Gael Force: Your 2026 Runners-Up

Gael Force finished Gaelic 4 Good 2026 as runners-up after taking the first ever match all the way to a penalty shootout.

The black and gold side faced Clann Na Blátha at St Peregrine’s GAA on Saturday 8 August 2026. There was nothing between the teams by the end of normal time, meaning the first winners of Gaelic 4 Good would have to be decided from the penalty spot.

The shootout went down to the final kick. With Gael Force still in with a chance, Alex Nolan stepped up for their last penalty but missed, bringing the shootout to an end and handing Clann Na Blátha the first James Geraghty Cup.

For Gael Force, it was a tough way to finish a match they had been in right until the very end.

All the way to penalties

There was very little between the two sides across the match.

Captained by Ryan Mar, Gael Force kept themselves in the contest throughout and made sure there would be no straightforward winner on the first Gaelic 4 Good match day.

Like every player involved, the Gael Force squad also had something beyond the result to play for. Each member of the team represented their own charity or cause, with those names carried on the kits and throughout the wider Gaelic 4 Good campaign.

The cup ultimately went to Clann Na Blátha, but some of the standout performances of the day came from players in black and gold.

Cian Johnson finishes as G4G’s top scorer

One of the biggest performances came from Cian Johnson.

The Ferbane forward, who has represented Offaly at senior level, finished the match with 10 goals, making him Gaelic 4 Good’s top scorer after the inaugural game.

Johnson came into the match with plenty of football behind him. He has lined out for Ferbane and Offaly and was part of the Ferbane side that won the Offaly Senior Football Championship in 2019.

His ten-goal return at St Peregrine’s now gives him another record. He leaves the first Gaelic 4 Good match sitting at the top of the competition’s all-time scoring list.

Nine players in the Team of the Year

Gael Force’s overall performance was reflected when the first Gaelic 4 Good Team of the Year was announced.

Nine of the fifteen positions went to Gael Force players:

Adam Lee, Jack Harte, Ben O’Sullivan, Shairoze Akram, Liam Magee, Ryan Mar, Caolán Ward, Lily-May O’Farrell and Cian Johnson.

It meant more than half of the inaugural Team of the Year came from the runners-up.

There were some familiar names among them too.

Caolán Ward came into Gaelic 4 Good as a Wolfe Tones footballer and one of the better-known GAA creators online. His football content had built an audience of more than 80,000 people across his platforms, while his place in the Team of the Year showed he could back it up on the pitch too.

Ben O’Sullivan also earned a place in the fifteen. Better known away from Gaelic football as the producer behind Kilkenny indie-pop duo 49th & Main, Ben lined out for Gael Force while representing Give Blood.

Then there was Johnson, whose ten-goal performance made his inclusion difficult to argue with and gave Gaelic 4 Good its first scoring benchmark.

Captain Ryan Mar was also selected, joined by Adam Lee, Jack Harte, Shairoze Akram, Liam Magee and Lily-May O’Farrell to complete Gael Force’s nine representatives.

A tough ending to a strong first year

There is no getting away from how the afternoon ended for Gael Force.

They were one kick away from keeping the shootout alive, and Alex Nolan’s final miss meant it was Clann Na Blátha who got to walk up and collect the James Geraghty Cup.

But the first Gaelic 4 Good match gave Gael Force plenty of their own history.

They took the eventual champions all the way to penalties. They produced nine of the fifteen players selected in the first Team of the Year. Their forward Cian Johnson became the competition’s first top scorer with ten goals in a single match.

They did not leave St Peregrine’s with the cup, but they played a massive part in making the first Gaelic 4 Good match what it was.

Gael Force, your 2026 runners-up.