Miller: “Winning the Cup is everything”
Division 1A came right down to the final weekend, with Boyne crowned champions thanks to their win over Tullow, which, coupled with Athy’s win in Wexford, meant it was the Carlow club that fell into the relegation playoff.
Speaking with The Kildare Nationalist, Athy captain Craig Miller described those results as a “big sigh of relief,” but admitted the club had expected more from their league campaign.
“To be honest, I’m not going to hide away from it, just staying in the division wasn’t the main goal. The goal would have been top four,” he said.
“The way the season went, we had a few close losses and ended with five losing bonus points throughout the season, which is a one-score game. So, you turn them into five wins, we’ve ten wins and we’re in the top two then.
“So, it was small margins, but we were probably just a little bit off at times to finish out the job in a few games.”
Things were getting increasingly nervous on the sidelines in Wexford last week when word started to come through that Athy’s relegation rivals Tullow had somehow managed to get themselves ahead away from home against title chasers, Boyne.
But Miller simply laughed off any notion that the news effected his players, or even that if fed onto the field.
“No, the only word I got personally was at the end of the game,” he said. “The whole message for the previous week to everyone was: ‘we just have to do our job and whatever happens up there happens - we control what we can control’.
“And that’s what we went out and did. It was touch-and-go a little bit in the first half, we even went behind, but it never crossed my mind what was going on in Boyne.”
With the league now in the back window, Athy turn their attention to the Leinster Towns Cup, where Wexford will coincidentally provide the opposition once again. And despite the short turnaround from the elation winning of League survival to getting up for a Towns Cup quarter-final Miller said it has not impeded Athy’s preparations:
“We trained on Wednesday night. We had a bit more focus on the J2s, they have their first round of the Cup this weekend, so we gave them a handout on their preparations (Athy 2 faced off against North Kildare 2 in the Leinster Towns Seconds Cup on Sunday).
“It was a chance maybe for us just to reset and let the batteries recharge a little bit. It’s been a long season. And we’ll hit the ground running then again (on Friday night) - three big sessions leading into that Wexford game.”
Wexford will surely be a different prospect from the team that Athy faced in the last round of the league. The Park Lane were already relegated heading into that clash, whereas they have no such baggage in the Towns Cup and will be eyeing the competition as a chance to salvage their season.
“(Wexford) beat Tullamore the previous week in the Towns Cup and Tullamore were probably one of the favourites for the Cup this year. So that was a huge win for them.
“You look at their team sheets and look at their dugout there last week; there was about six or seven lads in casual clothes. So, I’m sure they were resting lads last weekend against us when they were already relegated - we’re expecting a different animal now on Sunday,” Miller said.
Athy go into the quarter-finals as defending champions, having lifted the famous old trophy on six separate occasions between 1938 and 2025, while Wexford have reached five finals but only brought the trophy home once in their history – all the way back in 1930, with their last trip to the final coming 60 years ago.
While Miller and his team will be disappointed with the way their league finish, they can take great pride in their run to the semi-finals of the All-Ireland Junior Cup before Christmas. As amazing an accomplishment as that was, however, the Athy captain makes no secret of his club’s obsession with the Towns Cup.
“You probably don’t say it the whole way through the season that the Cup is the main thing until it comes around,” the captain said.
“But winning the Cup is everything - we always think about it, really, in the back of our minds. We’ll definitely be happy with another Cup final if we can - but the win is what the goal is. Retaining that Cup again, that’s the goal.”
