Dee McConville

Early memories, Greenways and Bukey’s intervention:

“There was no previous family involvement before myself, the first time I would have been involved in GAA would have been with Sarsfields. My Dad would have brought me round because he would have frequented the clubrooms. I played there and didn’t really enjoy it and stopped playing for a while. I played for Plunkett more so when I was younger but going to St Finian’s down the road I played for Davitts for a wee bit as well- I’m talking maybe a few months, not a long time. There was a guy called David Muckian – he would have knocked about at the top of Lenadoon and he invited me one day and said why don’t you come up to the club? And I did. I loved it and I don’t’ think I started playing for the club until I was P6 or P7, so I would have been 10 or 11 before I actually joined”.

“Everybody used to gather down at Greenways and got onto Shanty or Shakers bus and it was exciting. There was no text messaging in those days, it was all the lads meeting up and having a bit of crack and looking forward to training or matches. One of my earliest memories would have been the club decided to get everybody tracksuits – I must have been about 11 or 12- so wasn’t long into the club. The tracksuits were £15 and I got sent to the shop to buy a pint of milk and came back down again and lost the £15 – a tenner and a fiver”.

“In those days that was absolutely mental- we just couldn’t afford that and my ma hit the roof. I went down to Greenways and Bukey was there and he asked do you have your money Dee? And I just busted out crying and said no I lost it- he said don’t worry about it. I never really mentioned it again and about four or five weeks later whenever the tracksuits came out I seen everybody getting handed their tracksuits and I was like – awk jesus I’m not getting one. Bukey came over and handed me a tracksuit and just winked. I’ll never forget him for doing that, Bukey wouldn’t have been that old himself – but the fact he didn’t say a word about it and never mentioned it to anybody. It was one of those things and I was very grateful for it”.

“You’d have had the likes of Darach Carmichael, Conor Fitzsimons and Phily Mulryne and those guys in my team early on- they were more into the football. To be honest, when I was younger I wasn’t really that good at football and was always on the fringes of the teams and it wasn’t until I started playing hurling that I really started to properly enjoy it. I was always pretty small and was thrown off the ball easily in Gaelic but in hurling I loved it. it was quick and the game suited me better”.

“Martin [my brother] came to the game late and started playing when I played- he’s four and a half years older than me- so he would have been 14. He only ever played for Sarsfields and wasn’t really into it much, I loved it. he used to knock about with the Elliott’s and went hunting with them and I’d have rather got the hurl out or kicked the ball about in the back square in Lenadoon- In just loved the sport”.

Success and personal accolades 92 :

“92 was a big year and I would have been on the fringes of the U-16 team and we won the U-16 football league and Championship and the U-16 hurling league. We were very strong at that age and was on the fringes of the team for league and Championship. At U-14 I won U-14 player of the year. Kevin Murray sent me the photograph of it a couple of weeks ago. Barney [Herron] and Gerry McConville would have taken the football at the time and they were brilliant coaches and I think Cobbler [Gary McKenna] was involved in our hurling team – it was a brilliant year and great memories”.

“Prior to that I remember 1989 and I can remember going to Croke Park to see Antrim against Tipperary in All-Ireland final and that was huge- it was probably my first time going to Croke Park- it was huge for the county. From then on success in Antrim just followed and arrived at the club. We won Ulster Club of the year in 1992 and being part of that success was phenomenal. Peter-Martin was probably the best hurler at U-16 and was on the 92 panel- I didn’t think he would have started and he was one of our best players but it showed how strong that team was. Watching the success of the minors and being at the club at that time was fantastic”.

Moving into senior:

“My journey into senior hurling was brilliant- I loved it we’d Barney Herron, Kieran Megraw and Colm McKenna that had taken most of our hurling teams and then Barry took over the year we got promoted to Division One in 2003. I can still remember that day in Corrigan in the replay against Sarsfields- I was corner-back that day and it was fantastic. I found some of the photos recently- I think they were shared on the club facebook page and downloaded them”.

“Being part of that team was fantastic, to step up to Division One was huge for us but it was something that you always wanted to do – get that experience. It was the same after winning the Intermediate Championship and it was a good steppingstone for us. Barry had put in all the groundwork at that stage and Jim Nelson had come in and helped- it was great to do it for them”.

“It was brilliant and we’d a good squad with the three Herron’s [Ciaran, Brendan, Michael], Raymie Herron, Reg [Brendan McComb], Cathal Kelly, Gary Agnew [RIP], Daryl Fegan, Christy and Paddy Tumelty, Paddy Cunningham etc. They were brilliant hurlers and real proper athletes at that stage”.

“Playing in Division One was some experience and going to those places- for me anyway- was a bit scary at times. I would have been at corner-back but you had the likes of Ciaran Herron playing centre-half back. Ciaran Herron is a few years younger than me and seeing his mentality and the way he approached it just gave me the incentive to want to drive on. I remember a time we were up playing Loughgeil in the league and we were playing really well at half-time. Ciaran is a very quiet fella but he came in at half-time and went mental because we’d missed so many chances and we could have kicked on a wee bit. One of the things he said was – he was sick of gallant defeats. That’s always stuck with me because sometimes people are happy to get defeated or beat as long as they look as if they’ve hurled well. he just wanted to kick on and be part of a winning team in its entirety. That team was brilliant and I really enjoyed those away games”.

“I can remember a time I was captaining the reserve team and we were in the Intermediate Championship semi-final and we were due to play St Galls. We trained on night and I was in the team and Barry called us in after training and called the team out and he had me starting at wing-half back – it near broke my heart. I stood up and said – Barry you do know I’m captain of the reserve team? he went boogaloo and said – Yes I do understand that but this is the most important team at the club and we’ve to do everything”.

“Being part of that team and going out at Casement Park at playing- we ended up getting beat but I understood were he was coming from and whenever I stepped into management I totally seen it from his point of view- but at the time it was a hard one to take. We ended up beating Rossa in the reserve final and I wasn’t allowed to play. I was on the side-line running about like a lunatic and I was pleased to be part of that but it was downer that I didn’t get to lift the cup as captain- which you dream of”.

“I retired a few times from hurling but hadn’t played Gaelic since minor and then stopped playing. In just continued with the hurling flat out but I came back and had a stint playing football. There was one year that we were struggling for a keeper in reserve and Barney Herron asked me would I do nets- I did nets that year and won player of the year. Micky McGuigan and I were away on a trip to Liverpool to watch Liverpool and I got a phone call to ask where I was because there was the prize giving that night and I won player of the year for reserve football?”

“After that my ankle started to give me grief and I retired about five times but just missed it so much that I would have come back and played in corner-forward or nets. I remember doing a full pre-season at CBS with Barry and it was the fittest I’d been in a long time and we stepped onto the pitch and the first night onto the pitch I done my ankle and I was out for 3 months. It was sole destroying”.

Coaching:

“I’d dabbled with a few Gaelic teams and had given people a hand but the first time I was looking after a team was Peter Kane and myself taking the Féile hurling team in 2000. Our kid [Conor McConville] was in it and there was lads like Mark Lynch and Eamon Herron- who were very young but they were a smashing bunch of kids and they were part of the group that I would stayed with and took through to U-16, minor and then up into senior”.

“I took the U-16 team with lads like Paddy-Joe Herron, the McAufields [Aaron and Seamus], Mark Lynch, Declan Lynch, Neily Cunningham, Micky McGuigan, Ciaran ‘Butch’ McConville, Eamon Herron, Conor Cullen and others. It was a great group. We won back to back U-16 B Championships against St Enda’s. The first year was down in Sarsfields- Neily Cunningham was doing full-back and we were struggling to get scores and we threw him up front and he scored a goal and a point to win it for us”.

“The next year I was away on holidays and we played St Enda’s again in the final at Rossa Park- I was away on holidays and was really nervous waiting to hear how we did. Vinty McAufield and Micky McGuigan looked after the team and they won. After the game Micky rang me on the pitch and told me we got beat and I was devastated – then only to hear a massive cheer and he told me he was only joking we won. I was delighted for the lads and it probably helped me enjoy the rest of my holiday”.

“I remember I got nominated for coaching through my work at BT, they flew over and did interviews at training one night with some of the players- it was a laugh and I think we won. Colm McKenna flew over with me to BT Tower in London and they did a whole big presentation in front of BT UK and I had won the award for coaching in the community. The chairman handed me a cheque for £3000 and I’ve never seen Colm happier”.

“We took the same squad into minor with Micko Herron and Chuck [Charlie McCloskey] – we’d a few good league wins – including one against St Galls with 13-men with Kev [Herron] and Sean Braniff scoring the goals. We played Gort na Mona in the Championship that year and they didn’t give us any chance whatsoever. But there was so much team spirit in those group of fellas that had stayed together. Micko came up with an idea to put straps on tape on their hands with words of encouragement written on them- work hard- if they ever were struggling you’d look at your wrist and it would spur you on”.

“Gort na Mona had written us off even before the match and at the end of it I think they came over to Micko and apologised- they said the lads were unbelievable. It was great to be a part of that team as well and a lot of them played under me in senior reserve and senior a few years later”.

“The year before we won the Intermediate Championship I was taking the senior reserves and Colm McKenna was taking the senior team and I was kind of giving Colm a hand and going to senior games. Colm had indicated that he wasn’t going to be involved the year after a couple of months later Micko landed up to my house and asked me if I’d be interested in taking the seniors. In my head I was finished playing but there was lads like Brendan [Herron], Micko – Ciaran had just left to go to Derry. I was thinking these are lads I looked up to whenever I played and I was thinking how do I get the respect of lads like Paddy Tumlety and Paddy Cunningham and get them to buy into it . Micko said we’ll make it work”.

“I approached Micky McGuigan to see if he would come in and give me a hand- and he did- between the three of us Micky, Micko and myself and to a late extent Gavin Duffy, we put a lot of time and effort that year and to lift the Intermediate Championship was surreal. We had a great run and I loved that year; every round of Championship was at Casement Park and we would have met at the top of Owenvaragh and walked to the gate. There was that mindset of everyone getting together and it was good that we didn’t have to travel too far and waste energy driving up the road- we got lucky with all our fixtures. It’s a travesty that kids these days aren’t getting to use that facility but being able to play a full Championship there and lift the cup at the end was the stuff of dreams and unbelievable”.

“We had to come from behind in each round but we never lost faith- we had that mindset that boys never gave up. We were never lightyears ahead of anybody or strolling through games, we always got there and made it difficult for ourselves at times but had faith in our own ability and got across the line in the end. You’d lads like Paddy-Joe, Reg, Micko, Brendan Herron, Cathal Kelly, Conor [McConville], Christy and Paddy Tumelty, Gary Murray, Decky and Mark Lynch, Paddy Cunningham etc. There’s a team photograph in the club from before the game but there’s another one from after it when we have the cup and everyone was screaming. You look at the boys in that photograph and it meant so much to them”.

“Our kids’s wife Bronagh [RIP] wasn’t well and I remember coming in and doing a half-time team talk at Casement Park in the semi-final – knowing that Bronagh was in the crowd and we were trailing. My speech was something along the lines of – we’re feeling sorry for ourselves and we have to dig down deep, Conor’s wife is in the crowd and got off her sick bed to come down and support us. We went out in the second half like men possessed and she wasn’t well enough to get to the final. Conor and myself went down to visit her with the cup after the game. Everybody knows Conor wears his heart on his sleeve and it was going through his head but he would have ran through a brick wall at the best of times- but to know how he was trying to cope to what his wife was going through and him as well – I’m always proud of him but especially that year I was just so proud of how he handled it”.

“The Ulster league final against St Pauls was scheduled for the Thursday after I think we were still enjoying winning the Intermediate. It was a massive achievement for the club and we maybe took our eye off the ball and weren’t prepared well enough for Ulster when we met Middeltown. Their wing-half forward tore us apart, we pulled Mark Lynch out of full-back to mark their wing-half forward because Mark was a catching machine but the big lad won everything in the air and put it over the bar”.

“We never really thought about that up until winning the Intermediate Championship- for us there was nothing beyond it . Middeltown had won Armagh senior so many times and they were going into Ulster Intermediate and they were getting beat in the first or second round. Their target was to win Ulster that year and I think they were beaten in the All-Ireland final that year”.

“The following year was tough because there wasn’t that mentality, the lads had fought so hard and wanted to win an Intermediate Championship so much that there was a mindset that we weren’t going to win a senior Championship so what’s the point in putting the effort in. We played St John’s in the senior hurling Championship that year and we put up a spirited display and they beat us well in the end”.

Moving on:

“I’d been at the club for a long run with U-16, minor, reserve and senior and I just wanted a bit of a break. I’d brought our Kerry up to the club to play but at that there was no underage girls team at all and the girls used to play with boys to a certain age -Kerry didn’t have any interest. She went to school with Joe Quinn [St Pauls] daughter and she invited her down to St Pauls – and she asked me could she go to St Pauls with her friend to play Gaelic? I didn’t care where it was- it could have been Davitts, Rasharkin or anything- I was bringing her to play”.

“She went down and played and I was standing there by the side of the pitch watching them training and somebody said – Dee you’d think you wouldn’t go in there and give them a hand and the next week I volunteered to give them a hand. She was U-8 and in her first season and they gave her U-8 most dedicated player and she loved it. The next year Donna Coyle sent me an email and asked me if I’d fancy taking the U-10 team and four years later they won an All-Ireland Féile”.

“Those kids didn’t know how to lose, they were absolutely boogaloo, complete and utter lunatic kids – but there were amazing. They were a nightmare to look after when they were off the pitch but when they were on pitch something just flicked with them and they just tuned in. They were unbeaten from U-10 to their second year of U-16. They didn’t know how to lose”.

“I was in with Plunkett in around 2015 or 16 that was through my friend Danny McDonald. he was living in England for a while and I’d bumped into him a few times in Belfast and he said to me- I’m meant to coming home next year and I’ve been asked to come in and coach the Plunkett second team would I be interested in coming in and giving me a hand? I said yeah- thinking nothing would ever have happened. Six months later he rang me and asked if I was still up for it? I think we got promoted in first year and in the second year we won the league”.

Getting involved in the club again :

“I came in and played a reserve game and Simon [Wilson] was up watching it, our Conor came over and said that Simon says we’re struggling for a team tomorrow night will you come in and strip out? I told Conor that I could barely run and he asked me to bring my boots so I agreed. I brought my boots and he started in me in corner-forward – Domhnall Nugent was doing centre-half forward and I got on the ball once or twice and gave Domhnall a nice ball and he put it in the back of the net”.

“At half-time we were doing alright and in the second-half the ball was put into the corner-forward line and came out to try and get it- I thought the guy behind me had slapped me with the hurl- but I turned round and he was 10-yards behind me. I done my calf and after the match I said to Simon I think that’s me done and asked if I would be interested in coming in and giving me a hand? I said yeah no bother”.

“I wasn’t on board for either of the St Teresa’s game- they beat us twice and won the league. I was there for a few games and I think Simon was away for a game against Con Magee’s up there and we beat them- I could see that the lads were hurling well. We went out against St Teresa’s in the semi-final of the Championship and the lads went out and thought we’d nothing to lose. Micko and Declan Lynch coming back into the squad gave the boys a bit of belief”.

“The St Teresa’s game was a big turning point in the season and the lads were oozing belief and we went unbeaten right up until the All-Ireland semi-final. I remember the story that our kid came off with before the St Teresa’s game. He told the lads in the warm-up that he was in the barbers and lads were saying St Teresa’s were going to hammer us. I remember the boys were bouncing out of their skin”.

“The final against Cushendun was so tense- we made a good start big Joe [Doone] put us in front with a goal but Cushendun came back and were three ahead until Micko landed a late free to level. We got a free in the corner afterwards and I standing on the side-line and there was something on the pitch in front of Domhnall and I walked over to pick something off the ground and said to him- Domhnall you hit these every day, it’s just another free like any other day- just settle down, put it over the bar and get back to position. He slotted it over and you could hear me screaming in the video because it was away like a bullet between the posts and that was it”.

“They launched on down into our corner-line and luckily we dealt with it and hung on- it was amazing. We went on a had a few tough encounters in Ulster against Sean Tracey’s and Iniskeen and made it to the final against Sean MacCumhaills from Donegal. It was bruising encounter and very tense. Things frayed slightly towards the end and the adrenaline was high and thinking there was an All-Ireland semi-final beyond that. There was three-points in it at the end. We were the first team in the club to win an Ulster Championship trophy and there was some craic that night in the club afterwards. Everyone had enjoyed the whole experience and the crowd that had travelled to the games were fantastic”.

“Simon, Dinny [Declan Napier] and myself travelled down to Kilkenny to watch Mooncoin and we hadn’t been given our punishment yet for the Ulster final. We were taking notes on both teams and swayed towards Mooncoin because they looked the stronger looking. We were taking notes on every player and compared notes and we were convinced that they were beatable. But whenever it came back that he had 6 boys suspended it decimated the team it was out of our hands”.

“It was similar to the run in the Intermediate- probably not as sweet because I came on board late. Our kid was involved and our Colm was involved but then he moved back in Cork. Getting back involved with the lads and you still had Cathal [Kelly], Reg and Micko back involved. I did enjoy it”.

County management:

“I made the transition from taking Kerry’s team and someone had asked me if I would be interested in coming in and taking the county U-14s. I took Kerry’s U-14 team- then I took the u-14s the next year, U-16, minors and then senior this year. we’d Ciara Larkin, Niamh Webb and Katie Tumelty from the club involved in U-14 and U-16. We qualified for the Ulster A final in U-16 for the first time and the year after that in our first year of minor we won. Ulster B and got into an All-Ireland semi-final. we were written off by Roscommon but came from 12-points down to level by the 60^th minute. They beat us by three and it was very, very close and a very  good run. It was nice to have a few Lámh Dhearg faces involved”.

Family connection:

“I played more with Colm- I was always number 4 and Colm was 7, Conor and myself played together for a wee while but he was 9-years younger than me and I hung my boots up earlier because I was always getting injured. We played a wee bit together but not a lot- it was always fantastic to play with your brothers and something you’ll never forgot. It’s just a pity that Martin had picked the wrong club to play with at Sarsfields. I’m not sure if Conor played but Colm and myself played a few games against Martin and my Ma and Da would have went down and watched them matches and there was good awl banter. They would have let on they were neutral but I’d say they were more into the club. My Da used to drive the club minibus for a year or two – more with our Colm’s age group. He was driving the kids up and down himself and I think he got asked if he would drive the minibus and he did. They were good memories for him as well”.

“Conor’s two kids are still playing as well and the bloodline is still strong as they say- there are times when I think I would love my own two girls to play at the club but at the minute they’re doing very well as they are. Kerry is winning all sorts with St Pauls and got to the All-Ireland final with them last year and was captain of the minor team this year. Rebecca has followed my first love and has started playing camogie and is taking to it very well. It reminds me of myself because she enjoyed it and was maybe better at camogie than Gaelic. She got called up to the county team last year and it was a great experience for her. He travelled with the girls all over Ireland and got to experience the set-up and she’ll have great memories in that respect”.

Good memories:

“The trip to Cork with the U-16s was the best craic ever, the best part of it is our Martin still talks about it- every opportunity he gets he loved it. Niall McCarthy was the favourite for all the kids and Mark Lynch and Kevin Herron were over torturing him and giving him a bit of banter and he gave it back. Martin got loads of grief and was referred to as ‘Our Martin’ but loved that and he organised that whole set-up. We took over a hostel in Middleton, it was ideal and very central and the weekend we had was fantastic”.

“There was a good overlap of dual players with Gaelic and hurling but there were a few boys that didn’t play hurling and we brought them along and Smickers [Brian Smith] went and we played a couple of footballing teams- it was fantastic. To reciprocate that, I organised a hurling blitz and brought Martin’s team up. We organised that and Middleton brought up two teams, Cushendall, Loughgeil, St Johns and Rossa came up. It was a cracking event and the Middleton lads slept in the Hannahstown parish hall on roll-mats and sleeping bags. They hardly slept a wink but came up and beat every team in Antrim. It was some craic”.

“Talking about this and reminiscing – I do miss the club; it was my life for so long. We lived on the side of Hannahtown Hill in Hawthorn and Colm, Conor and myself would have walked up to the club and played hurling- especially in the summer. We’d have been there all the time and I do miss it- talking about it now. I imagine that at some stage I will become involved again. I never thought the year I became involved in Junior Championship, if you’d have said that I would been back involved with the senior hurling team – I would have laughed. I do feel like I have something to give but I’m in with the county ladies at the minute and I’m enjoying it. it’s my first crack at taking a senior county team and I’m enjoying that whole experience. But I wouldn’t rule out in the future coming back in and getting involved in the club at some capacity”.