BEFORE THERE WAS an Errigal Ciaran, there was the Canavans. Only for the Canavans, there is an Errigal Ciaran.

It’s a long time now, but the nine years from 1981 to 1990 when the old St Ciaran’s Ballygawley club split and a faction attempted to start a Glencull club, still has the power to make you openly question how it went on for so long.

While Mickey Harte would picket the county board on an annual basis to allow Glencull to fully affiliate, the incredible thing was that the Glencull people didn’t casually filter back to St Ciaran’s.

If it was suggested to Sean Canavan, Peter and Pascal’s father, that Harte may have been a bad influence on the children of the townland, he would point out that Harte neither drank, nor smoked, and was mad to keep all the children playing sport.

And that was good enough for him.

In the end, Glencull people satisfied their urges and sustained their devotion through challenge matches in far-flung corners of Ulster and beyond.

That meant that while Peter Canavan would attend school, his friends would recount league and championship games they had played in over the weekend, while he could only respond with tales of a challenge match in Teemore, or similar far-flung places.

Since the formation of Errigal, there hasn’t been a successful Errigal team without a strong strain of Canavan running through it.

The last success in the county was a decade ago, with numerous collapses since. The difference now and over the last decade is as simple as you might guess; the arrival of the new generation of Canavans, in Darragh and Ruairí.

Before we go to them, you must acknowledge the captain of the team and their cousin, Tommy Canavan.

An All-Ireland minor winner in 2010, he is the centre-forward who plays a quarter-back role.

If there was one serious casualty of the wilderness years, it was probably his father Stevie Canavan, who was equipped to have a career with Tyrone.

By the time Errigal was formed he was past his prime, but still a clever operator at club level.

Prior to the Ulster club final of 1993 against RGU Downpatrick, Stevie had been suffering from ‘flu for days leading up to it and – so the story goes – stopped for a couple of hot whiskeys on his way to the game.

That bit of warmth might have helped as he latched onto a Leo Quinn pass at the start of the second half and slammed home a goal to help them to victory.

Nowadays, his son Tommy wouldn’t be reaching for a half un before running out this weekend against Glen. Some time ago, he immersed himself in Strength and Conditioning culture and undertook some qualifications in the area.

He now leads the S & C programme for Errigal senior team, along with the Tyrone Under-17 squad. As an aside, his brother Darren played with distinction in previous Errigal winning teams, and his sister Maria plays for Tyrone ladies.

Then of course, there is Pascal.

Twenty years ago, he played a good portion of the Ulster club final with a broken jaw, later going up to lift the Seamus McFerran Cup in considerable pain after a blow from an Enniskillen Gael player.

Courage was never in short supply for Pascal, an underappreciated figure in the history of Tyrone football in general and one that was desperately unlucky to miss out on the first All-Ireland title in 2003, having told Mickey Harte at a Christmas Play in St Ciaran’s school of his intention to leave his county days behind.

It wasn’t that Harte wasn’t a long-term admirer.

After the 1993 Ulster club final win over Downpatrick, the club had a local schoolteacher Martin McCarron record videos and do interviews after the game. McCarron spoke to Harte, who was at that point the Errigal Ciaran chairman to ask about some of the performances.

“Many a man had an outstanding game, but you couldn’t look past Pascal Canavan in the middle of the field. He was absolutely superb. I never seen a better midfield display from any man in any game.”

That was then and this is now. The arrival of the new generation had been a long time coming but on 22 January 2020, after Tyrone won a Dr McKenna Cup final against Armagh, Harte was again enthusing wildly over Peter’s son Darragh, who was starting to break into the county senior team at a mere 18 years of age.

“Who wouldn’t be excited about Darragh Canavan?” said Harte.

“If you haven’t had time to get excited about him yet, I guarantee you will in the near future. He is just quality, he is a very young lad and we have to be careful with him because he’s just out of minor.

“But he’s a quality player and it’s not hard to see where he picked his skill off.”

Despite that, Harte still did the sensible thing in allowing Darragh to go off and play with the county Under-20s under Paul Devlin.

There was a sense that with a slight frame, he didn’t need to be overly utilised in senior football.

By Harte’s last game, he was a goalscorer in their championship exit to Donegal in one of the most depressing games of all time, when you think of the context of Covid and supporters all stuck at home and barely 100 people in the ground.

Even when the game was in the melting pot, Harte took Canavan off. Journalists were positioned just in front of the Tyrone bench that day and the groans from the substitutes at that decision were as audible as they were surprising.

Under Fergal Logan and Brian Dooher, he recovered from early wrist and ankle injuries to become a crucial part of the attack.

Prior to the 2021 All-Ireland final, Peter went on The Throw-In GAA Podcast and spoke of their footballing relationship.

“I certainly wouldn’t be one for bombarding him with information, far from it. He’s very like his mother, he doesn’t listen to much that I say so it doesn’t really matter!” he laughed.

“(You feel) totally helpless to tell you the truth. What can you or anybody do or say when you’re sitting in the stand?

“When the boys are out on the pitch they have to get on with it. You can shout and roar and encourage all you want.

“But in terms of having a real important input, not at all. When you’ve got a really good management setup, and you know that all the bases are covered, then you’re more than happy to let him get on with it.”

Despite that, he still had some mischief. After they beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final, Darragh had a chance for goal. He hit it a comfortable height for goalkeeper Shane Ryan who parried the shot, but only as far as Cathal McShane to punch to the net. In the dressing room after, he told his son that the next time he faced a Kerry goalkeeper in Croke Park, to keep the ball on the deck, just as he had in the 2005 final with his stunning finish past Diarmuid Murphy.

And now, Darragh is joined by his younger brother Ruairí, scorer of 1-7 in the All-Ireland Under-20 final in May of this year to propel them past Kildare.

Three Canavans in a club attack? It’s a terrifying prospect for opposition defences, but one to be savoured by all Errigal people and neutrals.

*****

Ulster club SFC quarter-final: Glen (Derry) v Errigal Ciaran (Tyrone), Celtic Park, 3.30pm.