmore after they captured the All-Island football championship in the men’s competition last Saturday on home soil, with the Donegal based team winning the contest for the first time in a decade.  

The Donegal Island previously hosted the competition on two occasions in 2008 and 2014, with Arranmore winning the national tournament in the latter. 

Eight islands from across the country came together for the weekend, with teams travelling from as far south as Bere Island and Whiddy Island in Cork, as well as Clare Island, Inishbofin, and InishTurk. The remaining three teams are made up of the three Arran Islands. 

The tournament saw the men play 11-a-side while the women’s team played seven-a-side with the tournament taking place on Saturday. 

While the ladies’ team fell in the preliminary quarter-final (which was won by InishTurk), the men’s team overcame last year’s finalists Bere Island by three points in the first group game (the format saw two groups of four). 

Their second game saw them overcome Inishmaan with ease, restricting the Arran Island to only a single point, before defeating last year’s All-Island winners Clare Island in their final group game. 

Topping the group resulted in Arranmore playing the second team in the other group which was Inishbofin. Despite being a nip-in-tuck game in the first half, the home side broke away in the second half to come away with the win to set up an All-Island final encounter with Bere Island once again. 

It was acknowledged that the Cork Island made a number of changes from the first game with their midfielder moving positions to play as a sweeper keeper. 

In a cagey affair, Arranmore were leading 0-5 to 0-3 at the break with Bere Island playing a defensive system. And while the home team were leading by four points in the dying minutes of the game, Bere Island came back with a goal of their own from a free to make it a one-point game. 

But there wasn’t enough time for the Cork island to equalise, as Arranmore prevailed on a 2-6 to 1-8 scoreline with Dara Flanagan winning the Man of the Match award. 

Speaking after the event, tournament organiser and Arranmore player Dan O’Donnell said: “It was a fantastic weekend all round. I think the tournament started at 8.30am on Saturday and went on for 12 hours. 

“We got really lucky with the weather on Saturday, and just really how the whole tournament played out. The other islands travelled in big numbers and we really made a good weekend of it. And of course, us winning the competition in the men’s too made it great.”