The Erne Connection – Ciaran Flaherty

Early career at Belcoo and St Michael’s Enniskillen:

“Belcoo O’Rahilly’s was the club in Fermanagh that I played for- right on the border with Cavan. I went to the local primary school- St Colmbans and moved onto St. Michael’s College, Enniskillen and played through Corn na nog, Ranafast and MacRrory. We never won anything and I didn’t blossom until late, I was more of a bit part player than a standout player. I didn’t really play county underage- a bit of development squads, I didn’t play any minor but I got into the U-21s when I started playing senior football for Belcoo. I played with Belcoo from I was 18 to I moved to Lámh Dhearg in 2017 and I’m now back down in the lovely wilderness of Fermanagh trying to keep myself fit”.

“Dominic Corrigan would have taken MacRory and taken the main teams, Peter McGinnity retired when I was in third year, Mark Henry- who would have managed the Fermanagh minors- would have taken me for a few years. In MacRory it was Dominic Corrigan who was the person guiding us through those times. It’s like an academy and Dom lives and breathes the Gaelic side of his teaching career- his teaching career maybe takes a back seat sometimes. He loved it and the enthusiasm he has just breaths through the school. He brought his whole mentality of winning and how to win and it showed with a lot of Fermanagh players who moved from St Michael’s into the County squad or have had some connection with Dom throughout the years and St Michael’s as a school”.

Meeting Terry McCrudden and first impressions of Hannahstown:

“I met Cutt [Gerard Cunningham] before I met Terry, the first time Terry ever came into the branch he didn’t know I played Gaelic football or recognised me- he just breezed past me and wanted to talk to the bank manager about GAA. I think the bank manager told him I was playing for Fermanagh at the time and that’s when the cosying up started. Gerard had spoken to the St John’s manager at the time about possibly moving there and he wasn’t happy when Terry came in and took me up to Lámh Dhearg and Hannahstown Hill to show me the setting- he was a bit disgusted at it”.

“One day I was working in the bank at the cash office and Terry came in and told the powers to be that he’s taking me out for a bit. He put me in the car and brought me up the hill to the pitch. It was like one of the days we’ve been having the past few weeks, there wasn’t a breath of wind or anything to put you off wanting to play on that field- it was unreal. He had me standing in the middle of the pitch and was talking about his ideas and dreams and the next thing Paddy Cunningham landed up in the car as well to try and add some sweetness to the deal. The two of them persuaded me to move up and when I came back down to the bank Gerard wasn’t happy- you just know by Gerard’s face whenever you’ve done something that he doesn’t agree with and that was one of them times”.

“St Galls had tried to sign me as well, Ronan Gallagher [Fermanagh keeper] rang me and said St Galls were such a good team to play for and you should play for them. Chris Kerr had been onto me and when I was at Queens I played Freshers with Paddy McShane- he managed them at one time and kind of cornered me one time and tried to get me to Milltown as well”.

“Terry and myself had been speaking before that for a year or two and if I’m totally honest- I probably regret not moving up the year before. I decided to stay down in Belcoo for another year because there was a guy coming in that I had worked with previously and I thought that I could maybe get something out of it for my last year with the club. It didn’t work out and in hindsight I probably should have come up to Lámh Dhearg a year earlier than I did”.

“The only day I’d ever passed Hannahstown was going the back road to the airport and I didn’t really know the pitch or anything. That was my first experience of it and it reminded me a bit of Belcoo because it’s got a great backdrop to its pitch. It’s got a lake beside it the hills, you’re looking down over Belfast and it was unreal. There was clear blue skies and the pitch was cut- it was just perfect conditions for playing football. It was a bit of a utopia and a paradise when I was looking at it because whenever you think of Belfast clubs- you’re thinking of grounds in housing estates like St Johns, St Pauls etc. Lámh Dhearg was a rural club on the outskirts of the city and my first experience was one to remember and one I’ll never forget to be honest”.

Leaving Belcoo:

“I think Belcoo were disappointed because at that time- I had stepped back from the county team- but I was the only county player at that stage and the only one who’d played at that level. No team wants to see one of their best players go and they probably didn’t want to start a precedent because there was quite a few of us living up in Belfast as well. They might have thought if one goes then the floodgates will open, but there was never hard feelings over it – they were just disappointed to be losing a player that they didn’t want to lose”.

“Most of my weekends when I would have been playing for Belcoo and living in Belfast- you’d have been travelling down the road, going home to play football for the weekend and it would take up your whole weekend. Whenever I was playing for Lámh Dhearg you had your weekend free until the game, you trained on the Friday night and you’d be home by 9.30 or 10 o’clock and you’d your whole day on Saturday and Sunday free because you’re playing a game that that’s only a couple of hours away rather than two hours down the road, spending the whole weekend preparing and two or three hours back up the road again”.

Fermanagh v Antrim battles against future club-mates, first training session and set-up:

“My first county experience was 2010 and we played Antrim that year in Division Three and they turned us over quite easily- it was in Paddy [Cunningham’s] prime and I knew a lot about Paddy. Later on you’d Conor and Ryan [Murray] and Decky [Lynch] was coming on but he probably wasn’t getting the breaks he deserved on the county squad. I knew there was quality there and with four or five county boys- not many clubs have that. In Fermanagh apart from Derrygonnelly and Enniskillen back in their day-four or five county boys is unheard of. You knew that there was definitely quality there and an experience as well, it made it quite easy when you knew that you were coming into some quality rather than maybe a different kind of set-up”.

“I remember the first training session was up in Queens and I remember walking up by myself because the hurlers were still training and there wasn’t going to be much of a squad there. The hurlers were training for the All-Ireland Junior semi-final so it wasn’t a massive turn-out for training but it was a good turn-out. I remember there was a bit of craic at the start and people welcoming me and a bit of messing about but as soon as training got down to it, people switched on and got through it and there was no complaining that I heard of. For the first training session in the middle of January- which is quite rare- I thought it was really well run”.

“Marty [Lynch] and Terry bring a good enthusiasm to it, Terry especially wants to train with you and put the boots on and train with you. Marty gets great satisfaction out of seeing people succeed and see his home club succeed and that’s why he loves it- he loves to see Lámh Dhearg do well. You’d Decky Bunting, I’d never met him before but it was a really good set-up and he knew what he was talking about for such a young lad. He knew what he wanted to do and wanted the players to do and it was very impressive from the outset. Training was professionally structured and organised with good spirit among us all”.

A few league games and Championship opener v St Pauls:

“I missed most of the league because I was away travelling, in the first two games we played St Brigids and Aldergrove – it was the first time apart from challenge games that we were all together and I was quite confident whenever I was leaving. I was happy with how things had been going myself and the way the team had been going. I came back and my first game back was against St Galls up in Hannahstown and we won that quite easily from what I could remember- it was a very good performance. The last game of the season was against Cargin- they were league Champions and it was the last game of the league- we played really well and we were top class and very impressive ”.

“There was no fear from me or pessimism that things weren’t going to go well. I knew the first game against St Paul’s was a game we were expected to win from what I could gather- I never played against St Paul’s- but from what I could gather we were expected to win. You’re always worried when you’re favourites that you’re going to slip up somehow, we never played particularly well but we always controlled the game that day and I was confident and happy with how things were going”.

St Galls Quarter-final:

“It’s the best game I’ve been involved in with Lámh Dhearg anyway but probably close to the best ever because of excitement and what happened in it. The ball didn’t drop for us in the first ten minutes, they came flying out of the blocks and CJ [McGourty] was on-form for the first while and we couldn’t do anything right until we got settled. It just shows the mettle that we had, we didn’t give-in and didn’t panic really. There was no implosion of nerves or attitude – boys just knuckled down and fought away and kept chipping away. it showed when we were a point down at half-time – apart from the start, we were the better team throughout”.

“They were being kept in it because of a few of our mistakes more than anything and tiredness at times, I remember one time trying to fist pass the ball to Paddy in the second-half and I put it straight over his head and they came down the pitch and won a free and got a score out of it. Things like that kept them in the game rather than them coming at us, when we got in front in the second-half I never thought we were going to lose”.

“Conor [Murray’s] two goals were unreal- I don’t know if he’ll ever scored two goals again in a game or if he has ever scored two goals in a game in his life. I think he was just running in to annoy Chris Kerr and didn’t really know where the ball was going. The goals were game changers and brought us back into it and Domnhall [Nugent] bumped over a 45’ against the wind and you were just thinking – we’ve got this and we’re marching on. Our discipline showed, CJ got sent-off towards the end- he was surrounded by two or three boys and he couldn’t win the ball. The boys hunger was unreal to get through the game”.

“I remember hearing that St Galls were the like the monkey on the back- I’d actually went up to the semi-final at Ahoghill the year before and Lámh Dhearg should have won that night. They were the better team by far and I knew that there was something there that needed to be shaken off and we couldn’t have done it in a better way”.

Semi-final v Creggan:

“I got injured a couple of weeks before that- my hamstring had went and I wasn’t fully fit. I knew I wasn’t fully fit but I knew that I was going to offer at least something- maybe even be a decoy or somebody to make space. I was glad that I got 45-50 mins out of myself that afternoon because I was really worried that I wasn’t going to get anything”.

“I didn’t really know anything about Creggan but we just bossed that game, I thought we were in control the whole way. They were a physically strong and talented side and they were a good footballing side and it showed in the last few years, they probably should have won a Championship in the last few years”.

“But we were in complete control, Owen McKeown ran most teams ragged that year and a lot of team struggled to handle him or live with him. Decky and Micko [Herron] in the backline, you’d so many boys full of experience that were going to bring you through that game no-matter how tight it was and that’s what happened”.

Build-up to the final:

“It was serious but relaxed – it’s the thing with Marty and Terry- they want you focused and zoned in when you’re there, but don’t get yourself too wound up about it or heated up about it. That’s only going to detract from it all, if you get caught too much in the moment or the  build-up – it’s going to affect you and they didn’t let that happen. They kept us well-grounded and were building us up. Decky Bunting was keeping us ticking over and very sharp. Mick McGurn came in for a while- he’s proven himself and done it all. The things they were doing really helped us with the sharpness and that bit of extra power into the legs. All these things added up and we were really ready and  primed and couldn’t wait to play the final”.

Stats:

“Whenever I was starting out and whenever Stats came into the game- I wasn’t the biggest fan of them because I was never really at the top of them. What they do and what they show you now, you can’t do without them. It’s making players smarter and thing more and thing better. They’re thinking where they’re shooting from, passes they choose and even for break ball- people start thinking about their positioning because they’ve seen in a stat that the team have only picked up 5 break ball out of 10. They think, I need to be in a better place to influence these things and the stats are showing were we are winning and losing games so people have to take them in and learn from them. Kevin [Herron] was very good with them and were valuable in our development and progress”.

St Johns final:

“I was pretty relaxed and was just delighted to be in a Championship final, I’ve only ever played in one and lost it with Belcoo back in 2013. I couldn’t wait and it was a chance for redemption. My fitness was back and I was able to play at the level I wanted to play at. You’d boys like John [Finucane], Micko [Herron], Reg [Brendan McComb],Conor Murray,  Decky [Lynch] and Paddy [Cunningham] who had lost finals before and were aching to get over that line. It was killing them that they hadn’t because they’d probably deserved to in previous years but things don’t fall your way”.

“They’d never put it on you that the pressure was there- the pressure wasn’t there- because we weren’t expected to be in the final and St John’s weren’t expected to be in the final. You were looking at St Galls- especially after 10 minutes against us and Cargin as usual more or less. It fell that way in Antrim the year before and both teams  really had nothing to lose. There was a relaxed feeling about the place. It was nip and tuck and nervy in the early exchanges, I thought our preparations, tactics, match-ups were perfect and giving us an advantage along with hunger to get over the line.. We probably weren’t as settled in our shooting but we were edging it quality-wise. I think we were doing the better things but it was just converting them”.

“I’d a goal chance the lead-up to it showed our hunger, it was a short kick-out and we worked the ball out and we pressed and gave them very little space. They made the mistake and I could Padraig [Nugent] back-tracking and I knew I was too far out to shoot properly and I had to put it over him. I was too accurate unfortunately but when it was travelling I was nearly sure it was in. I think if we had have got a goal at that early stage we would have won by more. I’d heard that John Finucane didn’t like being chipped at training and I’d tried it a few times messing about at training and it worked better at training”.

“In the second-half we got on top and got a few points ahead and Domhnall used his head to seal the win. I remember the score and walking out the was this big smile on Domhnall’s face, he just walked up and thumped the ball away and the laughing off him was brilliant. They’d thrown it all at us and there were a few tiny interceptions in the lead-up to the end. I remember Decky had the ball for a free-kick and the referee more or less said that time was up and he just drove it away. it was pure joy and I had achieved what I wanted to achieve, winning a senior Championship in my first year. It doesn’t happen to many people and it was just brilliant. There was huge sense of relief because it was the first win of the field from 1971”.

Coming back to the club afterwards:

“It was unreal and I didn’t want to go home, even Bukey talking on the stage and I remember joking when Marty was speaking about winning it and I shouted – it’s the transfers we made. The boys started singing “Fla’s one of us”- it meant a lot and was really memorable and was great craic. The next day at the club was brilliant- Joe Brolly was in and he was bending my ear about four-types of solo dummies”

Ulster v Cavan Gaels:

“I suppose when you put so much into winning the county championship as we did, it’s hard to go into Ulster and look further than the first round. Cavan Gaels were a pedigree and a top team and down in Breffini Park it was tough and we probably knew early-on it wasn’t going to be our day. Domhnall had a goal chance that probably would have put us a couple of points in front and you never know what would have happened if that had have went in. We probably at that level at that stage to do anything in Ulster”.

Management

“I’m still trying to figure out if he liked me or not! with Marty it didn’t matter if you were a stalwart, county player or somebody just breaking into senior football he treated everybody the same. Great man management. There was no messing and if you weren’t doing things how he liked you knew about it. Was the quieter of the two between him and Terry but knows his stuff. Really enjoyed the way the management didn’t put the pressure on. Tried to keep things as relaxed as possible and it worked”.

“The one thing that I really liked about Stevie Lynch was his positivity, a negative could be always turned into a positive. He was always trying to get you to look at the better side of things. It was the same as everyone else, nothing would really ruffle his feathers – they’re enthusiastic and love the game of football and love Lámh Dhearg. They were able to keep their composure – apart from Terry who was very passionate in training and on the line”.

“It was the same with Jim Herron, Jim bleeds the club and is very knowledgeable and methodical – it’s a massive part of his life and all of them were really able to convey things in a really simple way that you weren’t going to get to confused about it or bogged down in something being too complicated. It was just more or less, show that you like playing football, show that you love playing for the club and go out and win. Everybody from Marty, Terry, Decky, Stevie and Jim conveyed that really easily and they all worked well together ”.

Brendy Murray ‘Bread’ :

“All I ever saw when it came up in the WhatsApp group was Brendy Murray ‘Bread’ and it made me laugh every time. It’s the same with all clubs, you need people like him about it. He loves it and does the jobs that a lot of people don’t want to do that need to be done to keep the club going and there wasn’t a whimper out of him. The only thing he worried about was when there was a number missing from the kit-bag. Paddy Cunningham was bad for that- always bringing the number 13 home with him- I don’t know why. Ryan and Conor maybe brought a few jerseys home from them. I remember one day at St Teresa’s Brendy squirted somebody with water and was sent-off the line because he thought the person needed to cool down”.

Then Sootie, Never let him too close to a water bottle or the opposition bench.  He would have the water bottle out before you hit the ground and was always encouraging you to get back up and go again. He’s the type of person you want in your club. He would have died for the club during games! Got to know the opponents mentors very well!!! Loves the club and a great person to have around”. 

Departure of Domhnall and Conor Murray injury:

Two massive blows to us “Yet I don’t think it had the effect where we were saying we couldn’t win the Championship. I think it was the effect that we were losing two massive players. Conor was that outlet that if you needed to get the ball from your 14-yard line to your 21-yard line- he would run with it and was great with being that link-man and being everywhere. He would fill in as a third midfielder sometimes because he’d such a great leap on him and it was a massive blow. Obviously his experience as a county player and what that brought was a massive blow”.

“Domhnall was a solid man in midfield for us and you could put him in full-forward and he would cause havoc. He was a really good lad that you loved having about the place. It was really tough losing him as well. It was a shame to lose the both of them, you knew it was going to be tough if you wanted to repeat what we did in 2017. I think we had to just try and adjust and replace them. I thought Pearse Fitzsimons in particular stepped up – the cub can be county standard easily if he wants to be”.

“You look back on our first game against Aghagallon in the Championship, all the talk was there could be an upset and we were going to slip because they were a good young, fresh side, they could beat us and they’d Kevin Murray in charge who knew us very well. We excelled that day and performed like champions -It was really refreshing. That performance- apart from St Galls- was probably our best performance that we’d had in a long time and I was fully confident that we could do something in the Championship. It reinforced the confidence in us but we probably didn’t hit the same level against Cargin”.

Cargin in quarter-final:

“In the first-half we didn’t kick into gear at all, in the second-half we just clawed our way back into it like St Galls the year before. It was complete ignorance and we were fighting for everything; I remember Ryan Murray making a diving block on our 45’ and it was just that pure hunger at times. We probably should have won it that first day, but at Corrigan Park in the replay they blew us out of the water”.

“They lost Mick McCann early in the second-half and maybe as players we didn’t manage the game right. Cargin were ahead and were happy to just sit back and let us play into traffic. Maybe we weren’t smart enough at the time to keep clawing the scores back and seeing were it took us”.

“We had to make three subs in the opening-half, Cargin came out of the blocks very quickly and knocked us out of our stride and it was to an extent that we had to make substitutions and switches. With substitutions anyway, they knock you off key for a while until you’ve time to steady ship. But by that stage Cargin were a few points in front and in control and they played really well and deserved the win ”.

Returning to Fermanagh:

“I was living back in Fermanagh and was travelling and finished off the season while I was living back here. I went up for the three Championship games but circumstances had changed. I wanted to be a journalist and an opportunity came up, I put my name in the hat and got the job and I couldn’t really turn it down. If I hadn’t have got the job I would probably still be kicking ball up in Hannahstown and I’d have been loving it”.

“I’ve never felt so welcome in a club before, you’re first experience is that you’re always apprehensive. I people like Decky [Lynch] and Terry and people like that but you didn’t know what you were going to get really and it was just unreal. I remember sit in the first ever team meeting up in the clubhouse and I’m sitting there listening away and there is talk about important players and Marty is pointing to a few. Baby [Conor McConville] was in the meeting and he wasn’t mentioned and the next thing he put up his hand and was all serious he asked – Marty, why have you not mentioned me? I’m an important player. The whole place just went up in raptures”.

“You’d young boys like Pearse [Fitzsimons],Cormac [Hannon], Ben [Rice] and Owen [McKeown] – they’re cheeky pups in a good way. Me being from the country and them being city boys- I wasn’t going to keep up with their insults and I couldn’t keep up. They were just a world onto their own. You’d Gerry Slane and he was the ring-leader of most of the badness- he was a brilliant lad, he’d the Friday app pics. John [Finucane] was captain and culled the WhatsApp group a lot of times- I don’t think I was ever removed from it- I just liked to watch from afar. Conor [Murray] was a bit slow at times – he didn’t have his cornflakes in the morning. Kevy Quinn never liked getting slagged because he couldn’t shoot and its really drove him on because he’s improved in the last couple of years. I remember he used to throw a strop all the time because the banter he got from his mates and it shows the banter you get can drive you on as a player”.

“My first experience of Nolies [Christopher Nolan], I didn’t know who he was and he came to training over at Queens. It was bad light playing small sided games and he came over to Martin because he wanted to introduce himself. The first ball I got, he walked straight in front of me and the two of went over in a heap and rolled on the ground and got up again. The next ball he ripped the glove off me and at the end of the training session he came over and gave me a big hug. I’m thinking he’s going to be alright and he’s going to have your back and then I realised that he does that to everybody. There’s nothing special, he’ll put a target on your back and go after you”.

Missing the club:

“I was toying with the idea of possibly staying with the club because I’m not living in Belcoo- I’m living in Eniskillen. The reason I moved to Lámh Dhearg was because all the travelling was taking its toll because you were getting injured more easily. It would have been hypocritical of me at the time to stay with the club after making the decision to move up because of the same reasons. I definitely miss it, I’ve seen a few of the boys and called up to a training session one time before Championship when I was up in Belfast and it was like I was never away. Everyone was over chatting and shaking hands and you always felt you were part of the club. I was up in the Championship final with Baby- I have to give him a mention because he is a special friend. You see everybody and it was brilliant feeling that people are still waving at you and saying hello. It’s humbling to know that you’ve made a mark with people. I was hitting 29/30 when I came and you know you’re not going to have many years left and I’d won a Championship. It’s what everybody wants to do but when you win one- it’s really special and was really special for the boys and brilliant”.

Championship run 2019:

“Before every game I was texting Terry and Decky and boys good luck and all that- I was really keeping a close eye on it. I wanted to come up and watch a game of football and it was nice it turned out to be a Championship final. I remember following the Portglenone game on-line on the Antrim twitter page and it was mad. It would have been great to be involved in but I was watching them boys kicking points from frees and thinking – I’m confident enough as it is- but you don ‘t know when it gets to that stage. there was just a supreme confidence about it, Paddy Cunningham was playing out of his skin and was unreal”.

“Kevy Quinn stepped up and Marc Jordan- who I’d have loved to play with- he’s a phenomenal athlete. Ben Rice stepped up and Decky Lynch just shows time and time again good a footballer he is- Micko shows his experience, Pearse Fitzsimons in midfield is a top midfielder in Antrim, he just needs to know that to bring him up because he could slot into county level no problem. Conor’s performance in the final was exceptional and it shows you the quality that is in the club. There were 6 or 7 in the county squad for the McKenna Cup, you don’t get that in clubs unless you’re a St Galls and Cargin or Derrygonnelly and Enniskillen down here”.

“You don’t get quality like that being there constantly and they’ve a few years in them yet. Conor Murray- if he keeps injury free- could go for a couple of years. Kevy Quinn is coming into his own, Marc Jordan and Ben Rice and Decky Dunne was exceptional in the final. For somebody so young he didn’t let anything fluster him and that was the thing with the players- if you’re told to do a job then they’re doing a job. We got our match-ups right for the 2017 final and if you’ve players like that, that are willing to sacrifice everything and do things. You’ve a serious core there”.

Fitzy and Shanty:

“I was invited to Baby’s wedding and it was really nice and I saw big Fitzy at it- he’s always over to shake your hand and you know that he’s close to giving out about something. It’s always nice to talk to Fitzy and Shanty and other members after matches because they’ve all played football and all kicked a ball, all got their own experience and had their own advice. It was always straight down the line with them- if you were bad you were bad and if you were good you were good. There was a brilliant sense of loyalty to the club, they’d talk to you like that but you know they’re never going to talk about you like that outside the club- nobody else is going to know what the club is doing, which is a great way to go”.

“Other people in other clubs shout their mouths off about things and stuff but Lámh Dhearg aren’t like that. Lámh Dhearg are a very loyal club to their players, members and their volunteers – which is phenomenal. My dad was up at the house doing some work and I told him I was doing this and he said – tell big Fitzy I was saying hello. Fitzy would always come over and chat when he came up to games and Dad really enjoyed coming up and watching me play up in Belfast. He was as happy as when the final whistle blew at the Championship final”.

Life a sports journalist:

“I’m still a like a supporter- there’s no impartiality, I was at all the Fermanagh home games during the league that they got to play. You’re sitting full of journalists and you see yourself shouting and pointing out something and being a supporter. At times you’re missing out on what you’re supposed to do be doing- taking notes and stuff. There was a game that Fermanagh were playing Kildare in the league and the other sports journalists in the paper was down with another guy- they were in the press-box and one of them got a bit excited when Fermanagh were doing something and one of the Kildare journalists said – if you’re going to be like that get out! There’s no supporters in here. The guy politely told him were to go, it just shows that you need to have that enthusiasm for it or you’ll just get bored of it, you don’t ever want to lose that”.

The Erne Connection 2 – Gerry Regan [RIP]

Devenish and Fermanagh:

“I had played very little early football because I had been in hospital for a good while- I nearly lost a leg. I was in St Malachy’s College and when I was in St Malachy’s College I got an injury and I actually lost a year in school- I spent most of it in Musgrave Park. My parents were told I might lose my right leg from the knee down and was told not to play Gaelic football again. Little did I know. I only played one year of minor for Devenish in 1963 and won a minor Championship and senior Championship that year. I was only 18 at the time”.

“Devenish had a great run in the 60s in Fermanagh- we’d have won five or six leagues and three or four Championships. I had been at Queens for a year and won a Sigerson in 1964. It wasn’t a tough decision to leave Devenish because one or two of our members had joined clubs in other counties and I wasn’t the first to leave”.

Getting involved with Lámh Dhearg:

“I was at the Ranch and my digs were with the mother of Tony McCloskey- he lives out beside Fitzy in Dunrod. I stayed in Tony’s house when I was a student and his brother used to have a lot of dogs up about Budore. At the time in Belfast, any of us that were at the Ranch and weren’t going home to teach would have stayed on. I was teaching over in. St Augustin’s over in the Ravenhill Road and Sean McElhatton came into my digs the year after me and we actually ended up teaching in the same school. He was year after me”.

“I inveigled Sean McElhatton to join the Lámhs and he inveigled Duffy [Jackie Duffy]. Jackie was working with John McQuillan at the time at Ready-Mix and I was teaching. I didn’t know whether to go home to teach, there was a lot of new secondary schools being built and a lot of teaching jobs available – you could nearly choose were you wanted to teach. I had been deliberately sent to St Augustine’s because the principal had rang the college and told them he was looking for two Maths teachers the following year. Myself and another fella were deliberately sent out there on teaching practice”.

“I was trying to make up  my mind when I was living in McCloskey’s- would I go back home to Fermanagh or teach in Belfast. The lecturer who was in charge of teaching practice arrived up to my digs on night and asked was I not taking that job over on the Ravenhill Road ? I was himming and hauwing and he told me to get over the next day for an interview. I ended up teaching in St Augustine’s. I then transferred from Devenish to Lámh Dhearg and the next year Sean McElhatton followed”.

“When I was at the Ranch I was secretary at the club and I got to know and met Felix [Mulligan] first at county board meetings. I would have been at them fairly regularly down at Casement”.

First memories at Lámh Dhearg and Sean McElhatton training:

“We’d a hut out in the pitch at Budore- it was blown up and it ended up we had to change out at back of a pub in Budore. When Sean McElhatton joined he was a PE teacher and began training the team. He was a tough trainer and we did a lot of running, Lámh Dhearg  discipline at times could have been better  but he knocked it out of them for the most part. We would have had some rough and tough training sessions – in other words you could do it at training but not during matches- it would have been tough at training. Jimmy Finnegan was manager of the team”.

Jimmy Finnegan:

“Jimmy used to do a bit of boxing training and was a brilliant manager, I forget who else was on the side-line because I was coming and while I knew the players, I didn’t know a lot of the people behind the scenes- it was all new to me. The only players I would have known would be Fitzy and Sean McQuillan from playing against them in county matches when I was playing for Fermanagh”.

1971 Championship win:

“In 1971 meant an awful lot to me because when I was playing for Devenish; St John’s had beaten us in the Ulster Club final in Irvinestown. It was in the Irish News a couple of weeks ago. I got my comeuppance when we beat them in the 71 final, we were four-points up at the end of the game St John’s were awarded a penalty. Andy McCallion was taking it- I was fairly close at hand the referee told him it was the last kick of the game so even if he scored it we’d have won. Paddy [McCann] got his hands to it but just didn’t get it the right side of the post. The celebrations went on for days afterwards- but I was a new teacher at the school and I couldn’t afford to blot my copy book too much”.

“We were beaten by Bryansford after a replay in Ulster but missing Fitzy was massive and the following year we’d lost a few players to emigrations and were beaten by St Johns in the final. in 1973 I’d got married and I was for staying on in St Augustine’s and my wife had just applied for a job in Bangor. She’d been teaching down in Bessbrook outside Newry and I got a phone-call out of the blue and we were offered two jobs in the same school in Fermanagh. Things politically were not very nice at that stage and I was glad to get out of Belfast. That brought me back home and I stayed here”.

Loughgiel and Dunloy connection:

“My wife was a Loughgeil woman and was a Richmond- she’d have been a cousin of the Richmond’s from Loughgeil and the Elliott’s from Dunloy would be nephews of her’s. The Elliott’s from Dunloy- their mother was a Richmond”.

Going back to Devenish:

“When we went back to Fermanagh I started to play for Devenish again but we didn’t do anything special. We stayed in the first division but a lot of the boys that I would have been playing with were hanging up the boots so I hung up the boots in 1975. I went from the big white ball to the small white ball”.

Tony Henderson [RIP]:

“Tony played for Eniskillen Gaels mostly but came up to Belfast, he was a joiner and was working for Tracey Brothers – who would have been building hotels and schools. The girl who was to be his wife [Marie Murphy] was at the Ranch training college – she was from Tempo. We encouraged him to join the Lámh’s and he was a fantastic addition to the side and a brilliant asset in his time at Hannahstown. He would have played at half-forward and was very fast with a bit of a temper – but he soon got rid of that”.

Phil Sheridan

“I found when you meet a Lámh Dhearg man you’re a friend for life, they’ll never forget you. The likes of Pat McCague, Fitzy, big Sam McGarry [RIP], Jackie Duffy and others. They almost made you feel part of the team”

Gerry Regan and Tony Henderson [RIP]:

“Both Gerry Regan and Tony Henderson would be a fair bit older than me, I’m turning 69 now and Gerry is about 75 and Tony would have been a big younger. Gerry Regan was a very solid footballer from what I remember playing against him. I would have played against him for Enniskillen Gaels against a very strong Devenish team that were based in Garrison County Fermanagh. Gerry was a very strong full-back and was part of a team that were controversially beaten in the first un-official Ulster Club Championship final in the mid-60s”.

“They were beaten by St Johns- backed up by the Gallagher’s, I think they were relations of Gerry Armstrong. The game finished controversially, St Johns were in front at half-time and it was played at Irvinestown- which was the county pitch at the time. A mist and fog came down and game had to be abandoned and St Johns were declared as the winners”.

“it was an un-official tournament at the time and you’d had Devenish [Fermanagh], St Josephs of Bundoran and Ballyshannon – the team that Brian McEniff would have played for. St Johns [Antrim], Omagh St Enda’s’ [Tyrone] and Bellaghy [Derry]”.

“Devenish were an all-conquering team backed up by the Tracey brothers- the legendary PT Tracey would have played for Fermanagh for many years. He is still amongst certain past pupils in St Colemans in Newry- where he was boarded- he is still a legend there as well. no matter about all the Down greats who went through that school, PT Tracey is counted as one of the best footballers that ever went through it”.

“His family backboned that Devenish team and there were five or six of them on it- I’m sure Regan would have come of age wise with those guys- there were some certainly younger than him. One of them the youngest was in my class in school- Eugene Tracey. That’s all I knew about Gerry Regan as a player, he played for Fermanagh in the county”.

“Tony Henderson was a club-mate of mine at Enniskillen Gaels, in Enniskillen terms and possibly Fermanagh terms- is was one of the best footballers of his era in terms of athleticism in particular. He wasn’t a particularly big fella but played midfield for the Enniskillen Gaels team. He was an aerial power and had great guile. He’d a bit of a temper and had terrible feet at times in front of goals but he was a very athletic figure”.

“He came from a family in Enniskillen with four or five brothers on it, they all played for Enniskillen Gaels. Tony was the youngest of them and by far the best footballer of them. his mother was a legendary figure in Enniskillen and up to her death was an honorary president of the club. She never missed a match, particularly when the boys were playing and if a row broke out, inevitably she would be the second into it”.

“I played with Fermanagh with Tony as well, he was playing a lot longer than I was and was playing with Fermanagh right up until he moved to Belfast and got married in 1971. He moved to Lámh Dhearg, I don’t know of the connection – I don’t think he’d have known Sean McElhatton that well. he’d have known Gerry Regan a bit. He played for Lámh Dhearg for a short time. His wife was from Tempo and he played for them for a while”.

“I was managing Enniskillen Gaels for a while in the late 70s and I asked him to come back and he did play for a while but he was in his last years. He wasn’t the footballer he once was; I had this mystical notion that he was going to be the Tony Henderson of old. He’d have been a massive coup at the time for Lámh Dhearg and would have been a big enough name in the GAA at the time”.

Sean McElhatton:

“I started teaching in St Augustine’s Secondary School where Sean was a PE teacher, him and another teacher had a house in Stewartstown Avenue and had a spare room in it. I’d known Sean before from playing for Tyrone and he’d managed the Ranch team for a year when Jim McKeever was away back in my time in the early 70s. I can put my hand on my heart and say that Sean McElhatton domesticated me- he taught me how to iron clothes and make gravy and things like that. The first man out in the morning was the best dressed and that was the late Micky Logue RIP. He was a more retuned figure than us and all our clothes got overly stretched at times”.

“I was with Sean for about another half a year after that and he got married in 1976. Gerry Regan and myself were groomsmen at his wedding. I remember Regan picking me up at the time in Enniskillen. I wasn’t married at the time and was still living at home; it was the summer holidays and Regan and his late wife collected me. We headed to Eskra in Tyrone- that’s where Sean’s wife was from and where the wedding was. We got changed in any undertakers store into our wedding suits”.

Socialising at the club:

“I’d been going to the club on and off since 1975, the first club was up the hill I think beside the Mourneview. There was a hut just off the Upper Springfield Road before you come to Hannahstown Hill. It was a Shebeen of a place and Pat McCague was the main man in keeping order. He didn’t take a drink and had eyes for everything going on around him. I’d great memories in there and those guys would have looked after me because of the connection with Sean and the connection has never been broken”.

“There was a group on one night and the army came in- in the group one of the guys was wearing a hat and playing a guitar. Everyone was scattering all over the place and I grabbed the hat off the guy with the guitar and charged towards the door. I said to the solider- those fella’s are mad in there”.

“There was a crowd from Fermanagh- Jim McGovern, Seamus Leonard, Peter Reilly, Jim Smith and myself would have been going up to the club for a number of years on a Sunday. There would have been GAA games always on the big screen. I knew Barney McKenna back then and he plays an annual visit back home. He remembers me just like it was yesterday and every time I see him we’re chatting about the old days. You never lose the contact with those guys. I remember at Sam’s funeral- the craic we had reminiscing over things and some of fun. You made your own fun in those days”.