Errigal Ciaran looked nervous early on and after conceding a goal as early as the 5th minute the winners raised another green flag before the end of the opening quarter. Things didn’t improve for Errigal as their opponents struck for a third major three minutes after the Tyrone and Ulster champions had lost influential Captain Canavan to injury.

Full forward Niall O’Callaghan opened the scoring in the 4th minute and sixty seconds later Cal Doran finished to the bottom left hand corner of the net. Tommy Canavan opened Errigal’s account from a free but it was Cuala who were in control as Luke Jearing converted a free before Con O’Callaghan tagged on a quality effort from play followed by a long range free.

It was already an uphill task but when Charlie McMorrow set up fellow half back David O’Dowd for a 13th minute goal the scoreboard read 2-4 to 0-1. Keating and O’Callaghan added points from frees before impressive midfielder Peadar Byrne first timed the ball to the net in the 25th minute. A few minutes before that Darragh Canavan had to go off after a head injury. Joe Oguz, Ruairi Canavan, Odhran Robinson all scored from play while Tommy Canavan knocked over another placed ball but they still trailed 3-9 to 0-5 at the interval.

Harte began the comeback with a superb effort from distance after only twenty seconds and by the 33rd minute Tommy Canavan and Ciaran McGinley had tagged on quality points as well. Con O’Callaghan opened Cuala’s second half account with a left footed point but the Canavans Tommy and Ruairi responded with a free apiece.

O’Dowd then hit a point for the winners before Harte lit up Croke Park with an outstanding finish to the top right hand corner of the net after a good ball from Tommy Canavan. The influential Mark Kavanagh, who had come on for Darragh, then reduced the deficit to six by the 40th minute. Luke Keating and Tommy Canavan traded points before a Ruairi Canavan free left five in it going into the final quarter.

A surging fifty metre run from midfielder Peter Duffy helped ease the pressure for Cuala a little but a Tommy Canavan free and a point from play from substitute Padraig McGirr left it 3-13 to 1-15 by the 54th minute. A timely block from Rio Quinn denied Cuala a goal before Harte left just a single score between the sides with an effort with his weaker right boot. The momentum was with Errigal at this stage but they failed to close the gap further and it was left to Con O’Callaghan to set up substitute Conor Groarke for a fisted point to seal victory and a first All Ireland Club Football title for Cuala.

Errigal Ciaran scorers – 0-6 [4F], Peter Harte 1-2, Ruairi Canavan 0-3 [2F], Joe Oguz 0-1, Ciaran McGinley 0-1, Odhran Robinson 0-1, Mark Kavanagh 0-1, Padraig McGirr 0-1

Cuala scorers – Con O’Callaghan 0-5 [2F, 1×45], David O’Dowd 1-1, Peadar Byrne 1-1, Luke Keating 0-3 [2F], Cal Doran 1-0, Niall O’Callaghan 0-2, Peter Duffy 0-1, Conor Groarke 0-1