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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
James Gould

Steelstown Captain Neil Forrester's Croke Park Speech branded one of the greatest of all time

Steelstown Brian Ógs won the GAA All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship on Sunday at Croke Park and Captain Neil Forrester gave one the greatest speeches ever heard at the stadium.

The Derry based club defeated Meath champions Trim 3-14 to 2-5 at GAA HQ.

From the Hogan stand after the match, captain Forrester gave an extraordinary, emotional victory speech.

"To Croke Park, the GAA, AIB, this is an incredible competition," Forrester said.

"It really is the crown jewel in the GAA calendar because you can see how much it means to the parishes and communities of Ireland."

He went on to detail how the small Derry club were told "there was no Gaelic football in the city".

"We're a young club. We were founded by Anthony McGurk, Mickey Doherty, Phillip Devlin. They were told that there was no Gaelic football in the city, but they did not listen.

"They planted the acorn. It was nurtured by people like BrÍd Kelly McElroy, Andy Barr Snr; they were told there was no Gaelic football in Derry city - they did not listen!

"To you, our coaches, administrators, parents, you nurtured us more. The oak tree grew, Gaelic football is alive in Derry city!

"It hasn't been easy. We faced serious adversity on the pitch. We'd never won or a league or a championship on our men's team. Now we have three. Finally, adversity wasn't just on the pitch, it was off it. We lost people that we loved. People like Charlene, people like Brian Óg McKeever.

Steelstown players celebrate (©INPHO/James Crombie)

"He's the true captain of this club. It should be him climbing these steps. He's the captain's captain. It wasn't to be, so instead we named our club after him, even though he was only 17-years-old - that's the type of man that he was.

"Tonight, everybody will know his name, and our club's name, because Dublin city belongs to Steelstown Brian Ógs!"

Social media went in to meltdown after the speech, with legends such as Joe Brolly giving their thoughts.

Another user tweeted: "Great to see such passion. Serious achievement for them. Great for football in the city."

@dkeego simply put: "Unbelievable stuff."

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