GAA: Conor McAtamney follows in a long line of Swatragh midfielders

    CONOR McAtamney follows a long line of high fielders to come out of Davitt Park.  Whether by tradition or circumstance, Swatragh have produced more than their fair share of midfielders down the years. Anthony Tohill and Padraig ‘Poni’ McAtamney immediately come to mind of their 1993 county final team.  In the intervening years, Mickey Friel and Ruairi Convery alternated between the engine room and full-forward. All imposing figures. The Kearney, McWilliams and McAtamney families have fed into their underage conveyor belt to ensure there is a steady supply of primary ball winners. For now, the Davitt’s mainstay is Conor McAtamney and despite not turning 24 until April, he will be one of the corner stones of Damian McErlain’s new look Oakleaf side. “It is a coincidence - it is a bit of a rare thing but Swatragh always seemed to produce big men around the middle and big men who could catch a ball,” offers McAtamney. Football was always going to figure prominently for Conor McAtamney.  His father Martin played and managed teams around the club. “Ma (Paula) came from Bellaghy, from the Cassidy family who had a big GAA background too.” In a family of eight, Conor is nestled in the middle.  Younger brother of John, Mark and Gary.  He is followed by Paul, Niall, his only sister Ciara and younger brother Jude, himself a current college all-star. At the suggestion of assembling their own team almost, McAtamney smirks but remembers the early days. “That’s all we really did was play football….and hurling too.  We all played it.  We were out on our own, up the mountain a wee bit, but there was plenty of boys and we had games out the back nearly every night…rain, snow or whatever.” McAtamney wasn’t born when Anthony Tohill caught both throw-ins in the lashing 1993 rain as Derry hammered Down in ‘The Marshes’ on the way to All-Ireland glory.  But his reputation told the tale. “I suppose because Anthony was such a big name, you always idolised him,” Conor comments.

“As soon as I got older, I was always put into midfield.  Me and James Kearney were always in midfield and that was the way it was."

“As soon as I got older, I was always put into midfield.  Me and James Kearney were always in midfield and that was the way it was.  You just developed your high-catching ability because you were the one that always had to go for the kick-outs.” There were no short kick-outs involved back then.  Growing up through underage, Ruairi McGurk was the Swatragh ‘keeper and he had was able ‘feed us well’ explains McAtamney. “He was very good at kicking the ball out.  It drifted so you could just run onto it.  It wasn’t just bombed out so it was hanging there for a taller person.” In recent seasons in the absence of regular custodian Mick O’Kane, former outfield player Seamus McFlynn has been Swatragh ‘keeper. On Sunday Ben McKinless will likely be handed the number one jersey for the visit of Westmeath.  With their placed kick-outs, both bring a different slant to McAtamney’s midfield game.

“When the ball goes short all the time, there is very little enjoyment you get out of it, but it is effective the way the game has gone."

He sees its benefit, but would rather have the good, old fashioned battle. “When the ball goes short all the time, there is very little enjoyment you get out of it, but it is effective the way the game has gone. “You get more of a buzz winning balls off your man or if he is giving you a tight game of it – you embrace the challenge and it is enjoyable. “When you take that out of it, you are a normal half-back or whatever.  Midfield it just a title really.” SPREADING MAYO On one such Wednesday evening last summer, McAtamney was lording it as he almost singlehandedly beat Glenullin in a league game. His high fielding was well worth my trip to ‘The Glen’ to marvel at the forgotten skill. The previous week, Derry were robbed of McAtamney’s influence for the second-half of their electrifying All-Ireland qualifier with Mayo in Castlebar.  Before the interval, he was dismissed on what looked a dubious black card and his game was over. McAtamney has never watched the game since. “I saw a few highlights but I never saw the tackle and I don’t think there was anything in it.  It wasn’t as if I intentionally went to bring him (Tom Parsons) down.  I don’t know what he (referee) was seeing but in my eyes, it wasn’t a black card,” appeals the Derry midfielder. Looking on as Stephen Rochford’s men pushed Dublin all the way in the race for Sam, McAtamney thinks they ‘could’ve beat Mayo’ but highlights Derry’s inconsistency. “Whether we would have made it any further is a different story.  Derry football, at times you are expected to beat teams and you don’t…then when you are written off altogether and you come close to beating them.” McAtamney came through the MacRory conveyor belt.  He saw his brother Niall benefit from his county minor involvement, with Jude now coming into the senior ranks. Derry have the players.  McAtamney agrees, but not everyone commits. “It’s just the way the game has gone, not everybody is up (at Owenbeg) because they can’t commit.  We should be challenging the likes of the Mayos regularly but we can’t.” The life of a modern day Gaelic footballer doesn’t fit into normal life. After leaving school and a spell studying Design and Technology at Jordanstown, he realised it wasn’t for him.  After a year in Maghera working for former Derry sponsors Specialist Joinery, he went back to university for a career in sport. Last season, he completed his final year studies at the well-known sporting institute in Loughborough. It involved travelling home every Friday for training, a game on a Sunday followed by a flight and a race back for class on a Monday morning. Now, even at 23, he is one of the most experienced heads on the Derry side. “We were getting on the bus to play Armagh last week, James Kielt came down to the back and said ‘I thought I was getting on the minor bus’ – it’s strange.  There are some boys I have never even seen before, that are now playing – I just find that a bit weird,” McAtamney explains. Mark Lynch is back on board for another season, but McAtamney can understand why players no longer commit to the inter-county game. “He (Lynch) was working in England last year and flying back.  I was at university in England and flying back for matches.  For men that have family and working away – you would have to question ‘what’s the point?’ McAtamney makes the comparison with the game’s elite, with Jim Gavin being able to promise players September football. “They are going to win a trophy, whether it be Leinster or an All-Ireland - they are going to be in a final at least.  With us at the minute, you just don’t know.  So boys have weigh up the options and ask ‘is this worth it’? “If I had a family and all the rest, I would seriously question going too to be honest, even though I love playing for Derry.” BAG OF EMOTIONS The margins are fine and Derry could have been as easily preparing for life in division two this Sunday. McAtamney describes last year’s decisive Fermanagh game as a ‘bag of emotions’: “We had to beat them to stay up.  Carlus (McWilliams) scored the winning point with the last kick of the game and we thought we did it because we had heard at half-time that Down was getting beat (by Cork). “We were jumping up and down as if we had won a championship.  Then we realised Down won with last kick of the game - it was a serious high to a complete low.” Going into this season’s struggle, McAtamney knows first-hand how the newcomers will feel.  He came into the Derry side, straight out of minor, when Brian McIver came in as manager in 2013.  He played under Damian Barton and now embarks on the new regime. “So far I am really impressed with the way they go about their business,” comments McAtamney of the new management setup. “They did really well with the minors but when you get to senior level is different, different things will be thrown at them.  That will be a big challenge for them but I am sure fully embrace it and try their best for the team.” The last day of 2017 league summed up the cut and thrust of eight team leagues and McAtamney expects more of the same this season. “We play Westmeath in the first round and they will be no pushovers.  I played against them before and they are a big team, very physical and they can play ball at the same time.   We will have our work cut out if we are even thinking of beating them.

“I wouldn’t even been looking at promotion this year, because it is too hard to tell."

“We have a very, very young team – a very young team.  We will do well to stay in the top half of that league.” Is promotion back to division two the main target?  “I wouldn’t even been looking at promotion this year, because it is too hard to tell,” assesses McAtamney.  “There are so many new faces in and we don’t have the Slaughtneil boys until they are finished with their club commitments. “They will obviously strengthen the team, but before then – we are very inexperienced.  It might take a few games for boys to adapt to playing at that level.” “It not easy and the start of the year you are still blowing off a few cobwebs as well.  It will take boys a few games to get back into the swing of things. “We will compete, there is no doubt about that – but we will have to take it game by game and see what way we find ourselves.” When Colm McGuigan hangs up the number eight and nine jerseys this weekend.  McAtamney is likely to pull one of them over his head. From the days playing the back field, from plucking Ruairi McGurk’s kick-outs in the early years, playing midfield has been what Conor McAtamney has always done.