A FEW YEARS ago when he was writing his weekly column for The Irish News, the now Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley told a yarn about playing in the 2010 Ulster championship for Tyrone.
That day they had just about enough for Antrim and were trying to safely land the plane on the tarmac when Tomás McCann set off on a run. McGinley sensed danger and did the sensible thing. The professional thing. He upended him.
Afterwards, he was feeling a bit pleased with himself until he encountered wife Geardine and her family. The McCanns. Tomás’ family. They weren’t one bit pleased with his game management and he had to endure a mini spell in the dog house.
For Erin’s Own, Cargin, the McCanns are one of the main Gaelic families. Having played several seasons with Errigal Ciaran, Geardine herself transferred back to Cargin once they got a ladies’ team up and running at adult level. In one of her first games back, she ruptured her cruciate. She still plans on getting back to play in the green and white.
And now, McGinley faces Cargin in the Ulster quarter-final.
A house divided cannot stand, so he laughs when he asks if the spare bedroom will be his base for the next week or so. If only!
“I’m in the garage, I’m securing my wee laptop and my wee notebooks, and all conversations this week are going to be somewhat guarded,” he jokes.
“Funny, Eamonn McCann (brother in law and proprietor of CrossFit Anam in Toomebridge), who has done our gym work this year along with Tommy Canavan, he very kindly offered us a free session there on Tuesday night, but I’m going to decline him this time, and we’ll go on our own steam for this match.”
It’s been a hectic time for Errigal Ciaran. The county final being called off because of Storm Ashley, refixed for last Friday night, the Ulster club preliminary round win over St Eunan’s and now off to Corrigan Park to face the Antrim champions.
Advertisement
All in the space of 16 days. McGinley will comfort himself that he will not have to review reams of videotape, having watched Cargin closely for the last two decades.
“I have been lucky enough to watch them for a long number of years and enjoyed watching them, obviously supporting the brother in laws and the rest of them,” he says.
“I am fully aware of the challenge that’s ahead of us. They’ve had the four weeks, I was at their county final, it was the week before our county final, and Cargin played poorly yet dogged in and managed to get across the line (against St Brigid’s), which has been their hallmark.
Michael and Paul McCann celebrate an Antrim title. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
“I was just in awe of the resilience they showed that day, and I know how angry they were at their performance. They’ve had four weeks now to get the focus in, I know how determined they are to go out and show what they can do because they didn’t feel they did in the county final, and it’s amazing to be able to win a county final and not be anywhere near their top gear.”
A refreshing element to the provincial series is how clubs are not wholly reflective of the fortunes of their respective counties. For example, Antrim clubs have a better record in the province, and St Gall’s claimed an All-Ireland title in 2010.
And this is a Cargin team that is steeped in experience. What McGinley calls “a remarkable bunch, between Kevin O’Boyle, James Laverty, Justy Crozier, obviously Mick and Tomás McCann, then you’ve got the middle age group of boys like Jamie Gribben, Pat Shivers, and then a new group of players, the likes of Conhuir Johnston and Benan Kelly, so they have a superbly settled team.
“Ronan Devlin (manager), to be honest whenever Damian Cassidy had done such an amazing job, and Ronan was in with him, and when Damian stood down I was surprised because it was such a big step for Ronan to step up, and yet there he’s gone and done the treble.
“The way they go about their business is remarkable, I know they were disappointed with their county final performance and they’re hungry to go out and show what they can do. We just need to be very careful that they don’t get to do everything that they want to do next week.”
The only Tyrone club to experience winning Ulster, McGinley is tempted by a query about their own tradition. But he shoots back that before St Eunan’s, they hadn’t won a game in the competition in 12 years.
The last outright title was won on a drenched day in Clones when they beat Enniskillen Gaels in 2002. He notes that most of the current players have no memory of it.
“Yes, we’re a club with a proud tradition but we’re well aware that you have to keep building on that, and we have failed to do that for a while,” he says.
Joe Oguz tackled by Conor Morrison. Leah Scholes / INPHO
Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO
“Trying to win an Ulster club feels a long way away tonight, to be honest, but we’re alive. There’s bodies that are tired in there, that’s the focus at the moment, if we don’t get that end of it right there’s no thinking about titles.”
After the county final win, he made a tongue-in-cheek remark that the pressure of managing his own club was not particularly enjoyable, something he wanted to briefly revisit when he said, “I am a wee bit embarrassed about that. You soon get a bit of cop on given the news that came out of Trillick and Jody Gormley (the Trillick manager has been diagnosed with a terminal illness).
“That was one hell of a wake up call, some perspective to be very grateful to get working with these boys. Very grateful that we got over the line and the performance to win the Tyrone championship and we can always be proud of that. And determined to make it count now.
“Because the likelihood of us being here next year and getting out of the Tyrone championship is highly unlikely so you have to make it count when you are here.”
The Errigal Ciaran management will be setting up a situation room in the McGinley garage, right about now.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'All conversations this week are going to be guarded' - McGinley on managing against family
A FEW YEARS ago when he was writing his weekly column for The Irish News, the now Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley told a yarn about playing in the 2010 Ulster championship for Tyrone.
That day they had just about enough for Antrim and were trying to safely land the plane on the tarmac when Tomás McCann set off on a run. McGinley sensed danger and did the sensible thing. The professional thing. He upended him.
Afterwards, he was feeling a bit pleased with himself until he encountered wife Geardine and her family. The McCanns. Tomás’ family. They weren’t one bit pleased with his game management and he had to endure a mini spell in the dog house.
For Erin’s Own, Cargin, the McCanns are one of the main Gaelic families. Having played several seasons with Errigal Ciaran, Geardine herself transferred back to Cargin once they got a ladies’ team up and running at adult level. In one of her first games back, she ruptured her cruciate. She still plans on getting back to play in the green and white.
And now, McGinley faces Cargin in the Ulster quarter-final.
A house divided cannot stand, so he laughs when he asks if the spare bedroom will be his base for the next week or so. If only!
“Funny, Eamonn McCann (brother in law and proprietor of CrossFit Anam in Toomebridge), who has done our gym work this year along with Tommy Canavan, he very kindly offered us a free session there on Tuesday night, but I’m going to decline him this time, and we’ll go on our own steam for this match.”
It’s been a hectic time for Errigal Ciaran. The county final being called off because of Storm Ashley, refixed for last Friday night, the Ulster club preliminary round win over St Eunan’s and now off to Corrigan Park to face the Antrim champions.
All in the space of 16 days. McGinley will comfort himself that he will not have to review reams of videotape, having watched Cargin closely for the last two decades.
“I have been lucky enough to watch them for a long number of years and enjoyed watching them, obviously supporting the brother in laws and the rest of them,” he says.
“I am fully aware of the challenge that’s ahead of us. They’ve had the four weeks, I was at their county final, it was the week before our county final, and Cargin played poorly yet dogged in and managed to get across the line (against St Brigid’s), which has been their hallmark.
“I was just in awe of the resilience they showed that day, and I know how angry they were at their performance. They’ve had four weeks now to get the focus in, I know how determined they are to go out and show what they can do because they didn’t feel they did in the county final, and it’s amazing to be able to win a county final and not be anywhere near their top gear.”
A refreshing element to the provincial series is how clubs are not wholly reflective of the fortunes of their respective counties. For example, Antrim clubs have a better record in the province, and St Gall’s claimed an All-Ireland title in 2010.
And this is a Cargin team that is steeped in experience. What McGinley calls “a remarkable bunch, between Kevin O’Boyle, James Laverty, Justy Crozier, obviously Mick and Tomás McCann, then you’ve got the middle age group of boys like Jamie Gribben, Pat Shivers, and then a new group of players, the likes of Conhuir Johnston and Benan Kelly, so they have a superbly settled team.
“Ronan Devlin (manager), to be honest whenever Damian Cassidy had done such an amazing job, and Ronan was in with him, and when Damian stood down I was surprised because it was such a big step for Ronan to step up, and yet there he’s gone and done the treble.
“The way they go about their business is remarkable, I know they were disappointed with their county final performance and they’re hungry to go out and show what they can do. We just need to be very careful that they don’t get to do everything that they want to do next week.”
The only Tyrone club to experience winning Ulster, McGinley is tempted by a query about their own tradition. But he shoots back that before St Eunan’s, they hadn’t won a game in the competition in 12 years.
The last outright title was won on a drenched day in Clones when they beat Enniskillen Gaels in 2002. He notes that most of the current players have no memory of it.
“Yes, we’re a club with a proud tradition but we’re well aware that you have to keep building on that, and we have failed to do that for a while,” he says.
“Trying to win an Ulster club feels a long way away tonight, to be honest, but we’re alive. There’s bodies that are tired in there, that’s the focus at the moment, if we don’t get that end of it right there’s no thinking about titles.”
After the county final win, he made a tongue-in-cheek remark that the pressure of managing his own club was not particularly enjoyable, something he wanted to briefly revisit when he said, “I am a wee bit embarrassed about that. You soon get a bit of cop on given the news that came out of Trillick and Jody Gormley (the Trillick manager has been diagnosed with a terminal illness).
“That was one hell of a wake up call, some perspective to be very grateful to get working with these boys. Very grateful that we got over the line and the performance to win the Tyrone championship and we can always be proud of that. And determined to make it count now.
“Because the likelihood of us being here next year and getting out of the Tyrone championship is highly unlikely so you have to make it count when you are here.”
The Errigal Ciaran management will be setting up a situation room in the McGinley garage, right about now.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Antrim Divided families Enda McGinley Family affair GAA Gaelic Football Tyrone