There are few greater honours in Gaelic football than managing your home club to a senior championship title, and that is exactly what Enda McGinley did as his Errigal Ciarán side were crowned kings of Tyrone last week.
Up against the reigning champions Trillick, it was a mammoth task and despite the joyous relief that met McGinley following the full-time whistle, he admitted in the post-match interview that managing his own club had been a “thoroughly unpleasant experience”.
Of course, anyone who knows anything about football knows that the three-time All-Ireland winner was referring to the huge pressure when it comes to taking charge of your own club, and because he is so rooted in that community, the pressure is almost ten-fold.
However, the victorious manager still felt the need to clarify his comments, and explain that sometimes when you are so heavily ingrained in something, it’s hard to see past anything but the task on hand.
“I probably need to hold back from doing interviews so soon after matches,” laughed McGinley. “We make it tough on ourselves really, you just lose perspective. You try to keep perspective, and God knows even with various things that have happened within our own camp, with people passing away and stuff – but yet, you still get so wrapped up in it, that you just lose that perspective.”
McGinley represented his county and club for more than a decade, and soon went into management when he hung up his boots, taking the reins of the Antrim senior football team for two seasons.
So, with such a successful manager in the community already, the question had to be asked; why hadn’t he been appointed as manager of Errigal Ciarán sooner?
“There would have been conversations in previous years, but to be honest I never felt quite ready for it,” he explained.
“Then I got offered it again, and there comes a time when you think ‘well it’s now or never’ and it still didn’t really suit with things at home, but you knew that there was an opportunity there, you knew that Mark [Harte] had done good work, so you knew the team was in a good place.
“You knew the responsibility when you took it on; it’s a big thing when a club has a good team and they trust you to take them, there is a big honour in that too.
“Me, Stevie Quinn, Ruairí McCann, and Ciarán Mullan – four of my senior management team – were the same four managers that I had when I was over the club’s minors, and a lot of them boys that won two county minor championships in a row six years ago, are now with me at senior level.
“The likes of Darragh Canavan, Cormac Quinn, Joe Oguz, Peter Óg McCartan, Odhran Robinson – all of them boys were a part of that crew.
“Being able to work with those boys again was always a goal of mine, and you were just trying to time it right.”
Things didn’t get off to the best start, as Clonoe forced them to a replay, and it was clear then that there was much more needed for the eventual champions. Like all good teams, things clicked when it mattered most, and the final brought out the best in the squad.
“I said to somebody earlier, that in terms of managerial jobs, us a group – we took the team that were favourites before a ball was kicked, made it worse to the extent that people didn’t think we could win it, and then managed to fall over the line by a point, hoping that we get a bit of credit now for winning it,” joked McGinley.
“Look, every club is missing players at some point, and every championship in its own way is a lucky championship, or at least that’s what it feels like up around here because you need certain things to fall your way, be it injuries, decisions, a ball going over or hitting the post, the draw of the championship; anything at all really, because it is a straight knockout, so you need your luck.”
That next challenge is fast approaching as Donegal champions St Eunan’s are awaiting in the Ulster club SFC tonight (7.15), and with such a tight turnaround from their victory over Trillick, McGinley is facing more than one obstacle to get the players right.
“You know it is a very special time of year when you are in an Ulster championship, but with the game coming so soon after the county final, you are more focused on getting ready and dealing with the inevitable knocks that come with playing a championship final, and especially the way it was played, it was pretty ferocious.
“Now we are starting to turn our attention to St Eunan’s because with Trillick being Trillick, we couldn’t afford to look any further down the line, so you have zero homework done and you are really starting from scratch, which is difficult.
“Errigal does have history in Ulster, but I would hardly say that it is spectacular. We have only won it twice, and the one thing about Ulster clubs is that the teams that tend to do well in it, are teams that have been there repeatedly, generally speaking. This year it is the likes of the Scotstowns, the likes of the Kilcoos, the Cargins; teams that are there repeatedly.
“So although no team will ever expect to be in it, they do time their season and mentally they expect to still be going at this time of year, and they know the level it takes because it is a different type of football.
“To find an edge to go again so soon is tough but, whether or not they are fully there for it and able to go for it, when the final whistle goes, and they are out of it, the sickness that they will feel the next day will be just as bad, and the excuse of being tired won’t really wash.
“It’s about trying to get their minds focused on that, and that whatever they do have left in the tanks, they need to get it ready to go.”
AIB Ulster Club SFC preliminary round
Errigal Ciaran (Tyrone) 0-12 St Eunan’s, Letterkenny (Donegal) 0-10
A STRANGE week lies ahead in the McGinley household after Errigal Ciaran’s dramatic late surge was enough to send St Eunan’s tumbling out of the Ulster club championship on Saturday night.
Ben McDonnell struck with three late points to edge this arm wrestle in the Tyrone champions’ favour after a Shane O’Donnell-inspired Letterkenny side looked to have done just enough as the seconds ticked down.
Their reward? A quarter-final showdown with Cargin on Sunday.
As drizzle descended on Healy Park, Enda McGinley knew the question was coming long before it left the lips of those stood before him. The three-time All-Ireland winner, in the first year at the helm of his home club, knows a bit about the Antrim champions.
Actually, as understatements go, that’s right up there.
His wife Geardine is a sister of the McCann brothers – Mick, Tomas, Paul and Gerard - who have backboned Cargin’s domestic dominance across the past decade, delivering eight county crowns in an unprecedented spell of success for the Toome club.
McGinley went to war with Mick and Tomas on the field when reigning All-Ireland kingpins Tyrone swept Antrim aside in the 2009 Ulster final, and later managed the pair during a two-year stint with the Saffrons.
Plotting against them in the claustrophobic club environment, however, is a different matter entirely.
“I’m in the garage,” he smiled, “I’m securing my wee laptop and my wee notebooks, and all conversations this week are going to be somewhat guarded.”
Indeed, another brother-in-law, Eamon – who runs CrossFit Anam in Toome – has helped plan Errigal’s gym work this year, alongside Tommy Canavan, who came off the bench to bag the last score of the night on Saturday.
That arrangement, however, will be parked for the time being.
“He very kindly offered us a free session there on Tuesday night, but I’m going to decline this time.
“We’ll go on our own steam for this match…”
But that family affair has only come about because, from somewhere, McGinley’s Errigal side found something special to drag themselves back from the brink on Saturday.
Not that Eunan’s were running away with it, or even operating with any great measure of authority. But they had just managed to nick their noses in front when it mattered – Conor O’Donnell jr pumping his fist into the air as his 59th minute 45 split the posts, moving them a point ahead and providing a platform to see the game out.
The second half, though, had been nothing like the first. The Canavan brothers, Darragh and Ruairi, looked lively early on, but a combination of Aaron Deeney, Caolan Ward and sweeper Darragh Mulgrew – with a bit of post Tyrone title-winning tiredness thrown in for good measure – meant their overall contribution was subdued rather than significant.
With playmaker Niall O’Donnell only appearing after half-time, St Eunan’s sat in and invited Errigal to try and find gaps. But, too often when they did, those opportunities went unpunished, a succession of poor wides ramping up the slight sense of panic as the Tyrone club’s control was not reflected on the scoreboard.
That wasn’t helped 15 minutes in when, with the chance to push their lead out to four after Joe Oguz was felled by Mulgrew inside the square, Shaun Patton dived to his left to brilliantly turn away Peter Harte’s penalty.
“We weren’t clicking, we were struggling up front, we were missing chances, attacks were breaking down in a sloppy enough fashion,” said McGinley.
“It felt like one of those nights where it just wasn’t going to happen for you.”
That penalty miss could have proved one of those sliding doors moments we see so often in games where breathing room is at a premium. Two minutes after Harte’s penalty was saved, Shane O’Donnell slalomed past three players and slotted over.
What should have been a four point Errigal lead was now one. O’Donnell cut in and curled over on his right to level shortly after – he was running the show now, and neither Cormac Quinn nor any of his team-mates could do anything about it.
The game cranked up another gear after the break. James Kelly had sent St Eunan’s in ahead at half-time and the two sides went at each other for half an hour – Darragh Canavan’s creativity of thought still able to draw breath from the crowd, even on an off night, while the electric Shane O’Donnell picked up where he left off.
At no stage did either manage to open up a lead of more than a point, yet it was the Letterkenny men who looked to be chipping away at their wearying opponents with a little more conviction.
Patton made the extra man up the field to allow Niall O’Donnell to slot over, bringing the Donegal crowd to their feet, before brother Shane conjured his best of the night – dropping the shoulder and leaving four Errigal opponents in his wake on the way to claiming his fourth score from play.
But McGinley’s men weren’t going to be cowed by momentum. They had come out the right side of a hell for leather Tyrone decider eight days earlier to claim a second county title in three years.
And Errigal showed once more that they are made of stern stuff – big Ben striking in some fashion, McDonnell first levelling O’Donnell’s super score before, trailing again going into added time, the towering midfielder beat the blanket by splitting the posts in front of the stand.
Call it clutch, call it composure, call it whatever you like – it was sheer class. A minute later McDonnell was wide open once more, Harte this time spotting him out of the corner of his eye before delivering a pinpoint pass into his path.
Oozing confidence, McDonnell didn’t just rush the shot, instead stepping inside Kieran Tobin before fisting over the bar as the pendulum swung for the final time.
With St Eunan’s forced to go for broke, Darragh Canavan found cousin Tommy rampaging off his left shoulder – the veteran campaigner making no mistake to send Errigal Ciaran through to a third championship clash in 16 days, and Enda McGinley into a bunker for the next week.
Errigal Ciaran: D McAnenly; A McCrory, Ciaran Quinn; N Kelly; Cormac Quinn, P Og McCartan (0-1), T Colhoun; B McDonnell (0-3), J Oguz; P McGirr, P Harte (0-2), C McGinley, D Canavan (0-1); O Robinson (0-1), R Canavan (0-2, 0-1 45).
Subs: T Canavan (0-1) for McGirr (39), M Kavanagh (0-1) for Robinson (55), R Ward for Colhoun (57), D Morrow for Ciaran Quinn (57)
Yellow card: B McDonnell (44)
St Eunan’s: S Patton; C Morrison, C Ward; D Mulgrew; A Deeney, C O’Donnell (0-1), K Tobin; E Dowling, J Kelly (0-1); C Moore, K Kealy, O Winston, S O’Donnell (0-4); C O’Donnell jr (0-3, 0-2 frees, 0-1 45), E McGeehin.
Subs: N O’Donnell (0-1) for Winston (HT), P Boyle for McGeehin (57), L McMonagle for C O’Donnell jr (60)
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
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@2024 The Irish News Ltd A FEW YEARS ago when he was writing his weekly column for The Irish News, the now Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley told a yarn about playing in the 2010 Ulster championship for Tyrone.
That day they had just about enough for Antrim and were trying to safely land the plane on the tarmac when Tomás McCann set off on a run. McGinley sensed danger and did the sensible thing. The professional thing. He upended him.
Afterwards, he was feeling a bit pleased with himself until he encountered wife Geardine and her family. The McCanns. Tomás’ family. They weren’t one bit pleased with his game management and he had to endure a mini spell in the dog house.
For Erin’s Own, Cargin, the McCanns are one of the main Gaelic families. Having played several seasons with Errigal Ciaran, Geardine herself transferred back to Cargin once they got a ladies’ team up and running at adult level. In one of her first games back, she ruptured her cruciate. She still plans on getting back to play in the green and white.
And now, McGinley faces Cargin in the Ulster quarter-final.
A house divided cannot stand, so he laughs when he asks if the spare bedroom will be his base for the next week or so. If only!
“Funny, Eamonn McCann (brother in law and proprietor of CrossFit Anam in Toomebridge), who has done our gym work this year along with Tommy Canavan, he very kindly offered us a free session there on Tuesday night, but I’m going to decline him this time, and we’ll go on our own steam for this match.”
It’s been a hectic time for Errigal Ciaran. The county final being called off because of Storm Ashley, refixed for last Friday night, the Ulster club preliminary round win over St Eunan’s and now off to Corrigan Park to face the Antrim champions.
All in the space of 16 days. McGinley will comfort himself that he will not have to review reams of videotape, having watched Cargin closely for the last two decades.
“I have been lucky enough to watch them for a long number of years and enjoyed watching them, obviously supporting the brother in laws and the rest of them,” he says.
“I am fully aware of the challenge that’s ahead of us. They’ve had the four weeks, I was at their county final, it was the week before our county final, and Cargin played poorly yet dogged in and managed to get across the line (against St Brigid’s), which has been their hallmark.
Michael and Paul McCann celebrate an Antrim title. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“I was just in awe of the resilience they showed that day, and I know how angry they were at their performance. They’ve had four weeks now to get the focus in, I know how determined they are to go out and show what they can do because they didn’t feel they did in the county final, and it’s amazing to be able to win a county final and not be anywhere near their top gear.”
A refreshing element to the provincial series is how clubs are not wholly reflective of the fortunes of their respective counties. For example, Antrim clubs have a better record in the province, and St Gall’s claimed an All-Ireland title in 2010.
And this is a Cargin team that is steeped in experience. What McGinley calls “a remarkable bunch, between Kevin O’Boyle, James Laverty, Justy Crozier, obviously Mick and Tomás McCann, then you’ve got the middle age group of boys like Jamie Gribben, Pat Shivers, and then a new group of players, the likes of Conhuir Johnston and Benan Kelly, so they have a superbly settled team.
“Ronan Devlin (manager), to be honest whenever Damian Cassidy had done such an amazing job, and Ronan was in with him, and when Damian stood down I was surprised because it was such a big step for Ronan to step up, and yet there he’s gone and done the treble.
“The way they go about their business is remarkable, I know they were disappointed with their county final performance and they’re hungry to go out and show what they can do. We just need to be very careful that they don’t get to do everything that they want to do next week.”
The only Tyrone club to experience winning Ulster, McGinley is tempted by a query about their own tradition. But he shoots back that before St Eunan’s, they hadn’t won a game in the competition in 12 years.
The last outright title was won on a drenched day in Clones when they beat Enniskillen Gaels in 2002. He notes that most of the current players have no memory of it.
“Yes, we’re a club with a proud tradition but we’re well aware that you have to keep building on that, and we have failed to do that for a while,” he says.
Joe Oguz tackled by Conor Morrison. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
“Trying to win an Ulster club feels a long way away tonight, to be honest, but we’re alive. There’s bodies that are tired in there, that’s the focus at the moment, if we don’t get that end of it right there’s no thinking about titles.”
After the county final win, he made a tongue-in-cheek remark that the pressure of managing his own club was not particularly enjoyable, something he wanted to briefly revisit when he said, “I am a wee bit embarrassed about that. You soon get a bit of cop on given the news that came out of Trillick and Jody Gormley (the Trillick manager has been diagnosed with a terminal illness).
“That was one hell of a wake up call, some perspective to be very grateful to get working with these boys. Very grateful that we got over the line and the performance to win the Tyrone championship and we can always be proud of that. And determined to make it count now.
“Because the likelihood of us being here next year and getting out of the Tyrone championship is highly unlikely so you have to make it count when you are here.”
The Errigal Ciaran management will be setting up a situation room in the McGinley garage, right about now.
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