SIDELINE VIEW - THE NEVER ENDING SEASON
The competitions will change – but the ball keeps rolling
THE GAA season never stops. Ever. Sunday told us that again. Ballinascreen minors’ win sets them up for a festive period in Belfast.
For diehards, the Christmas dinner won’t be digested five minutes and thoughts will ponder towards the McKenna Cup. The new hopefuls will be judged, the league will follow before the cut and thrust of championship.
In Derry, unfortunately, Ulster and All-Ireland glory have both been light years away for far too long. But the craving for action is fended off by club championship. The Oak Leaf faithful thrive on it - we love our club championship.
Even after all of that and the Ulster Club series comes to a conclusion, it is school games that fill the void. A glance at the various match programmes is like a who’s who of recent Féile and championship finals. The fruits of club coaching have a chance to pit themselves against the best from over Ulster.
I was at the Corn nA nÓg Final on Saturday at Clogher and though my old alma matter was on the wrong end of a tanking by Cavan, little has changed on the school scene.
With players being in each other’s company five days a week, training twice and playing a game on a Saturday – there is a club feel about it. The parents all know each other from following the teams over the span of a school life. Club rivalry is parked for an afternoon.
In the stand on Saturday was Barry McGonigle, Karl Diamond, Seamus and Henry Downey – previous school players. They know what it is like and the baton has been passed down a generation.
Behind the scenes, the work is still being put in. While Neil O’Kane and Colm Lavery were in charge of the team – the school community was out in force. Sean Marty Lockhart wasn’t far away from proceedings and as usual Paul Hughes was right bang in the middle of it all. His infectious enthusiasm for school sport knows no bounds.
The efforts don’t stop inside the white line. When Emyvale pulled their pitch late on Friday night, Martin McConnell was on the blower to 15 different clubs before his native Clogher eventually answered the call.
“When Emyvale pulled their pitch late on Friday night, Martin McConnell was on the blower to 15 different clubs.”
His brother Eugene, the newly appointed Tyrone PRO, was parking cars and Marty himself was gathering the flags when it was all over.
The GAA at its very best.
While the rest of the GAA fraternity were still in their beds, nursing a sore head from a work do or putting the finishing touches to their shopping – the buzz of activity in Clogher was symbolic of so much.
The previous day, St Pius Magherafelt were at the forefront of it all. Niall Hassan and Ronan McCusker were following in the footsteps of Brian McIver and Brendan Convery, preparing a side for a bid at Ulster glory.
Since September, they honed the team’s preparations with Friday in mind. For too long, St Pius have lived in the shadows. Brian Doyle and Ryan Bell were among their last winning crop – taking the McLarnon Cup on their way to All-Ireland glory.
On Friday the current year 9 and 10 pupils saw off Bessbrook to bring the Corn Loch An Iúir back to the Moneymore Road this week.
The previous week, the U16 camogs of St Mary’s Limvady and the newly formed Gaelcholáiste Dhoire in Dungiven came together under the auspices of Coláistí Ghleann na Ró and brought home a first ever Ulster Colleges title. Yesterday St Patrick’s Dungiven were in Ennis Cup action and Benny Heron will be getting his St Colm’s Draperstown side primed for the Gerry Brown Cup final in January.
All this, during what is supposed to be the off season. That’s the beauty of the GAA calendar, there is always something to offer. Aside from the glory and the skills picked up along the way, friendships will be ignited that will stand the test of time.
PAIN OF DEFEAT
Driving into Clogher, and every time I pass through it, I always think of one day. Saturday, March 23 1991. The day we were supposed to win the Corn nA nÓg. Under Liam Kielt, we went through one of the most punishing training schedules known to man.
Shuttle runs, training matches, more shuttle runs followed by more training matches. We didn’t call it strength and conditioning at the time, but sets of press-ups and situps were threw into the mix for good measure.
But my memory of that season was the endless stream of matches we played at training. It was time to go one better than the previous year - St Pius beat us to win the D’Alton Cup.
The teams met in the first group game for a drab low scoring draw. We hammered everything in sight for the rest of the season until a rematch when it really mattered. Four goals in the semi-final at Bellaghy saw us turn the tables on St Pius. We were home and dry. We could almost touch the cup – or so we thought.
It setup a final meeting with Abbey. Away from the local St Pius rivalry, the Newry school were off the radar.
The final at Clogher was going to plan until the referee decided to add on an eternity of extra time. In the tenth minute of stoppage time, Paul Cunningham somehow bundled the ball over the line. Our title bid was in tatters. There was no recovery time. It was over.
“In the tenth minute of stoppage time, Paul Cunningham somehow bundled the ball over the line. Our title bid was in tatters.”
As the years passed the Abbey team went on to supply Armagh with five members of their All-Ireland winning team. Barry Duffy, Aidan O’Rourke, Enda McNulty, Tony and John McEntee.
A glance at the programme from the game over the weekend raised an eyebrow. McNulty was midfield and Duffy was corner back.
As the young Maghera players filed out of the dressing rooms after last Saturday’s game, my mind went back to 1991. It is amazing what you remember. As we trotted up the hill from the pitch to the shop that day, I recall us sulking almost - it was the end of the world.
It was for a day. But it was a feeling that was bottled and banked. Four years later Adrian McGuckin would reference it heavily during our MacRory campaign.
Sean Marty Lockhart, centre back in 1991, has picked up the lessons of McGuckin. As he watched the Cavan players on Saturday you could almost see his brain churning over. The memories of defeat were being uploaded to the memory bank.
“Go on take a video of that,” he uttered to Seamus Downey. But the video wasn’t required. The memories of one team’s glory at the expense of your own stay there for ever…more so than winning ones. That’s what fuels the competitive edge in us.
Four years on from Corn nA nÓg defeat, Lockhart was on the right side of the Abbey, beating them on route to his second MacRory Cup in succession. Another dollop of Christmas training was the helping hand along the way.
Sport may momentarily stop for the festive season, but for the die hards and for players chasing dreams – the workload of training is essentially fitted in around the Christmas festivities.
“That’s Christmas gone for us now,” uttered one of Ballinascreen’s minor squad as they celebrated victory over Errigal Ciaran.
It was a throwaway remark relating to their festive social calendar but with an Ulster title there to be fought for - they’ll not mind.
Cathal Murray will organise another supporter’s bus…or perhaps two, as their bandwagon snowballs. The Boxing Day dinner will be put into cold storage.
A gathering in St Paul’s club will be the order of the day, before heading out to run their eyes over the ‘Screen stars of tomorrow. It is a healthy social scene as 2017 rolls seamlessly into 2018. The GAA landscape changes week on week…but it never stops.