McGrath wraps up Athy win with well taken goal
James McGrath celebrates after scoring Athy's third goal Photo: ©INPHO/Ben Brady
James McGrath more than made his mark in his debut inter-county season and grabbed three goals on the way to helping Kildare win the Tailteann Cup so when Conor Doyle picked him out in a good position in the 48th minute of Athy’s Leinster Championship game against Baltinglass we knew what was coming next.
The wing back has the talent and composure in those sort of positions to finish in a manner that any forward would be proud of and he gave Mark Jackson no chance with a well placed shot.
After two near misses earlier in the game, McGrath was glad to take his opportunity.
“I love getting a goal or two when I can. I felt I was hard done by in the first half, I don’t know what happened with that one. I got done for steps then in the second half but it’s nice to get one,” he said.
The goal came at the end of lightning fast counter attack. Once Athy broke through the initial Baltinglass press with a Cathal McCarron pass to Conor Doyle, there was a sense of imminent danger to the Wicklow champions.
“You could see it coming a mile away,” agreed McGrath.
“When you see eight or nine Athy jerseys running and Baltinglass have only four or five back you know there’s going to be overlaps left, right and centre. I remember shouting to Hylo when we were about 40 metres out to push over to the left and leave the middle open and then it was just a little burst of energy and Conor will always find you and the rest takes care of itself,” he said.
47Nóim@BaltoGAA 0-9@ATHYGFC 3-12
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) November 2, 2025
James McGrath le cúl álainn aonair 🫡
12 points separating the teams now 😱
BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV #GAABEO pic.twitter.com/oGS4nien2v
That was the third Athy goal of the day after Ronan Kelly scored a brace either side of the half time break and McGrath had plenty of praise for the youngster.
“Ronan was brilliant there today. He’s a very tough man to stop when he gets going, he’s very shifty and jinky. We have great blend of old and young and I’d say it’s the best Athy team we’ve had in a long time,” he said.
McGrath was expecting a tough game against Baltinglass and said that Athy trained hard in preparation for it, after first enjoying their county final win.
“We went out for a day or two after the county final and enjoyed ourselves, rightfully so, but then we put the head straight away. We were back training on Thursday evening. Everyone was saying that Aughrim is a tough place to go, I’ve played here. My brother was messing saying that even the All-Blacks wouldn’t win here!
“So, we’re just delighted to get the win,” he said.
Summerhill of Meath in the quarter-final are next for McGrath and Athy and he’s glad to be getting them back to Cedral St Conleths Park.
“Conleths is a great place to play, especially for us, we have a good track record there so far. Everything is unchartered territory for me in Leinster, I’ve never played Leinster club before so it’s exciting, very exciting. We’ll just take every game as it comes,” said McGrath.
After a long inter-county season, it means a near 12 month season for the likes of McGrath who featured this year for Kildare but he hopes to extend his season a little longer yet.
“They are doing the pre-season with Kildare at the moment so it’s nice to get a break from all that, this is almost more enjoyable, you’re just playing games with your friends and we have two weeks not to the next game,” he said.
