Declan Bogue
ONCE ALL THE bubbles and burgers were flushed out of the Errigal Ciaran systems following their county final win over Trillick, the team and management sat down for a little goal setting.
There, in a little meeting room at their Dunmoyle Cardinal MacRory grounds, manager Enda McGinley decided to have a little fun while making a serious point behind it. A joke with a jag, you might say.
‘Who all here,’ he asked, ‘has an Ulster club medal.’ None of the players could raise their hands.
But slowly the arms of the management team came up; McGinley himself, Paul Horisk, Paul Quinn, Dara Tierney, Rory McCann. All previous champions from 2002.
“It was our wee chance of glory!” said McGinley after Errigal added another 30 Ulster medals to their collection with victory over Kilcoo in the Athletic Grounds.
“But the purpose of that, obviously none of the players put up their hands so the purpose of that was to show that this was completely doable. We are the oul fellas sitting up here with Ulster fellas, how are you not going to get them?”
Some teams spend years slogging their way to dominate the local championship. And after that, they begin ascending in the Ulster club championship. It took Glen a couple of years to find their feat in this arena. Slaughtneil the same. Cargin have been toiling away year in, year out and still haven’t even got to a final.
Errigal Ciaran have now won their third, to add to the wins in 1993 and 2002. They remain the only Tyrone club to have reached this level.
“I think, you stand on the shoulders of giants. Those teams that have won before us, they do change mindsets, so there is a mindset factor to it,” said McGinley.
“I would expect the other Tyrone teams that are knocking us during the year and are able to beat us in plenty of matches, they will be looking at us and they will know it is achievable.
“Certainly with the club, you come in and there is that confidence. The enjoyment of the supporters, travelling out and heading to these places, they usually go in cavalcades. The supporters love it, the children love it and it is very special thing for our club.”
The history of Errigal is relatively short but it is rich. Even in the build up to this final they have never been afraid to tap into it, referencing the past in player interviews.
Even on Friday night, they ran some home videos of their win over RGU Downpatrick to show the players. 31 years ago, they were hokey jobs, with a teacher from St Ciaran’s, Martin McCarron providing commentary and after-match interviews with a succession of bashful subjects at the request of their substitute, Mickey Harte.
The manager that day was Danny Ball, who would subsequently go on to manage the county. After the final whistle, he and McGinley met for a short word.
“He said he bumped into Eamon Kavanagh, one of the players from ’93 and he couldn’t believe that it was 31 years ago. It feels like yesterday,” said McGinley.
“So he said, ‘Days like this, you remember for the rest of your life.’
“Whatever they do as a team is one thing, but they have achieved something today that when they are carrying each other’s coffins, days like these are still remembered. It’s exceptionally special, it’s exceptionally rare.
“The turkey will taste good!”
As it happens, Harte was also chairman that year. Nine years later he was team manager and it was he who led the present management team to Ulster glory in Clones against Enniskillen Gaels.
Man of the Match that day was Paul Horisk – perhaps an understated name among the Canavans and McGinleys and Gormleys, but there are echoes of in the same way as how Peter Canavan was largely well held that day, others stepped up.
22 years on, Errigal’s hero was Peter Óg McCartan. When McGinley was the Errigal minor manager a few years back, it was McCartan he appointed captain.
Peter Óg McCartan. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Tactically, Kilcoo had Errigal’s forward line locked down, with Ruairí Canavan scoreless and Darragh held to a single point. All the patient passes played inside were coming to nothing. Only for Joe Oguz’s goal in the first half they were struggling.
So they needed something different. They got that with McCartan’s first point. Not the sort of thing a half back tries when he has such arsenal in front of him. It tied the game up on 54 minutes.
Anthony Morgan swung the game back in Kilcoo’s favour soon after. A minute later, McCartan had another effort. We will never know what might have happened only he was shoved in the back by Callum Rogers and referee Noel Mooney correctly called a free that Tommy Canavan pointed.
A wide for each team followed and just as it looked as if Errigal had frittered away possession in one of the last possessions of the game, Ben McDonnell made an interception and McCartan kicked the winner.
“Peter Og is an exceptional player and again so many of our players, you live in the shadows of our stars and yet we know what they are capable of too,” said McGinley.
“The dressing-room before the game was just one of those special places where you just know there’s a hunger, energy and pride in them that it’s going to take something very special to beat them.
“Everyone knows Kilcoo have nothing to make in terms of an additional reputation, they are a phenomenal side but I knew our boys were in a special place beforehand.”
So it was coming?
“All week there was a sense among the group, they’re a special group anyway.
“They have put up with plenty of things being said about over the years, particularly within Tyrone whenever they have come up short but with the nature of the Tyrone championship that can happen.
“Whenever it happens, plenty of stuff is said about them in terms of doubting their character. They felt today was the final chapter of that, of establishing themselves and showing themselves what they can do.
Enda McGinley. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“Our run has been hit and miss in terms of our own performance levels but I always felt there was a brilliant character and a brilliant fight showing in them, whether we have hit top gear or not.
“Again today, plenty of mistakes but I just thought the character of the group was phenomenal, they never wavered, they never switched off, they never stepped back and I’m just delighted for them.”
At 6.50pm, the Errigal Ciaran players came out of the dressing rooms and onto the pitch once more. They formed an unruly team picture and let a few chants of ‘We are Ulster champions’ go.
All around them stood the children of the management team in the floodlit romance of the Athletic Grounds, 31 years after their first at the same venue.
The wheel keeps turning.
