IF THE SECRET sauce that makes Tyrone club rivalry so spicy is close-quarters combat, then Edendork St Malachy’s must have a raging appetite for success.
This Sunday, they appear in their first-ever Tyrone senior final.
Waiting for them in Healy Park, Omagh (throw-in 4.30pm) are scalding-hot favourites Errigal Ciaran.
Should Errigal win, it moves them into second on the Tyrone roll of honour on 12 titles (including two titles in 1926 and 1931 as Ballygawley St Ciaran’s), just three behind Carrickmore on 15.
Meanwhile, Edendork have been choosing from the pauper’s menu. Their honours came in junior titles of 1938 and 1957, intermediate successes coming in 1969, 1985, 2015 and 2020.
The excellence of their players of recent vintage has elevated their profile.
Darren McCurry was the man-of-the-match in the 2021 All-Ireland final with 1-4 on the board when Tyrone won their fourth Sam Maguire, beating Mayo in the final, and was duly rewarded with an All-Star.
Tyrone have a second goal, with a lightning attack from one end to the other finished off by Darren McCurry in another body blow for Mayo #RTEGAA #MAYOvTYRONE
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Goalkeeper Niall Morgan has been one of the best exponents of that position and hit 0-3 from dead balls in that aforementioned final, one from over 50 metres. Morgan has All-Stars from 2021 and 2024, and was a mainstay of the Ireland International Rules team when they played Australia.
In midfield in 2021 was Conn Kilpatrick, who looks nailed on to become an All-Star himself after his year with Tyrone.
Niall Morgan playing for Ireland. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Nothing motivates GAA clubs quite like the success of neighbours, but Edendork’s situation, when all is considered, is rather incredible.
From Arthur Mallon Park, no fewer than 12 clubs are within a 10-mile radius, and it’s worth detailing them here: Coalisland Fianna (2.5 miles), Dungannon Thomas Clarkes (2.9), Galbally (6.9), Brackaville Owen Roes (2.3), Donaghmore St Patrick’s (3.9), Clonoe O’Rahilly’s (3.3), Stewartstown (3.8), Killyman St Mary’s (5.5), Derrytresk (7.5), Derrylaughan Kevin Barrys (8.4), Brockagh Emmets (7.9) and Eglish St Patrick’s (6.6).
Add in hurling clubs Eoghan Ruadh (1.9) and Naomh Colum Cille (4.3).
By way of contrast, Errigal Ciaran come from a much more mountainous, rural region in the west of the county. Their most local club is Beragh Red Knights at 5.1 miles away, but the two have seldom met.
After that, it’s Carrickmore St Colmcilles (7.4), Killeeshil St Mary’s (7.7), Augher St Macartan’s (9), Pomeroy Plunketts (10), Eskra Emmets (10.4) and Galbally Pearses (10.7).
You get the picture.
Demand
Edendork have always recruited out of the local primary school, and demand has shot up in recent years with a new school being constructed on the site of the former Edendork Ballroom, a place of dancing, hi-jinks and bingo.
Former player Ronan Murphy played 17 years of adult football for the club and was taking the U14 team this season. They won a Grade 3 league, but when he was asked why Edendork were playing Grade 3, it’s because they didn’t have enough players to field 15-a-side, which is a requirement from Grade 2 up.
“But we punch above our weight in terms of what we have at underage and what we are able to put out at senior,” says Murphy.
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Ronan Murphy. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
“The other side of it is people get playing football. Around Edendork, you are not like others that sit on a load of teams. Here, you get to play and you get developed as a player.”
“And that happens when they play at underage and have loads of exposure. Then, when they want to play senior, you can really go to town.
“But you always want to beat or match your neighbours. That brings up the standards and healthy competition is good for an area.
“Boys go to school together and they realise, ‘Sure I am as good as him.’ And schools play a part in that too. If they are playing a high level at school it helps to push them on.”
The McGuckin clan are synonymous with Ballinderry Shamrocks. When Mick married Margeurite, they found themselves a site on the Bush Road, built a house, but he still was drawn to home.
This is a man, after all, who captained Derry in the early ‘70s and once held Mick O’Dwyer scoreless in a game.
He played on with Ballinderry before becoming manager. By 1982, Edendork convinced him to join their ranks, courtesy of Jim Devlin’s persuasiveness.
McGuckin was never one for half measures, signing up as a trainer and manager and they won the championship and league double in 1985.
On that team was the likes of Joe Mallon, father of current captain, Conor.
The Mallons are another name that runs through Edendork like a stick of rock. The late John Mallon was a grandfather of Conn Kilpatrick.
Conn Kilpatrick. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
John’s desire to progress the club made them hugely forward-thinking. He would travel over to Scotland to auctions and bid on galvanised fencing materials, shipping them back to close in the perimeter of the pitch. He was involved in the shuttering of the steps around the pitch that has made it such an important venue, not only for hosting Tyrone championship games, but also schools and college fixtures.
Every year he took his family holidays in Arklow, Wicklow. But they were as much about fact-finding as he scoured all the club pitches on the way up and down to find out what Edendork could implement.
Mick’s son Brian played for Tyrone and is the current Edendork manager. Another son, Joe, is in the backroom. He has another son, John, who managed Edendork to the 2020 intermediate championship and is currently over Sarsfields in Armagh.
While Mick was playing football at Queen’s University, he became friendly with Des Fox, who was an administrator for the university’s GAA club.
When he came to build his house, he ended up next-door neighbour of Fox and the two families not so much mingled, as merged.
Edendork have a rich tradition of music and culture, with the Fox and McGuckin families being to the fore.
Fox was a bookmaker that travelled to the race meetings all around the country. In September 1990, he was on his way to The Curragh when his Mercedes was intercepted and fired upon by a gang using two vehicles with false plates.
Fox tried to reverse away, but his car ran off the road. He had been shot through his leg, a main femoral artery, and bled to death at the scene.
The gang made off with a sum of around €20,000 in a black leather briefcase.
“It was a tragic day, a day that shouldn’t have happened,” recalls McGuckin.
“I was in the house here and the rumours were coming through about him being shot and then dying.
“I had to go in next door with the parish priest to say it to his wives and daughters. It was a day I will never forget.”
His loss has been impossible to replace.
Energy
“Des was the energy in Edendork club for a long, long number of years. He was devoted to it, he was excited by it. He was committed. And I mean every last bit of it,” says McGuckin.
“He had three girls, very good instrumentalists and my girls used to do a bit of singing. Dessie would have had them all involved in the Scór every year. As well as that, he was the chairman of the club when they were building the pavilion and the new pitch.
“He would have been committed in every way. Financially, he would have been putting in a few pounds, quietly. People wouldn’t have known about it.”
In November 2008, the Edendork clubhouse was burned down. A group calling itself the ‘Orange Volunteers’ called the UTV studios to claim responsibility.
That morning, the club volunteers cleared all the debris and they went ahead and hosted a relegation play-off against Pomeroy with the main building still smouldering as a backdrop.
Edendork clubrooms after the arson attack. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
After a major fundraising drive, they rebuilt magnificent, state-of-the-art facilities. When it came to the grand re-opening, they named it ‘The Des Fox Pavilion’.
“I wonder what his position would have been now. He was a top-notch bookmaker. He was a great punter and wasn’t afraid to put on big bets and take big bets as I understand it,” says McGuckin.
In February 2020, just before Covid closed the world down, the waterlogged Healy Park pitch meant that Tyrone’s league game against Kerry had to be switched. Edendork took the game.
Niall Morgan, Conn Kilpatrick and Darren McCurry all played. McCurry converted a series of difficult frees. Afterwards, he talked about picturing his late mother at the back door of his family home, within sight of the pitch.
In a ragged and tough game, David Clifford was sent off for a second yellow card towards the end. As frustrated as Clifford was, he still donated his jersey to the club.
They have it framed in the Des Fox Pavilion, muck and all still intact.
David Clifford in the jersey that hangs, unwashed, in Edendork. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
When it comes to Healy Park on Sunday, all reasoning points to an Errigal Ciaran win.
It is accepted that Edendork do not possess the same depth of panel as Errigal Ciaran. Few do.
But in their path to the final in beating Ardboe, Clonoe and Donaghmore, they have become the Mayo of this local championship. They have taken 37 shots for two-pointers, nailing 18 of them. Errigal have had 17 attempts at two-pointers, converting just three.
God rest Dessie Fox, but if he were alive today, he’d have a nibble at Edendork at 15/8.
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Tragedy, commitment, and county stars - the rise of Edendork to their first Tyrone senior final
IF THE SECRET sauce that makes Tyrone club rivalry so spicy is close-quarters combat, then Edendork St Malachy’s must have a raging appetite for success.
This Sunday, they appear in their first-ever Tyrone senior final.
Waiting for them in Healy Park, Omagh (throw-in 4.30pm) are scalding-hot favourites Errigal Ciaran.
Should Errigal win, it moves them into second on the Tyrone roll of honour on 12 titles (including two titles in 1926 and 1931 as Ballygawley St Ciaran’s), just three behind Carrickmore on 15.
Meanwhile, Edendork have been choosing from the pauper’s menu. Their honours came in junior titles of 1938 and 1957, intermediate successes coming in 1969, 1985, 2015 and 2020.
The excellence of their players of recent vintage has elevated their profile.
Darren McCurry was the man-of-the-match in the 2021 All-Ireland final with 1-4 on the board when Tyrone won their fourth Sam Maguire, beating Mayo in the final, and was duly rewarded with an All-Star.
Goalkeeper Niall Morgan has been one of the best exponents of that position and hit 0-3 from dead balls in that aforementioned final, one from over 50 metres. Morgan has All-Stars from 2021 and 2024, and was a mainstay of the Ireland International Rules team when they played Australia.
In midfield in 2021 was Conn Kilpatrick, who looks nailed on to become an All-Star himself after his year with Tyrone.
Nothing motivates GAA clubs quite like the success of neighbours, but Edendork’s situation, when all is considered, is rather incredible.
From Arthur Mallon Park, no fewer than 12 clubs are within a 10-mile radius, and it’s worth detailing them here: Coalisland Fianna (2.5 miles), Dungannon Thomas Clarkes (2.9), Galbally (6.9), Brackaville Owen Roes (2.3), Donaghmore St Patrick’s (3.9), Clonoe O’Rahilly’s (3.3), Stewartstown (3.8), Killyman St Mary’s (5.5), Derrytresk (7.5), Derrylaughan Kevin Barrys (8.4), Brockagh Emmets (7.9) and Eglish St Patrick’s (6.6).
Add in hurling clubs Eoghan Ruadh (1.9) and Naomh Colum Cille (4.3).
By way of contrast, Errigal Ciaran come from a much more mountainous, rural region in the west of the county. Their most local club is Beragh Red Knights at 5.1 miles away, but the two have seldom met.
After that, it’s Carrickmore St Colmcilles (7.4), Killeeshil St Mary’s (7.7), Augher St Macartan’s (9), Pomeroy Plunketts (10), Eskra Emmets (10.4) and Galbally Pearses (10.7).
You get the picture.
Demand
Edendork have always recruited out of the local primary school, and demand has shot up in recent years with a new school being constructed on the site of the former Edendork Ballroom, a place of dancing, hi-jinks and bingo.
Former player Ronan Murphy played 17 years of adult football for the club and was taking the U14 team this season. They won a Grade 3 league, but when he was asked why Edendork were playing Grade 3, it’s because they didn’t have enough players to field 15-a-side, which is a requirement from Grade 2 up.
“But we punch above our weight in terms of what we have at underage and what we are able to put out at senior,” says Murphy.
“The other side of it is people get playing football. Around Edendork, you are not like others that sit on a load of teams. Here, you get to play and you get developed as a player.”
“And that happens when they play at underage and have loads of exposure. Then, when they want to play senior, you can really go to town.
“Boys go to school together and they realise, ‘Sure I am as good as him.’ And schools play a part in that too. If they are playing a high level at school it helps to push them on.”
The McGuckin clan are synonymous with Ballinderry Shamrocks. When Mick married Margeurite, they found themselves a site on the Bush Road, built a house, but he still was drawn to home.
This is a man, after all, who captained Derry in the early ‘70s and once held Mick O’Dwyer scoreless in a game.
He played on with Ballinderry before becoming manager. By 1982, Edendork convinced him to join their ranks, courtesy of Jim Devlin’s persuasiveness.
McGuckin was never one for half measures, signing up as a trainer and manager and they won the championship and league double in 1985.
On that team was the likes of Joe Mallon, father of current captain, Conor.
The Mallons are another name that runs through Edendork like a stick of rock. The late John Mallon was a grandfather of Conn Kilpatrick.
John’s desire to progress the club made them hugely forward-thinking. He would travel over to Scotland to auctions and bid on galvanised fencing materials, shipping them back to close in the perimeter of the pitch. He was involved in the shuttering of the steps around the pitch that has made it such an important venue, not only for hosting Tyrone championship games, but also schools and college fixtures.
Every year he took his family holidays in Arklow, Wicklow. But they were as much about fact-finding as he scoured all the club pitches on the way up and down to find out what Edendork could implement.
Mick’s son Brian played for Tyrone and is the current Edendork manager. Another son, Joe, is in the backroom. He has another son, John, who managed Edendork to the 2020 intermediate championship and is currently over Sarsfields in Armagh.
Des Fox
While Mick was playing football at Queen’s University, he became friendly with Des Fox, who was an administrator for the university’s GAA club.
When he came to build his house, he ended up next-door neighbour of Fox and the two families not so much mingled, as merged.
Edendork have a rich tradition of music and culture, with the Fox and McGuckin families being to the fore.
Fox was a bookmaker that travelled to the race meetings all around the country. In September 1990, he was on his way to The Curragh when his Mercedes was intercepted and fired upon by a gang using two vehicles with false plates.
Fox tried to reverse away, but his car ran off the road. He had been shot through his leg, a main femoral artery, and bled to death at the scene.
The gang made off with a sum of around €20,000 in a black leather briefcase.
“It was a tragic day, a day that shouldn’t have happened,” recalls McGuckin.
“I was in the house here and the rumours were coming through about him being shot and then dying.
“I had to go in next door with the parish priest to say it to his wives and daughters. It was a day I will never forget.”
His loss has been impossible to replace.
Energy
“Des was the energy in Edendork club for a long, long number of years. He was devoted to it, he was excited by it. He was committed. And I mean every last bit of it,” says McGuckin.
“He had three girls, very good instrumentalists and my girls used to do a bit of singing. Dessie would have had them all involved in the Scór every year. As well as that, he was the chairman of the club when they were building the pavilion and the new pitch.
“He would have been committed in every way. Financially, he would have been putting in a few pounds, quietly. People wouldn’t have known about it.”
That morning, the club volunteers cleared all the debris and they went ahead and hosted a relegation play-off against Pomeroy with the main building still smouldering as a backdrop.
After a major fundraising drive, they rebuilt magnificent, state-of-the-art facilities. When it came to the grand re-opening, they named it ‘The Des Fox Pavilion’.
“I wonder what his position would have been now. He was a top-notch bookmaker. He was a great punter and wasn’t afraid to put on big bets and take big bets as I understand it,” says McGuckin.
In February 2020, just before Covid closed the world down, the waterlogged Healy Park pitch meant that Tyrone’s league game against Kerry had to be switched. Edendork took the game.
Niall Morgan, Conn Kilpatrick and Darren McCurry all played. McCurry converted a series of difficult frees. Afterwards, he talked about picturing his late mother at the back door of his family home, within sight of the pitch.
In a ragged and tough game, David Clifford was sent off for a second yellow card towards the end. As frustrated as Clifford was, he still donated his jersey to the club.
They have it framed in the Des Fox Pavilion, muck and all still intact.
When it comes to Healy Park on Sunday, all reasoning points to an Errigal Ciaran win.
It is accepted that Edendork do not possess the same depth of panel as Errigal Ciaran. Few do.
But in their path to the final in beating Ardboe, Clonoe and Donaghmore, they have become the Mayo of this local championship. They have taken 37 shots for two-pointers, nailing 18 of them. Errigal have had 17 attempts at two-pointers, converting just three.
God rest Dessie Fox, but if he were alive today, he’d have a nibble at Edendork at 15/8.
Edendork will keep swinging.
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CLUB FOOTBALL Edendork First-Timers GAA Tyrone