Crossmolina's Conor Loftus scores the winning penalty in the final moments of the game during the AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final match between Ballinderry of Derry and Crossmolina Deel Rovers of Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
By Paul Keane
Crossmolina manager Brian Benson said he felt a sense of destiny, for better or for worse, when Conor Loftus stepped up to his pot shot at glory in Croke Park.
Crossmolina, trailing opponents Ballinderry by a point, were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time in the AIB All-Ireland club IFC final.
There was a considerable delay before the kick was ready to be taken, adding to the pressure of the situation, but the ball was only ever going to be handed to one man, club and county star Conor Loftus.
Just over a fortnight after the tragic passing of his partner, Roisin Cryan, Loftus displayed immense character to arrow a low kick to the bottom left corner.
It was virtually the last play of the game and when the full-time whistle sounded shortly after, Loftus was surrounded by celebrating team-mates before making a beeline for the sanctuary of the dressing-room.
"We were very adamant that it was goal, go for it," said Benson, explaining the thought process around the penalty and going for three points when one would have secured extra-time.
"That was the point that it was either going to be, or it wasn't. And Conor, the way he has taken penalties all of his life, but especially in the last year, he's kicked a good few penalties, and you could see where they usually end up and it's the back of the net and thankfully it was the same again."
Benson said he never doubted that Loftus, who had a strong game otherwise and had earlier scored a cracking long-range point, would convert.
"Obviously the last two weeks, three weeks, have been really tough in the club," said Benson. "Very emotional, and obviously you see Conor there, as soon as the game is over he's bolted down the tunnel. Like, while we're all excited and delighted, our thoughts have to go to them, to Conor Loftus and the Cryans, it's obviously really difficult for him.
"To see him bolt down the tunnel after winning an All-Ireland in Croke Park, I just think it says a lot about the fact that he could come out and play today for us. I have to acknowledge that."
Crossmolina won the All-Ireland club senior title in 2001 but were relegated from the senior ranks in Mayo in 2018 and have been in the second tier since. Benson said that when he took over the club four seasons ago, 'there was a big change needed' and that the group was 'a little bit on the floor'.
He said that while there have been various 'bad days' to hit the group, and a number of deaths, it has brought the players and management even closer.
"When you go down the straight in some of these games and it's tight, that is where that kind of steel and togetherness that we have within the group comes out," said Benson. "We've spoken about it, those 37 players, they're just phenomenal. It's the tightest group I've ever seen, ever, in any team environment I've ever been involved in."