Scotto Tacos Take Home Historic Cillian Cup
- Albany Rebels
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
For seven Saturdays in September and October, 35-45 Capital District athletes depending on the week (59 registered players in total) gathered at legendary Sionnach Field behind the Celtic Hall on New Karner Road to do battle in the 2025 Albany Rebels Gaelic Football Rec League.
The teams were compiled by notoriously corrupt Commissioner Henry Best. There were four:
Kanalley’s Katanas (sponsored by Washington Tavern)
Joe Bradley’s Cousins (sponsored by Lionheart on the Green)
Scotto Tacos (sponsored by Proskin Law Firm)
The Mighty Chucks (sponsored by Emma Cleary’s)
Knowing only the top four teams would earn a spot in the storied Cillian Cup Playoffs, the competition was fierce.
Among the standout performers were a number of the usual rebels: Marc Massena, the Bantry Bandit (Kevin Clifford), Jason Chicione, and Craig Larsen come to mind. However, the beauty of the rec league lies in the birth of new legends. There was the goal scoring prowess of Kyle Veith, the ball-carrying wizardry of Pat Bruen, point machine Gracie Corrigan, assist machine Natalie Cross, Brendan Feeney’s piercing runs, Tommy Doyle breaking ankles, and Joe Marotta realizing defenders are allowed to be fairly violent.
Other notable events: Dustin Moore was removed from the referee rotation in part due to his inability to throw a jump ball more than two-feet off the ground.
By the end of the regular season, two teams had established themselves as the favorites for this year’s Cillian Cup: the Katanas and the Cousins.
The Katanas were led by Des Norris, Jason Chicione, Craig Larsen, and Craig’s posse. The Cousins were led by the dynamic duo of Pat Bruen and Kevin Clifford with notable assistance from the Feeney Bros, Max Weissman, and corrupt Commissioner Henry Best.
The Cousins swept the Katanas with the exception of one draw in their regular season matchups. However, the outcome of this inevitable final was far from certain. As the players trudged through the woods to Sionnach Field on the morning of October 25th, all waited with bated breath for this clash of titans.
The First Semi-Final
The Mighty Chucks (4 seed) DEFEAT (1 seed) Joe Bradley’s Cousins
Historians will long debate the effect referee Marc Massena had on the outcome of this game. His refusal to black card the numerous cynical fouls committed by his brother (Pierre Massena) on scoring threat Kevin Clifford will forever haunt the memories of those who witnessed it.
Sure, the Cousins had plenty of opportunities to score and sent them all wide. Sure, only down two points with 3 minutes to go, the Cousins sold out to get a goal even though they had plenty of time to accumulate points. Sure, the Chucks only had a lead because phenom Kevin Clifford pushed a scrawny poorly balanced teenager to the ground in front of his own goal. This same teenager, Mason Dale, also had an incredible goal beating two Cousins to a floated pass from Jack Devoe to slap it over the goal-line.
The Mighty Chucks won two games all season. Even the late season addition of Pierre Massena (originally was supposed to be part of the Cousins but allegedly corrupt Commissioner Henry Best was bullied into giving him away even though he warned his envious harassers that this would be the result) didn’t appear to be enough.
Lucky for them, the cursed Cillian Flavin was away that weekend and as a result they were able to pull together to take down the best team in the league in the greatest upset in GFRL history.
The Other Semi-Final
Scotto Tacos (3 seed) DEFEAT (2 seed) Kanalley’s Katanas
The Kanatas couldn’t hit a point to save their lives. It was a mostly evenly matched game except for the snake-bitten shooting of the tie-die warriors.
The Tacos were a team that had been perfectly “meh” all season with a .500 record. Led by Marc Massena, RC Helsing, and the Weather Boys (Alex Bielfeld and Liam Healey–google “Really? w/Liam Healey” for some tv weatherman gold), they had potential.
So how did the “meh” team drop a 7-goal bomb on the elite Katanas?
Easy. Alex Bielfeld woke up that morning and decided he was going to be Messi for the day. Also, former Joe Bradley’s Cousin, Joe Bradley, started banging goals into the top corner despite blasting these exact same shots wide when playing for his original team!
A late left-footed point from Jason Chicione saved the Katanas from the shutout, but not from disaster.
Not even an hour into the day, the presumed title contenders were eliminated.
Consolation 3rd Place Game
Joe Bradley’s Cousins DEFEAT Kanalley’s Katanas
Moving on.
THE CILLIAN CUP FINAL
Scotto Tacos DEFEAT The Mighty Chucks
A back and forth 1st half, opened up in the 2nd. Alex Bielfeld continued his goal-scoring streak. What had been a stingy Chucks defense in the semi-final vs the Cousins and in the first half, now drifted apart leaving acres of space for Marc Massena to run into.
Seeing this, Tucker Conklin knew he had to do something. During one arcing run by Marc in the attacking third, Tucker stepped forward to intercept him. He lashed out with a strong tackle and proceeded to castrate the younger Massena brother.
Once everyone realized why Marc was rolling around on the ground like he’d just been shot, it was pretty funny.
However, freed from the burden of manhood, Marc just ran faster and the scores from the Tacos piled up more and more.
In the end, it was a blowout. The Tacos had put together one of the most dominant Saturdays in Rec League history. And they had done so on the most important Saturday of all.
And once we complete construction on the Cillian Cup–one of Gaelic Football’s most treasured, iconic, venerated, and hallowed trophies–the Tacos will join centuries of footballing legends (and anyone with $5 to spare) in kissing Cillian’s 3-d printed face before drinking from his glorious chalice.
Said crooked Commissioner Henry Best of the inaugural GFRL season: “I’ve never been more hated in my life.”
CONGRATS SCOTTO TACOS!!!!!!