Jackie Duffy

“My home club is Moy, Tir na NÓg and I arrived at Glenside in Hannahstown in 1967 to work as a concrete technician with Ready-Mix concrete. At that stage they had got one plant and I had set-up home in a caravan in Glenside for one year. I was qualified under parish rules to be a Hannahstown man and I stayed there for the best part of a year, but when the snow fell I was snowed in and some nights I was snowed out. I decided it wasn’t a good idea after a year and left the caravan and bought a house on the Antrim Road”.

“There were a lot of Lámh Dhearg men who worked in the quarry at the time- it was McQuillans Quarry and Ready-Mix concrete. Ready-Mix concrete was an English company and I was employed as a concrete lad technican to test the stone and the concrete. Almost everyone that worked there was from Hannahstown, you had the Bradleys- Gerard Bradley in particular, Colm McNeice- who was married to Bradley’s sister. Frank McCague – Shanty’s [Pat] father, he took charge of an aggregate bin and I used to take samples out of that and that was the first time I came across Frank McCague. You’d also Felix Mulligan [RIP] and Jimmy Finnegan [RIP] -they joined later because they were working for Hugo McQuillan or Aughrim Quarries and Ready-Mix bought them over two years later”.

“The GAA connection soon got around that I was interested in GAA, Felix made his mark and he got to know me and I got to know him. Gerry Bradley was really the instigator of me coming over the Rock for a bit of football practice in the summertime. He would have been quite passionate about Lámh Dhearg in those days, their progress through the various divisions, how good a team they had and he invited me over. I went over to the Rock to play football and that’s when I encountered Rooster [Gerard McCague] for the first time. It didn’t take me long to find out why they called him Rooster, he had a bad temper but he was a perfect footballer, great and complete. He could kick the ball off the ground or kick it 60-yards, put it over the bar and he was comfortable on the ball- he had everything. Then boys told me that Malachy and Neil (his brothers that I had never seen playing) were better – if they were better than Rooster they must have been exceptionally good”.

Transfer to Lámh Dhearg:

“I transferred over to Lámh Dhearg the next year [1968] for one year and during that time we played St Galls, Rossa, Sarsfields and I think Pearses – they were going well at the time. I remember Steven Mulligan and Tom Mulligan were playing and it was a very, very tight pitch – the crowd were in on top of you because the Rock was a really, really tight pitch. You had to brace yourself and it was either a question of hit or be hit. I soon discovered that the majority of people around Hannahstown were all related – you had the McGarry’s and the McPeake’s, the Prior’s and the Murphy’s, the Smylie’s and the Fitzsimon’s and the Mulligan’s and Maguire’s. You had to be careful who you were speaking about”.

“In 1969 I transferred back to the Moy but still played for Lámh Dhearg- I was talking to Sean Maguire recently and I would regard him as a GAA encyclopaedia. He said it was legal to play for both teams- you could finish a competition in Antrim. I continued to play for Moy and Lámh Dhearg in most of one season. In 1970 I met Fitzy [Frank Fitzsimons], Sam [McGarry] and Shanty [Pat McCague] at the Grand-Prix races in Dundrod and they “gently” persuaded me to join back again to Lámh Dhearg- you know how persuasive those guys are. They were telling me that McElhatton [Sean McElhatton] was going to join, Gerry Regan from Garrison in Fermanagh had transferred and Micky O’Neill from Aldergrove – Micky was a great footballer too”.

1971 League and Championship double and Fitzy’s missing light from the bicycle:

“History will record that we won the Senior football Championship in 1971 against St Johns and won the league against Glenavy the following week. In the Ulster Championship against Bryansford- we drew with them at Casement and they beat us the following week in Newcastle. The county final in 71 against St Johns, the whole week of build-up passed me by like a flash. The week before I had spent of holidays in Kerry, I had planned to get engaged and Eileen and myself were down in Kerry and I got back late Saturday evening and was staying in mothers place in the Moy. My mother had told me that Felix Mulligan and a few other boys were up at the door at 7 o’clock to make sure that I was home. There were no mobiles in those days but I had telephoned to say I was coming home. She said there was some match on tomorrow and they want you to play”.

“My usual routine when I stayed at home would have involved going to 11 o’clock mass, I’d come home at 12 o’clock and got a mixed grill- a big fry and mixed grill and then I headed off and drove down to Casement Park. I had missed all the razzmatazz of Hannahstown and the whole build-up that Sean McElhatton was telling me about later. The whole build-up I believe they were out three or four nights a week but I missed all of that. We didn’t miss the celebrations; they went on long into Sunday and Monday as well. The team got ourselves together and the following week we beat Glenavy- Glenavy to Hannahstown boys- you just had to beat them and we beat them and done the double. We had a great squad of players- that was a great team, Rooster [Gerry McCague] played at left-back and I played right-half back and Fitzy played centre-half back. It was always a great bunch and camaraderie and we met up 40-years afterwards and thank god everybody was living at that stage. Since that three have passed away [may they rest in peace]”.

“After we won the Championship, in the first round of Ulster we played Glasgow in Casement Park and beat them. We played Bryansford in the next round at Casement and it ended a draw. Fitzy was so excited about the game that he was in Casement even before the gatemen went on duty.  When the replay came we had to go to Newcastle and unfortunately we had to play without Fitzy who was unavailable and was a huge loss. Someone in the panel  wittingly commented that Fitzy had no light on his bicycle Seriously I believe that cost us the game because that team should have went on and won Ulster”.

1972 final defeat, Tony Henderson’s boot and tournaments:

“In 1972 we reached the final again and it was played in Ahoghill, we played St Johns again. Operation motor-man was on-going and the army had taken over Casement and it wasn’t available. We had to go to Ahoghill to play that game but unfortunately Rooster had gone to Australia the week before and Fitzy wasn’t available. This was a double blow to us at that particular time, as they were both quality players and class acts. Fitzy was some footballer in those days and was a super athlete. You talk about Jack O’Shea having lungs and having the oxygen- Fitzy could have run all day. He was a real thoroughbred”.

“Sean McQuillan was a very special footballer and he left very soon before to go to Australia. That was another one who had gone from the team and would be missed because he was a great footballer. We were operating from a small pool and if you were looking at the programme from 71 and look at the subs- we didn’t really have a big pool of players. It was a strong 15”.

“Shortly after winning the Championship, in 1972 we had young fella’s coming through like Sean Kavanagh, Raymond Jordan, Barney McKenna and Colly Keenan. They were the next wave of players who came in and big Cavanagh could handle himself on the field. I don’t know whether he was taking boxing lessons from Jimmy Finnegan or not? Shanty said he was and that’s how he was getting on the team”.

“In 1973 Tony Henderson RIP joined from Fermanagh, he was from Enniskillen Gaels and was a great footballer but had a bad temper. We were up in the old club- I called it a “Shebeen”- but it wasn’t really a Shebeen because it was licenced for a Sunday night. We were up there celebrating and they had made Henderson captain for the day. A few drinks were taken and at about 12 o’clock Henderson was going out and as was custom – the captain could normally take the cup home with him. But big Seamy McGarry RIP thought otherwise and challenged him going out the door with the cup and said – this cup doesn’t leave Hannahstown! An argument ensued the next thing Henderson put his boot to the cup and kicked it over the hedge and into the field. Someone had to go rescue it the next morning”.

“Between 1968 and 1978 we were invited to a lot of senior tournaments- we were invited to Glenavy, Aghagallon, Randalstown, Moy and the boys just loved to win tournaments -they were big money spinners for clubs as well. We played Ahoghill in Ahoghill and the referee in the first ten minutes sent-off two of our players and before half-time had sent off a third. We were seven or eight points down in the match and five minutes into the second-half the referee lined a fourth player. Sam McGarry RIP turned round and said to me- to hell with this I’m away and walked to the line. We went to the Moy and fought like tigers such was the competitive nature of the tournaments. The Moy tournament is well documented , my abiding memory was being kindly invited to leave by the back door but Fitzy politely and proudly declined the invite and led us out by the front door. Hughie Grogan RIP would have been chairman at that particular time in the early 70s and James O’Boyle was secretary. Billy Kane was treasurer before the 70s and Harry McKenna RIP might have been the treasurer in the 70s”.

“The club has evolved since then, they went down into Lenadoon and Bukey’s influence and involvement and the families around Stewartsown, Shanty got the minibus and all of that really took the club to a different level. You’d fella’s like Kieran Megraw Roy irvine and Sean Kavanagh, The Herron’s [Michael RIP, Brendan and Jim] and other families and it’s amazing how the club has spread. Reading the previous  excellent features it’s just amazing how everybody feels so proud of the club and is so proud of it”.

Work Tournament and terrific JP O’Kane:

“In 1978 there was a fella around the Moy and he worked at Blue circle- at that time in Tyrone work tournaments were a big, big thing. You’d no problem with insurance and you’d get a collection of boys together and played them under the name of the company that you were representing. Blue circle in Cookstown were a cement company and he’d all the best players in the county playing for him. He asked me could I put in a team from Ready-mix. I said I could and I knew the secret was to get Hannahstown up under the name of Ready-mix concrete. We played a few guest players- Peter McGinnity was one of them and Paddy Cunningham was another one because Paddy was playing for Rossa at the time. We guested those two and another and it was a marvellous tournament”.

“I remember my boss John Peer at Ready-Mix gave me £500 to buy the boys some drinks and we won the tournament and won it well. I remember distinctly they put in high balls near the end- we were winning by about six or seven points. They put in high balls and scored a goal and someone suggested putting JP O’Kane back. JP went into full-back and everything that came in, JP just lorded it. He was absolutely brilliant in the air, not only catching the ball but soloing and coming out with it- he had the game of his life and I’ve never seen JP O’Kane playing as good a game as he did in that work tournament. Those were the days”.

Sean McElhatton and Tyrone days:

“Sean McElhatton and myself are from the same parish in the Moy but Sean lived on the edge of it on the Dungannon edge- he went to primary school in Dungannon and I went to primary school in the Moy. We met up in St Pat’s Academy in Dungannon, after a couple of years Sean left to go to Cork and we didn’t met again until we met at Hannahstown in 1970- some years later. Sean had been to Trench House to study PE with another half a dozen others. He was very professional and the first man I seen with sweat-bands. He brought a very professional approach to a very amateur organisation at that particular time. Jimmy Finnegan was the trainer but McElhatton coached it and was very, very professional”.

“Sean was staying down at the McCloskey’s with Tony McCloskey’s mother – I think he was on Bed & Breakfast there and Gerry Regan was there as well. That’s how they got the Hannahstown connection. I play golf with him and his golf bag his immaculate and his golf gear. He’s just very professional in everything he does and I’m sure the club has seen that in the administrational side of things”.

“After Bryansford beat us in the Ulster Championship in 1971- Tyrone invited us into the Tyrone squad. My first match was against Monaghan in the league in Coalisland and my last match was two years later against New York over there, I think Sean stayed on for another two years or so with the panel. In-between times in those two-years I was very, very fortunate because in 72 we went to the Ulster Final and were beaten by Donegal- a Brian McEniff managed team- we should have won that game but didn’t and came back the next year to win against Down in the Ulster Championship and we won the McKenna Cup that year as well in 73. We played Down in the National League Division 2 in Croke Park on the 5^th of May and we won that game and that entitled us to go to New York. It was the trip of a life-time then to go to New York and play in Gaelic Park, we had to play New York twice and the aggregate scores counted. We went to New York and beat them both times and won Division Two outright in 1973.

The Down team that we played in 1973 featured Father Jackie Fitzsimons- who was also involved at the club. He was player-manager of that Down team and came on against us in the final. Sean O’Neill was at full-forward on that particular Down side. There was 3 Lámh Dhearg players involved in the National League final at Croke Park”.

“In the 1980s I was manager of the Lámh Dhearg senior team and represented the club as a referee and I think I did three years at refereeing. My last game as a player was for the Moy reserves at 50-years of age against Donaghmore. I could say that I started with the Moy and finished my playing career with the Moy”.

Administrative side:

“I got involved in administration by accident, I was helping out with the minor team and at that time Budore dressing rooms had been blown-up and the club had been burned down. I was taking a car load of players and I think we were changing in the Hall at Hannahstown. It was a November day and very wet and I said to myself- this isn’t right. The first club (I called it the Shebeen) was burnt down and we got £1800 of compensation was what we got for the club. I looked upon it when I enquired and there was rumours that the club was set fire to and there was arson involved. We didn’t get the Chief Constables certificate- the Chief Constables Certificate was necessary if you were going to claim from the state”.

“I set about to make enquiries and got a couple of affidavits from boys that had seen suspicious activity on the lane. We took the NI Office to court and Sean O’Neill [Down] was our solicitor. He was working for the company Michael G Brady at the time and we got an out of court settlement with them for £9000. That at time John Peer was still my boss at Ready-mix and I asked him would he sell me 10 acres of land and he said he would sell it to us and we agreed a figure of £10,000. We used that £9000 and I came back and told him we only had £9000- we still had the insurance money but we were to pay that back. I got the £9000 and we paid it for the land that the club and the pitch is currently built on. It was a big investment but a good investment”.

“We’d some great nights at the old club, there would be sing-songs and a lot of camaraderie. The ‘Beast’ [Paddy McCann. would have ran the Bingo in the club and he brought in goats and donkeys one night. He was very friendly with goats. In 1976 [the year after we bought the land] we constructed the club and it was around 3000 square feet and we built it for a cost of £15,000. We’d no money and how do you go about building a club with no money? We’d 10 acres of land and about £2000 and we were attempting to build a club for £15,000. We’d a promise of a loan from Bass and John Devlin, but Bass wouldn’t give the loan until such times as there was a licence and you couldn’t get a licence until such times as there was a building”.

“John Devlin was very, very good to us and the club- John was the Rossa goalkeeper for years and Shanty put many a goal past him. I thought Shanty didn’t help the thing when he asked him – how’s your back John? He said there’s nothing wrong with my back and Shanty replied – it should be because you’re picking the ball up out of that net often enough you should have a bad back? They still gave us the loan. We managed to get Lagan’s to give us stone and fill to make the road in, there’s a good few machine men about Hannahstown and we borrowed machines and they drove them at the weekends. Ready-mix supplied the concrete and Hugo McQuillan supplied the blocks. I leaned on quite a few of my contacts to get credit and we got the club up and running and got the loan and paid people back”.

“The club was up and running and functioning well and I’d built a house down by the Maze and was living out there and was married. Two years later Shanty rang me one morning at 6 o’clock to tell me the club was burnt to the ground. I went over and it was very demoralising because we’d got the club up and running and doing well. We looked into and got the loss adjusters out and got a fair settlement- we’d the club well insured at that time and got a good settlement from them. Some of the boys suggested that we needed to make the club bigger and we added another 50 percent to the club and we could do it within the costing”.

“At that particular time there was a lot of clubs and pubs in Belfast that were shutting down because they weren’t safe. The ‘Beast’ and wee Joe [Finnegan] were the bar management and Michael Graham was the accountant and I put him in every month to do a stock take and make sure nothing went astray but with wee Joe and the ‘Beast’ – you’d Lámh Dhearg men there looking after the affairs. They got Ray Megahey and Marty [McCartney] in and they brought it to another level. The club was busy going Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. It was making a hell of a lot of money”.

New facilities:

“In between the fire and rebuilding of the club we’d no home and we’d meetings at Hughie Jordan’s out at the Rock. He’d built a new house and we took over the new house and that’s where most of our meetings would have been. Micky Herron, Sean Maguire, Roy Irvine, Felix [Mulligan RIP], John McPeake [RIP], Jim Lynch RIP, Shaker [McGarry RIP] and Tony Sherry RIP. We began construction of the pitch in 1982 with a sports council grant of 75% and we had to raise the balance. The pitch cost £100,000 and there was £9000 of extra’s and we were able to raise the money. It was a great scheme that was run by the sports council [Sport NI now]. Prunty contracts got the contract for the pitch but we had to import some topsoil for the bottom half of the pitch and that brought the cost up”.

“At that time Anthony McCague [Shanty’s brother] was working for a street lightning company and they were taking down lights and disposing of them. He thought it would be a good idea for us to take them onto the pitch, so we took them onto the pitch and made provisions for the lighting. I think we were one of the first clubs in Ireland to have a GAA floodlit pitch- that was in 1982. We built the changing rooms in 1983 and that was the cost of about £40,000 and Donaghmore construction did that contract because it had to go out to tender. Again that was 75% grant, most GAA clubs took advantage of that 75% grant in those days because they were well organised. They were in a state of readiness and of the grants given out through the sports council the GAA benefited 75% at that particular time. Most of the grants are now gone and it’s a pity because of the huge role GAA clubs play in the local community and they’re not as easily got now.

I know that Jim Ferguson, Colm McKenna, Barney Herron and boys have done tremendous work in getting grants for different bits and pieces- a fantastic achievement and credit to all involved. There are 29 teams in the club and we are still trying very hard with a focused pitch development committee to secure funding for the much needed second-pitch to provide well for  the next generation”.

“The official opening was in 1984 and in eight years we had taken not one step but a one massive leap in order to be able to open our own grounds from scratch. I was treasurer for most of those years and Shanty was chairman for most of them, Micky Herron and Sean Maguire would have been secretary. We intended to build a recreational hall out the back of the club on grounds that we owned where the septic tanks are. That was going to cost about £150,000 and I stepped away from the club in 1989 – we had £70,000 in the bank and everything was paid for- the recreational hall didn’t happen. For the club to exist that £70,000 had to be eaten into because the club suffered badly during the mid-90s when the pubs and clubs started to open up again and we lost a lot of business. We probably didn’t correct ourselves in time. Shanty fought for the minibus and then the numbers built up we fought to get another minibus going – at that time we could afford to do all that because it was necessary. People weren’t going to walk up the Hill to Hannahstown”.

Life back in Moy and Club Tyrone :

“Frankie [my brother lord rest him] died in 2011- he was chairman of the Moy club and he’d said to me – we don’t have a pitch. They were renting a pitch from the parish at the time and he was shovelling cow-manure of it before they played their division one matches. He asked me to get involved and I got involved and set-up a development committee. Of course when you get back into your old club again you get given any jobs that going and I got a job of managing the senior team for three years but mostly after that I was involved in the development”.

“We raised our money in those days mostly through sports men’s dinner – it was men only and a black-tie event. We’d Spillane [Pat Spillane] up at it, a rugby personality and you’d charge £500 a table and earn £30,000 out of each dinner. The Moy bought a pitch just as I was about to join them and the pitch opened after 90-years the Moy finally had a pitch of their own in 1998. I was quite pleased at that, Joe McDonagh opened it and my brother was still chairman of the club”.

“In 2000 I was asked to join the Club Tyrone committee; we were there for 7 or 8 years and the big project came of the centre of excellence and that was going to cost £8 million at that time. Sport NI didn’t come forward with any grants so we had to raise 50% of it ourselves in club Tyrone. When they were building it the Garvaghy development committee asked me to join that committee and as of the today I’m on the Garvaghy management committee- the committee that manages the centre. I’m on that committee along with Club Tyrone and I’m still a trustee with Lámh Dhearg”.

“It was absolutely brilliant see the first All-Ireland success come in 2003, we’d come close in 1995 to winning it and had been in the final in 86 against Kerry. To win in 2003 against Armagh was unbelievable and took some time to sink in. Tyrone probably had the funding in place to be able to do that with the Club Tyrone model that they had. Everybody paid £500 a year and networked and you really felt part of it as a club Tyrone member and felt you contributed to it”.

Garvaghy:

“Before the Lockdown we had just finished building a gym- it’s a performance centre at a cost of half a million. All of that half a million was raised in about four months, mostly from companies in and around Tyrone- including £5000 over five years. We’d it paid off thanks to the generosity of individuals and like everything else, you only get out of life what you put into it. What Hannahstown have got out of what people put into it, if you put the effort in- the rewards will come and always flow. The people that sit-back and do nothing and criticise and get nowhere- the naysayers are never going to do anything. Anybody can criticise but not everyone can go out and do it”.

Trustee:

“I’m still a trustee, I think one of the first trustee’s was ‘Ginger’ John McQuillan RIP, Hughie Jordan RIP and Harry McKenna. I think it was around 89 that I was asked to become a trustee and still maintain an interest in the progress of the club. I’d still have a lot of discussions with Shanty, Fitzy, wee Joe and McEllhatton on a regular basis. I’m kept well informed about the club”.

“Shanty called me in 1995 and said – the money is disappearing fast out of the club and we need a second pitch, could you do anything for us? I approached Ready-Mix  at that time.  I wanted to get 3 acres of land to make the pitch between our pitch and Mulholland’s ground close to the road. Our bid was unsuccessful so I had to take the land next to the rumbling hole. We took the 3 acres for £5000 but it wasn’t exactly what we wanted”.

“Shanty called me again – I’m a bit like the doctor- only getting calls when they need a prescription. Around about 2000 Shanty and Fitzy both came to me and said the club had gone into an overdraft  with the bank of £25,000. I said it was impossible because I hadn’t signed anything as a trustee. At that time Croke Park had an agreement with the banks that they wouldn’t give out any overdrafts unless there was a guarantee or the trustees had okayed it”.

“I rang Croke Park and the financial director said that’s right- you’re not supposed to give our any money so I’ll come to Belfast for a meeting with the bank. He came with myself and were going down to the bank and we said we’d better bring somebody from the club and we’d put it to Fitzy. He said – I wouldn’t be the best man to be going to the bank. We ended up bringing Fitzy and Sean Maguire and we went into the bank and the guy asked what we were offering because we had to settle this £25,000? I said we’re offering you nothing- because it wasn’t our fault, it was their fault for giving out the loan”.

“We had a bit of a recess and the boy from Croke Park said we have to settle this one way or another. I think we settled for about £17,000 and he gave us a loan from Croke Park at a very, very cheap interest rate to settle with the bank. We settled and that was over a period of 10-years so I think that’s paid off”.

“Around about 2010 Jim Ferguson contacted me with this masterplan that they had and Micky Brady was the architect- it was a fantastic plan to turn around the pitches. Jim said- we need this land here and it was the original land that we were trying to get from Ready-Mix . At that time Ready-mix that been bought over by Cemex and the Cemex CEO was a guy I called Joe Doyle- who I knew very well from, Andersonstown. He was based in Dublin and was in charge of all the Ireland operations. I contacted Joe and asked him if he would sell the rest of the land or better still- give it to us- because Cemex had a policy at the time to be good to the community. Joe said he would go away and see what he could do and speak with Jim Ferguson and see exactly what land he wanted. He came back and said he would give us the land for nothing, so we now have a total of 18 acres. It’s poetic justice that the land we tried to buy from Ready-Mix , we now own for nothing. We now have 18 acres of land for a total cost of £15,000 and all paid for”.

Hall of Fame award and watching 2017 success:

“I still follow Lámh Dhearg and the results, I mightn’t be at every game but I like to see them doing well and I was very pleased with the progress of the Herron brothers [Ciaran, Brendan and Michael] because I’d known Jim, Micky [RIP] and Barney and I’d follow their progress right through the club. Fitzy is still there and for him to still be carrying on at his age says a lot. Shanty and wee Joe are all there and I think we have been blessed with a lot of great leaders in the club. Jim Ferguson has come forward and is leading the development and it’s good to see that. Wee Joe and Shanty collecting money about the country – £60,000 those two guys collected and with a bit more help – if you’d two or three more groups going about to try and do that. Those boys have left no stones unturned when they’re looking for money. The other family that have contributed big are the Lynches [Jim, Stephen, Martin and Paul], the Herron [Micky, Jim and Barney] and the next generations of families. You’ve Peter Kane, Smickers, Colm Cochrane, Pat McCambridge etc now, Sean Maguire previous and ‘Big Sam’ McGarry. Shanty always says if you wanted ‘Big Sam’ for a donation he was always there and would always give it”.

“To get the Hall of Fame award was the icing on the cake, it was the same year we won the Championship. I was totally taken by surprise as I thought I was only invited as a trustee to pay tribute to the senior footballers and their magnificent win in 2017. It was a very special occasion because a lot of the current generation wouldn’t know or remember me. One amusing story I can recall, in the mid-90s I was driving up through Dunmurray past the Green and I noticed a few boys in club gear and kitbags- obviously heading to a game. I think it was Frankie Wilson and his cousins- Colm and Paul. I naturally stopped the car and offered the boys a lift but they didn’t avail of my offer because they probably didn’t know who I was. Their mummies must have told them not to take a lift in a car with strangers. A lot of people up Hannahstown way would still know me, but unfortunately I wouldn’t know them by their first names. When I drive past Hannahstown, I look down there and see 18 acres of GAA Oasis. It wouldn’t have happened if everybody hadn’t have put their shoulder to the wheel. The masterstroke in all of this- the development was one end of it but I think the youth policy under Bukey, Jim Lynch and co that they created in the early 80s is certainly standing to them now. It’s good to see all those players coming through and playing at county level because it really improves the team. I think they have a good chance to winning the Antrim Championship this year [if one is able to go ahead]”.

“Watching the 2017 final, I couldn’t help to think of Paddy Cunningham playing and you look at the genes. When you’ve a McCague [Kathleen] as a mother and Paddy Cunningham [snr] as a father- he is some footballer and has everything going for him in all the genes. What impressed me that day was the never-say-die was like the team of old -Lámh Dhearg teams are never beaten. I said it on the night, making the right decisions at the time, attacking play and to watch Decky Lynch going through and he could have had a goal but he took a point- which was the right decision. It’s all about making the right decisions and choices and it’s a bit like life as well”.

“I thought Micko [Herron] was a very steady influence on that team and Owen McKeown was a flying machine- it’s the first time I’ve seen him playing and I thought he was a brilliant addition. Also impressed by the Murrays and Brendan McComb and credit to the team and the management.  It was really good to see and I was watching it along with Bukey and Fitzy and Fitzy disappeared over the fence with five minutes to go- he was standing on the line. Still today don’t know how Fitzy got onto the pitch sideline. I was also standing with wee Joe and I’d said where’s Shanty? He said I don’t know he’ll be behind those goals there because we’re playing into them in the second-half. He’ll be standing like he’s directing airplanes over the bar!”.