Déaglán Bunting

Early memories:

“My early memories would have been going up to the old La Salle school- we used to train in the old gym on a Saturday morning and I was about four years of age. There are some class photos with all the coaches involved there. I remember my first match up at the pitch – we were playing St Gall’s and I must have been 5 or 6 ages of age”.

“There were no jerseys- just bibs and I missed my first penalty, I remember the day because Gary McAllister missed a penalty for Scotland against England in Euro 96 the same day. My grandfather actually said- sure even Gary McAllister misses penalties. When I say it was a match against St Galls- it was literally was two footballers either end as the nets and everyone just running around. That was my first proper game of some sorts”.

Shane Park and more missed penalties:

“Talking again about missed penalties, I remember the first time we played down in Shane Park- we had to share the trophy with Rossa. There were two periods of extra-time that couldn’t separate us and I missed two penalties in the shoot-out and I think John Kerr from Rossa missed two penalties”.

“The next year we won it outright- you would have been in the team, Declan [Lynch], Terry [McCrudden], Mackers [Mark McIlvenny], Kevin Quinn and Aaron McAufield. There is a photo going about- Brian White was county manager at the time and he presented the trophy to us. There must be 60 or 70 percent of those guys are still involved in the club at some capacity, whether its hurling, football, admin, handball or whatever it is- they still have some part to play in the club, which is probably the ethos of all clubs”.

Juggling between code’s:

“I remember in St. Mary’s- I would have been playing for my year in hurling, gaelic and soccer and playing the year above, I would have been playing club football and hurling and then going to play soccer. You were out every night of the week and training after school and then going straight from training after school to another training or another match”.

“Looking back, you didn’t think you were juggling it- you loved it and it was something that you enjoyed. I’d say you only felt the pressure when you got to certain ages were you probably had to concentrate more on soccer- in terms of going away for certain games and for schoolboy teams and trails for clubs across the water”.

“I had to stop playing hurling for the club at U-16 but I was still able to play gaelic up until a few days before I moved away to go across. I think it’s gone from today’s young society. They’re almost mollycoddled in terms of exercise- what more would you want to do than play matches at hurling, football and gaelic with all your mates or would you rather sit in and play the x-box or playstation all day? A lot more kids these days do the second. In terms of juggling- the club was fantastic and understood I wasn’t able to go to every training session but Smickers [Brian Smith], Bukey [Paul Buchanan] and Peter Kane – who were my managers growing up- worked around it”.

Last game before move away:

“My last game was meant to be a U-16 game against St Teresa’s on the Thursday night but the following Tuesday I went down to watch our minors against Rossa. Rossa won the minor championship that, I went down to watch and do umpire I think- we were getting beat at half-time and I was asked if you’d mind playing the second-half. I remember my Da running me down to get boots and coming back for the second-half and playing the second-half. That ended up being my last game before going away, they were brilliant times and something you look back on”.

Celtic move:

“I’ve been Celtic daft from I’ve been no age and it was a dream come true- but looking back- there were probably decisions I could have made differently. I had the chance to go to England and you’re wondering if I had have gone there would my operations have been solved quicker or diagnosed quicker, whatever way you want to look at it”.

“The main thing I probably missed and I feel like I missed out on- potential minor and U-21 championships that being over I had to miss out on. I remember coming home on summer and going to Clones and potentially missing out on a minor championship”.

“After my first season- I was due to come back and play for the county minors. I arranged it with Sean Fleming- who was the manager at the time. It ended up in the Gaelic Life that me and Conor Devlin- who was going across to Manchester United. There was a bit of a story on Celtic and Manchester United and playing for Antrim. It was leaked back to someone and I was told quietly it wasn’t to happen- which is a shame”.

“I spent three years at Celtic – I played and was constantly getting operations and trying to recover from injuries- which never seemed to happen. But I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything to be honest”.

Irish connection at Celtic:

“When I first joined Celtic; Neil Lennon had left – but came back as a coach later on in the same year. He would have been coaching and managing the reserve team. He played for Armagh minors and would have spoke about it and I think he briefly played MacRory Cup at the young age and spoke about it”.

“There was also the likes Diarmuid O’Carroll and Darren O’Dea who were Irish – Diarmuid had a big Gaelic connection- he was from Dr. Crokes in Kerry. We used to go and watch on a Sunday morning- where I lived in Glasgow- there used to be Gaelic matches held between the Scottish guys. Tir Conaill they were called, In used to get going and watching some of their games- they used to think we were mad over there for playing Gaelic”.

“In terms of the Irish connection in Gaelic- Diarmuid O’Carroll and myself were the only proper GAA heads when you consider the rest were soccer first and foremost until Niall McGinn came in. Niall, by all accounts would have been playing for the Tyrone senior team if it wasn’t for the soccer career. We would have spoke a lot about it- he would have had the upper hand when it came to giving out grief because Antrim could never beat Tyrone”.

“One more interesting story, the year that Antrim got to the Ulster final in 2009 – they played Cavan in the semi-final at Clones. I was home at the time for the summer, it was a great night – I remember walking in and I got a tap on the back. It was Cillian Sheridan- who played for Celtic at the time- he was wearing his Cavan jersey. I was wearing my Antrim jersey and it was just by chance we met- it wasn’t arranged and thankfully Antrim had the upper hand that night”.

Coaching and Senior Championship win:

“I was quite lucky to get into the coaching to be honest, I was over at the Boxing in the Balmoral and big Russ and Terry [McCrudden] were taking the minor team at this stage. I was just giving a hand at warm-ups and cool downs and fitness stuff. Coming back from a professional set-up I was able to give advice on what players could do after a training session and after a match to prepare properly”.

“That gave me a nice feel into getting involved and taking the U-16s and Minors coming through and I ended up coaching with the seniors in 2015 and onwards and it culminated in 2017 and winning the senior football championship”.

“I find it hard to put into words to be honest- in how I felt, I genuinely find it hard to put into words – even now I still get Goosebumps thinking of it. When the final whistle went I just went running aimlessly. I turned round and celebrated with Jim [Herron] we just jumped into each other and you were looking for people. It was chaotic. There is a photo of my Dad, Stephen and myself – it just summed up what it meant to me and family and I think that could be replicated”.

“I started up a Gaelic team with my work company –Options IT. It was guys that weren’t coming from a traditional GAA background. They always wondered what it was and why we took it so seriously? They never understood the ethos and what it meant to people and why we took it so serious”.

“When we were training for the inter-firms we had them up at the club on the 3G training – before they were training there were U-8s, U-10s, girls camogie, girls football- about 6 different teams at once and kids and parents everywhere. They thought- this is class and started to see what the GAA does”.

“People ask me why I didn’t get involved in soccer coaching when I came back? There are a few issues- one of the main ones is in GAA you can identify with your club. There is structure there and something you can relate to, something you hold close to yourself. In soccer there are a lot more transfers and people going from club to club. There isn’t as much of a community feel or parish feel. I grant that there is some but it is harder to get an identity in local soccer and that’s something that in the club- it’s always there for you”.

“I know without the club- whenever I came back with the injury- I would have been lost without the club. It gives you a vehicle for something to do, some of the photos from U-8, U-10 and U-12 – some of the people in the photos are my best friends now from playing in teams at 6-years of age and I’m sure it’s the case with other clubs throughout the country”.

“I’d love to academic research on where would Ireland be without the GAA in terms of economically and society? If you think of it, if we as a society in Ireland didn’t have the GAA – where would Ireland be ?”.

The Prodigal Son returns:

“The season after we won the championship I had to stop training the team just with work beginning to get on top of me and someone else came-in. I came back in at the tail end of that year for championship but I felt that at time- the players needed something fresh and I went to All Saint’s, Ballymena for the year”.

“I really enjoyed it- they’re a brilliant club, they’ve a brilliant manager and great lads- I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t resist coming back to the club and getting involved and anybody that’s coached outside their own club can probably identify with that. It means that little bit more sometimes when it’s your own club”.

“I remember watching the final last year and it was the most gutting feeling ever being on the bank watching it and wanting to be on the line. I got asked to come back in and it was no-brainer to be honest”.

“I’m also combining with helping out at Immaculata, Immaculata are a wee bit more different to what I alluded to  earlier about a lack of a parish and community feel sometimes in soccer club. They’ve a siege mentality- which is fantastic and everyone buys into it together down there. I do it alongside Bru [Brian McCaul] Kieran [McGourty] the St Galls man- who goes out with my sister”.

“It’s enjoyable but probably not as intense in terms of the on the sideline, sometimes when you’re with your club- you can get a bit too worked up with emotion. Sometimes when you’re not as involved or have that much of an emotional long-term attachment- you can sit back a wee bit better and probably enjoy it. At club matches- every match your at you want us to win because it’s your club and its more a relief to win- rather than enjoying it as much if its makes sense. Hopefully we can get back up and running very soon because I’m lost without it”.

Strictly:

“I was involved in the strictly- I partnered Fionnuala Fitzsimons and we did ‘Burn baby Burn’. At that same time we were preparing for the Championship Final – it was my first year and we got beat by Cargin in Ahoghill. It was just a great time to be around the club- we won the league and it was the first year it had been named after Eddie Fitz. We were in the Championship Final and the club was buzzing, we also done the cycle that year to Croke Park and the Strictly and preparations for that. The whole place seemed to be buzzing”.

“I thought I wasn’t nervous until I looked out to the crowd and said – ah jesus, I’ve two left feet when it comes to dancing. I think it’s more daunting than playing Championship personally. If you’re playing maybe not as much, but when you’re coaching there’s only so much you can actually affect once you’re off the training field- there’s very little more you can do after that”.

“When you’re dancing in front of 700-800 people and it’s something you’re not good at it or familiar with – ideally you’d play football in front of thousands and your grand because it’s your specialist subject as such. To make matters worse- my family were at the front in the very first table looking at it. No doubt laughing at my inability to dance. They were good times and I think we raised a lot of money for the club- which was the main thing”.