JP O’Kane

Underage career and struggles at minor:

“I lived in Hannahstown from my birth and I played minor for Lámh Dhearg- there was no other underage football at the time. In fact, our Minor team- we had problems trying to keep that going because of numbers. I was probably about 15-when I was playing for the Minor team and I often meant to ask Pat McCague- what was there before the Minor team or was there a minor team even? Because we had great difficulty keeping the Minor team going in the years that I played”.

“I played years after Pat and didn’t realise that we had won a Minor Championship with St Johns. It was only three-years before we won the Senior Football Championship in 1971 and it shows how quickly we came to prominence. As far as I can remember, out of those teams I think Cyril Jordan and myself were the only two to come out of that minor team – Gerard McCague [Rooster] was a bit older than us. Raymond Jordan and Seamus Agnew came back a year later but as far as I can remember it was only Cyril Jordan and myself that came out that Minor team and that’s how hard we struggled”.

“I can remember going to the Falls Park because we hadn’t got a home venue and I remember sometimes turning up and we only had 15-people. At times we had to borrow players from the likes of the Johnnies [St Johns] and Sarsfield’s -It was disheartening. Pat [McCague], Hugh Jordan [RIP] and Felix Mulligan [RIP] were the three people I always remember were always there. I don’t think Pat was even part of that management but he was always there”.

“I remember that some of the players hadn’t got the interest of some of the other ones and they often said- Jesus this is not working why don’t we pack it in? Pat didn’t want to hear tell of it. Regardless of how bad things were going, he must have known the importance of keeping that thing going. That was my memories of underage football at the club”.

1971 Senior Championship and league double:

“It just went by in a flash at the time, I never really thought much about it until later years. Looking back on it; which was more important to me than anything else- to see the likes of Pat McCague and Fitzy and the rest getting a return out of the all the years that they put in. It was a lesson to me to see that the boys had put in so much hard work, perseverance and everything else through the years. Another question I wanted to ask Pat is what happened before 1971 as far as senior level was concerned, where Lámh Dhearg in Division One even? I didn’t know”.

“I can remember bits of the final against St Johns, as far as I’m concerned – my memories of the final even though we won- they weren’t great memories of me because I don’t think I played very well to tell you the truth -It was up to the old stalwarts to pull us out. Sean McElhatton and myself were in the middle of the park and our opposition were pretty good and whether they expected us to break even, I wasn’t happy with my performance anyway. At the end of it all winning is the most important thing of all really. The joy that the victory brought to everyone in Hannahstown especially Shanty and Hughie Groogan [RIP] was unbelievable. After such a spell and a lot of barren years, this was the biggest thing that could have happened to any club after so many years”.

“We had the individuals to do that and our nearest rivals back then would have been St Johns- they’d some fantastic players and even with the team they had, to beat them was a big deal at the time. They’d some super players and I think we only beat them by the smallest of margins. To do the double and looking back on it now, if we had have played that game and got beaten in it- it still would have been a big achievement for a team that had, had no success before hand- if we had have got to the final and got beat in it, nobody would have remembered anything about it. You had to win it and win the league as well for it to be such a big thing now and people still remember it”.

“I’ve played in finals in Louth as well but nothing comes near to those games and the final in 1971. It’s not what it meant at the time, it’s what it means now looking back on it and the place you were reared in with all your friends of a lifetime. To look back on it now, that’s what’s important to me now – at the time- how much it meant to me, I don’t think it meant an awful lot at the time. I was a young kid at 18 and was going along with the flow and all the rest. Looking back on it now and what it still means to the likes of Pat McCague, Fitzy, Jackie Duffy, Sean Mac Elhatton and the rest – I think that’s more important to me than anything else”.

“I guess with Sean McElhatton, Gerry Regan, Jackie Duffy and others coming, it was a big lift for us and it definitely strengthened our team. We really ended up with a very, very strong team- we ended up getting into the Ulster Club Championship and if things had have been different, I think we could have went a long way in that Championship. We had the team to do it- there was no doubt about it. we mightn’t have gelled totally as team, because there was people coming in from other places and we maybe didn’t have the time to do it. as far as individuals were concerned, we definitely had the individuals to go a lot further in the Ulster Championship”.

“We should never have drawn the first game against Bryansford at Casement Park, from what I can remember we were winning easy at half-time in that game and I think our discipline let us down that day in the second-half. I think if we had have controlled our discipline a wee bit better we probably could have won that game. But its neither or there anyway and all I know is we had some brilliant players. I think with the individuals we had I think we could have gone a lot further and perhaps won Ulster”.

Aftermath of 71:

“I didn’t really remember much of the next year and getting beaten by St Johns in the final because we got beat- Fitzy and Rooster were big losses for us. Whenever I heard that Rooster was going to Australia – I remember saying to Pat McCague he’ll never go. He was such a big part of Hannahstown and Lámh Dhearg, when Rooster pulled on the Lámh Dhearg jersey – he pulled it on to give 110 percent and nothing less- I can remember that. Whenever I heard he was leaving I said- it just can’t happen and a lot of the younger people probably felt that same”.

“The most important thing then was playing for Lámh Dhearg, work and everything else came secondary but things started to change. I would guess Gerard [Rooster] thought that there was better opportunities somewhere else and away he went to Australia. I guess a lot of the older members were coming to the end of their careers and again because I left to go to Louth. There was a transition from the 71 team because older members like Sean McQuillan, Pat McCague and Sam McGarry [RIP], Fitzy and a big chunk of that team probably retired not too long after that”.

“I can remember originally when Gerard left, I was playing with Antrim U-21s at the time and we got to the final of the Championship. Some period after that I decided to go to America, I got an invitation to go America. With every intention I was going to America for good- I remember having a little going away celebration down at the club. I was back within two months and it wasn’t for good. It was probably home sickness that brought me back. I hung around until I was probably 23 at the time”.

“The troubles were that bad at the time and I was married at the time and had a child, I decided to move with my family to Dundalk. I ended up coaching a little county team down there while I was living down there, even though I was playing for Lámh Dhearg. I used to coach at every opportunity and from that there was a few approaches made and eventually I decided to make the move to one of the clubs in Louth I think it was around 1977”.

Players and personalities:

“Sean McElhatton and Jackie Duffy would have been the Tyrone connection, you’d Gerry Regan and Tony Henderson [RIP] played for Fermanagh and Tony was another brilliant footballer. That’s why I had said- as far as individuals were concerned, we had every opportunity to go very far in the Ulster Club Championship- without a doubt, at least I think so anyway. Fr Jackie Fitzsimons was another brilliant footballer, he played centre-half for Down and was some player, a brilliant player. He was a real gentleman too but not on the field, he was a tough man.”

“Jimmy Finnegan was the manager and sprung to prominence because he was a boxing coach and I don’t know who made the approach for Jimmy to come in and manage that team but it was a success anyway because of the Championship and League win and he was unbelievable. Sean McElhatton coached and trained the team for a while. Fitzy trained us as well in the early years. One night I remember saying to Fitzy I was having breathing problems during training but I received no sympathy at all and was told firmly and politely to train on.  Fitzy’s training were brutal all together in terms of suffering afterwards- I would have suffered badly after his sessions. I guess with Sean’s teaching and coaching experience from college he brought a lot of new ideas in but definitely the training was hard”.

“There were so many very, very good players and I don’t think we had too many weaknesses. When it came to picking the team for the 71 final, I think they’d a hard-enough job. There were people left off who had probably never sat on the subs bench before but there was tough decisions to make. I often say to people now, I was lucky enough in my career where I never actually had to sit on the bench too often.  I was always mentioned in the first 15 and you think of all the poor other individuals in juvenile and senior that had to sit on the bench more than they really should have. Back then, you picked the first 15 and the rest and looking back on it, it wasn’t very fair but that’s football. You have to have that ruthlessness in you to manage”.

“I was 18 at the time and I guess all my thoughts at the time were on my own preparation, what was going on outside – Shanty and the rest of the boys were taking a lot more to do with it than I was. As an 18-year-old I never thought anything about it. My greatest pleasure was to see the delight on the old-timers and what it meant to them – the likes of Felix Mulligan, Hughie Jordan, Hughie Groogan [RIP] who at the time was chairman of the club. The two men I mentioned there- with the exception of Shanty- they were the two men who kept that bit of a minor team going and I’m quite sure they had an awful lot more to do than to be running after a team with maybe 13-people. They kept it going that whole time and as far as I’m concerned. I played for St Teresa’s school team on the Glen Road and gained a little bit of experience playing there certainly. What I gained out of that little bit of minor football was invaluable- even getting to play because it was all we had at the time” .

“I also met Barney McKenna; he would have been very friendly with Michael Herron [RIP] because he used to go to Pat McNeill’s a lot. Barney and myself played hurling for the school at CBS and because Lámh Dhearg didn’t have a hurling team, we ended up playing for St Teresa’s. I just went with the flow and wherever Barney went I went, that was it- I’d enough on my plate but I still played hurling and enjoyed it”.

Pitch:

“I don’t remember a lot about playing at Budore, but before Budore we played out at the Rock. It was probably one of the worst fields in Ireland- it wasn’t good but it was all we had and we were glad of it. when we got to Budore it was like going to Wembley. It was a bit of a slope but it wasn’t that bad and we were glad of it at the time”.

County career with Antrim:

“It was a big privilege to be on the Antrim U-21 team at the time with some super players like Gerry Moore RIP, Kevin Gough , Bap Armstrong and PJ O’Hare.I remember two years previous to that Antrim had actually won an U-21 All-Ireland. There was great hopes that my team in 1974 were going to win an all-Ireland U-21 as well. we beat Tyrone in the Ulster final and then we played Cork in the semi-final at Corrigan Park. It was a big, big  deal at the time and we beat them and played Mayo in the final in Croke Park. We drew the first game and they beat us in the second game. After the first game, somewhere along the line – I injured my back- between both games. Whether it was a club match, training or whatever – I was plagued with back trouble from early on in my career”.

“We got beat in the final by Mayo and I went on to represent Antrim in senior- I was centre-half back in the U-21 outfit. I started out at centre-half back and from there I went into the middle of the field for the senior team. Fitzy would have been playing at the time and Gerard McCague [Rooster] would have played a few of the games as well, before that Sean McQuillan would have played – but he retired. I went on and played for Antrim until I was 23”.

Ulster:

“in 1975 and 76 I represented Ulster in the middle of the field in the Railway Cup team, it was fantastic at the time. It meant a lot more then than it really does now, you were representing your province rather than your county and it was something to proud of. The big players in the Ulster team would have been Colm McAlarney [Down], Frank McGuigan [Tyrone] and Peter McGinity [Fermanagh] – they were brilliant and first-class players. We’d have come up against the likes of Jimmy-Barry Murphy. I came up against him in U-21 against Cork and he was a great player. He’d go on and manage the Cork hurling team to an All-Ireland”.

Playing in Louth 1977:

“In 1977 I went to Louth, I played for a club called Kilkerley Emmet’s on the outskirts of Dundalk. I got very friendly with a few of those guys and I was there a couple of years- they were Intermediate at the time and we ended up winning the Intermediate Championship and the Senior league. Things took a downturn up there too and there was a friend of mine who I was working with. We ended up moving to another area outside of Dundalk and I ended up signing for them and they were another Intermediate club [St Joseph’s]. I ended up winning an intermediate Championship with them as well. I was playing for Louth alongside that so as long as recognition was concerned it didn’t really make a difference”.

“There was people like Felix Mulligan, Pat McCague and Hughie Jordan in those clubs that had been around the club for years and years and for them to win something like that was a big, big deal. I might have been in Louth for a year or two and I ended up representing Leinster as well. That was big thing for me anyway that I ended up playing with a lot of brilliant players, especially the Dublin team at the time. There were brilliant players like Brian Mullins, Jimmy Keaveney and Tony Hanahoe- a lot of big, big names and brilliant footballers and I was honoured to be on the same field as them. I don’t think I we played against Ulster in my time”.

“The only success I could remember with Louth was winning a couple of games in Leinster but it was on about a par with Antrim’s success. We might have got promotion to Division Two which would have been a big deal at the time but nothing major. We met Antrim in my early years and we beat them. it was bittersweet and it wasn’t something I’d like to think of too much because Antrim was my first home. The only person from the club who was playing for Antrim at the time was John McKiernan. John was a great player and we were the midfield in the Ulster team for two consecutive years. In his early years he was one of the top midfielders without a doubt. He was a big, big strong fella and a great man to play with as well. I got along very well with him and his brother Paul – who actually played for Antrim as well. Paul actually followed me to county Louth and played for Louth and whenever I went to the States- Paul went there as well. Whenever I left Louth to go to America, this time I didn’t go for a couple of months- I ended up staying for seven years”.

America Part 2:

“I ended up going to New York in 1983 and it was a very, very memorable experience, I was able to get back into work again- which when I left Dundalk things were bad enough and things started picking up in that end of my life. They made an approach to me to go to New York a year previous in 1982 and I couldn’t go at the time, so they asked me did I know other people that could go and I sent other people out. The following year I went out myself and played for a team called Sligo in New York. They ended up to be a really good bunch of people. One of them was probably one of the most genuine people I’ve ever came across in my life- his interest in Gaelic football and Sligo in particular in New York was probably way ahead of anybody else I ever knew – his name was Jimmy Nicholson”.

 “Anybody who came out for Ireland, if he could have helped in any way – he was there to do whatever he could. He was a big, big Sligo man and I got a great kick out of going out and doing my best for them. we ended up becoming a strong senior club out there- not with success year in year out. We ended up getting to a final out there- which was a big deal in itself- we actually lost the final to one of the other big teams out there. When it came to the likes of the final, I don’t know what it’s like now but back then they just would have loaded up teams from people from Ireland. Whoever had the most money in their pockets and brought those players out would end up winning it”.

“The team that beat us in the final- I don’t know how many Kerry men they brought out? But there was a quota of players that you were allowed to bring out and they brought out too many. There was an objection from our club and we ended up winning it by default. In those 6 or 7 years that I was in New York, I ended up representing New York county. It wasn’t actually Championship as it is now, it was called the ‘Away league final’. Cork won the league in 1989 and they would have played New York in the ‘Away final’. You played two games in Ireland, they won the first game and as far as I can remember it was a draw in the second game. After Cork won the first game very convincingly they probably hadn’t the same interest, still in all- it was a big, big occasion for the Gaels of New York”.

“I don’t know if Gaelic Park has come on a wee bit, on a good day when the sun was shining it could have been 100 degrees and when the wind blew there would have been a dust-storm and you could hardly see- it was unbearable on a real humid day. It was all we had and you were able to get away and take the family down and meet up with all the Irish people there and it was a get together as well as everything else. Gaelic Park was in the Bronx but actually lived upstate New York. I lived 45 minutes from there in a place North of another city called White Plains. It was a good way to get away from things and keep a connection with boys from home- even in other teams”.

“I’d a family at the time, whenever I first went out all those years ago when the boys of Lámh Dhearg thought I was going out for good, I was going out on my own care-free and didn’t care where I went or one thing or another- I would have just stayed with someone out there. The second time round I had three kids, I didn’t know where I was going and just ended up hoping that things would work out. When I arrived there a friend of mine- I didn’t know well at the time- but I know well now. He gave me his apartment; I might have arrived there on the Wednesday and I was out working on a Monday morning. It was a godsend because I was in good shape at the time as far as finance was concerned. I’m a plasterer but there weren’t that many plasterers out there so I ended up in the carpenters union out there and thank god. It was important for me because of the family and all that I had to get insurance cover and all the rest in case anything went wrong. It was 7 good years; I made an attempt to come home at one stage but it didn’t work out”.

Returning to Ireland and Lámh Dhearg:

“In 1989 I came back here and I didn’t have a clue where I was going, I had a notion to going back to live in Hannahstown- I looked around but things just didn’t fall into place. I ended up coming up around this part of the county and came into Rostrevor and just thinking this was probably the place for us to settle down and so it was- I’ve been here for 30 years now. When I came home I still had it in my head that I was definitely going to go back to the Lámhs for whatever period of time”.

“I got to know a lot of the boys here in Rostrevor and they made an approach to me- I said It would be an introduction to me to come to live here and play for the club, but I said – whether for a year or two years I’m going back to play for Lámh Dhearg for old times’ sake. Whenever I left the club previously, Pat McCague, Fitzy and whoever else didn’t take it easy. In fact I remember Shanty saying – “it’s as easy as this, we’re not going to make it easy for you to leave”. That always stuck in my head, it was for no selfish reason on his behalf- it was because of his love for the club. he didn’t want to let anybody go”.

“I always had it in my head- especially for them boys- to give it another shot anyway and see how things would go. Lo and behold when I did go back wasn’t John McKiernan there too, it was a complete turnaround and we both ended up playing. I don’t  remember much from this period  but were beaten narrowly by Rossa who went onto win the championship and we also had a good win over the Johnnies in the championship. Yet just to go back and play with some of the sons of the fathers I would have played with all those years ago- that was a great kick. I got to know them as well as I got to know their fathers. It was like getting the band back together with John McKiernan and myself. It was a hairbrained scheme of thing to do at the time because I was 37 at the time whenever I came back”. I helped coach and train the team. On the phone call to Paul Buchanan about the article he was reminiscing about how hard my training was. He had very vivid memories of intense sprinting routines in and around the idyllic flower beds and trees of Musgrave Park much to the amazement of bemused park users .

“I played along with Paddy Cunningham Snr , Jim Herron, Paul Buchanan, Frankie Fitz, Eamon McGarry and Terry McCrudden who were talented and well-established senior players along with young fella’s who had won the minor Championship in 1988 such as Dodger, Pat McCambridge Michael Boyle and Frankie Wilson. I left before the 92 success – maybe I should have hung around. ‘92 was a brilliant year for everybody associated with the club and I was  glad to see that talented panel achieve success”.

Final playing days and importance of 71: 

“I came here [Rostrevor] and played for another three years until I was 40, I ended up getting to a Championship final I was 40-years of age. I think it was 92 and we played Burren in the final and I believe that Burren went on to meet Lámh Dhearg in Ulster. It’s maybe it’s a good thing that Rostrevor didn’t win and meet the Lámhs because I would have been an outcast all together. As far as Ulster or All-Ireland medals were concerned – I had a good innings and looking back on it, first and foremost would be Lámh Dhearg but my few years in Rostrevor were brilliant as well. I got to know a lot very, very good people up here who Fitzy knows himself are all very, very decent people. The only regret I do have is, if it had have been possible at the time; I would have spent all my career with the club that I was reared”.

“if we had have got to the 71 final and got beat- there would have been no talk of it at all. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it is, that’s why going back nearly 50 years ago it was so important now that Lámh Dhearg got their name on that trophy all those years ago- especially for Pat and Fitzy and guys who had been around the club their whole lives. Jackie Duffy and Sean McElhatton as well and other people, I can’t take much credit for it. The only thing I could say is – in my playing years I did the best I could. There was so much more involved in developing that club besides playing. At one stage all those years ago when we played our minor football in supposedly our home at the Falls Park- you wouldn’t have gave tuppence to our club. no-one could have told you that they were going to end up as one of the strongest clubs in Antrim. It’s been some journey in 50 years for the club itself and unbelievable. All of it down to those people I mentioned, I could never take any credit for any of that success. I was part of a very, very good team 50 years ago and we won a final and a league and so much has happened between 50 years ago and now”.

“I would agree with Jackie Duffy saying the club is a GAA oasis, before the current club- we had a little club in Hannahstown itself behind a pub in Hannahstown called Charlie Water’s. I remember going up after matches, it was like a Shebeen and it was like an oasis as well because that’s where everybody was attracted to after the games. I could imagine that Sean [McElhatton], Jackie [Duffy], Gerry [Regan] and Tony Henderson etc didn’t just fit into the football team- they fitted into the whole social aspect of it. I know I can still remember Sean and Gerry up in the club and they loved the whole craic and everything else that went along with it. it was small little place, you wouldn’t have got 100 or 50 people in it, but it was a place that attracted our supporters and out footballers and we all went back after games”.

“I can remember thinking back years afterwards- there was another guy at the time from the Ranch set-up with Sean and Gerry and his name was Seamus Donaghy [RIP]. Seamus played for Tyrone as well and he a fantastic player and at one stage he was in along with the whole social aspect of things as well. everybody thought it was only a matter of time before Seamus Donaghy was going to join the Lámhs- he loved it but he didn’t join. Seamus, even though he was a great player- he didn’t have the love of the game that the other boys had. He could have taken it or left it even though he was brilliant, whenever I was in New York I used to play for Tyrone in Philadelphia. We ended up with a mighty team up there and we went through the Championship and winning the all-American league- it was like the Championship. Seamus was on that team along with Frank McGuigan and a few other big names. They were more or less out there permanent at time just like myself, Seamus was a great player but he passed away a few years ago. I was very friendly with him and he would have been up at Hannahstown at the time and a big part of the whole thing. Bar the football, I’m quite sure there were approaches made to him – why don’t you come because all the other boys were here?  but I don’t think Seamus had the same interest”.

“When my family moved to Dundalk I stayed in Belfast and stayed with Sean Maguire for a while but the political situation meant me looking for a new home.  One Night in the Suffolk Inn I jokingly said to Hugh Bugsy Senior Prior RIP I was looking for new accommodation.  Bugsy without any hesitation invited me to stay with his family in Kerrykeel. Bugsy was a colourful character and had a reputation for bringing dogs home so he brought me home one night instead. I stayed with the Priors for a long time and I was treated like royalty and as a family member and was very well treated. I was always well fed and watered and looked after by superbly by Kate. I always appreciate how Kate and Bugsy and family welcomed me so warmly into their home. Legends in my eyes and lovely people.  I will always be grateful for their hospitality, care and friendship”.

Amusing stories:

“Like every team I guess – you always need a joker in the pack and the joker in our pack was Eamon [McGarry’s] father Sam McGarry [RIP]. Sam was a real character and at training sessions everybody would have been training hard but Sam had a knack of getting out of training sessions. He’d have pulled up with muscle problems and not being well etc. The little bit I do remember of the final, me being the younger – the other boys would have been coming and giving me advice. Sam was always a jovial kind of guy and would have been all craic. The occasion must have got the best of Sam and he came over and talked to me and I couldn’t understand one word he was saying because it was just complete gibberish. He was not in the state of the occasion- that didn’t affect the way he played. I remember Sam coming over to give me advice and there wasn’t one bit of sense to it. I think he might have been in shock”.

“There was another occasion I was sitting down with Pat and Fitzy and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to say I had decided I was going to Louth. I remember Shanty looking me and just saying – you’re not going anywhere ! I think it was more a threat than anything else. He knew in his heart and soul after Gerard [Rooster] going. Things became more important than football at the time. I was married and all that and before that I could have along all right but there were other things to take into account. It was tough at the time but thinking back on it and who you were dealing with – Shanty and Fitzy. It wasn’t easy to turn around and say I’m leaving and that’s it. it wasn’t going to be easy”.

“On that minor team in the early days wee Joe [Finnegan] would have been down on the side-line as well. in fact there were occasions when we were stuck and waiting for Hughie Jordan coming with 5 or 6 boys in his car. There might have been 7 or 8 waiting on Hughie coming with no jerseys and hoping his car was full. There were occasions were wee Joe would have been mentioned to put a jersey on. I don’t know what age he was at the time, but he was a lot more than anyway – probably closer to 28. If he could have got away with it Joe would have been on. It would have been better than going to the Johnnies and saying we only have 13-men here, we’re going to have to get two and you can have the points. Could you imagine that happening now and having to say to St Johns and Sarsfield’s and Shanty, Felix Mulligan or Hughie Jordan would have said I’m sorry we’ve only 13 men, you’ve got the points and we can only play a challenge game? Joe was there giving his support – but he’ll probably deny this”.

“He was another stalwart- Joe was there from the beginning and another good friend of mine. Those three boys will be the first three men mentioned in Lámh Dhearg’s epitaph, in later years you’d have the likes of Jackie Duffy and Sean McElhatton etc. not along for what came from their football but as genuine people and what they done for Lámh Dhearg and Hannashtown. To think about what you have now up at the club and the set-up and think about the intervention they’ve played over the years. Those are the boys that deserve all the credit. I considered myself to be no big shakes in that final in 71 but I still remember Fitzy was playing at centre-half back and was the driving force behind it back then. It’s a privilege to be able to say I was associated with all those people that’s the truth. All the best of people you couldn’t have met anyone better”.

“One aspect I love about the club is they are so proud of their past and always remember and respect their players. They have organised some brilliant events and it has been a privilege to attend these events along with Marian and my good friend and former player and lifelong friend Gerard Bradley and Anne such as the Centenary Reunion, Centenary ball , 25^th and 40^th anniversary dinners of ’71 ,and the Gathering weekend. We are always warmly welcomed and treated very well. It was great to catch up with everyone and relive many happy memories. Good to see many more people are at the helm and keeping the club so strong such as Kieran Megraw, Jim and Barney Herron, Paul Buchanan, Sean Maguire, Paul and Martin Lynch and Peter Kane etc. It was an honour to be invited by Paul Buchanan to do the interview and I really enjoyed the interview with Kevin”. “I attended the Senior Final games in 2019 and was so proud of how the boys played and were very,very unlucky not to get over the line. They were a credit to the club and I was delighted that Marty asked me to speak to the boys. They are a very strong and talented panel under the  good leadership of Marty Lynch and Terry McCrudden and would be in contention for Championship success in the next few years”.