Weekend Sport Saturday, 17.11.2018

14 BIG INTERVIEW

THE DECLAN BOGUE INTERVIEW Tomorrow, at 37, plays for Gaoth Dobhair in the Club SFC semi-final. Regarded as the unluckiest man in Donegal for missing the 2012 All- success, he sits down with the man whose book led to his exile from Jim McGuinness’ setup. He doesn’t have any regrets. Missing the medal: Best decision I ever made

‘We’re a special kind of it. There are many people - including my- “When you are in a team, you want to told you to say some of those discussions self - that think you are the unluckiest reach that because it is the highest you can were off the record, blame me and then people’ man in Donegal.” go. Maybe it would have been different if I you wouldn’t lose your place. Why didn’t Kevin Cassidy: “Do you know what? grew up and it would have been my biggest you?” This is 100% honest, but I never once ambition.” KC: “I just wouldn’t do that. he travelling fans from turned to myself and said, ‘fuck, I was hard DB: “You left at 9?” “The way I see it, if I do something, I do Naomh Conaill could done by there.’” KC: “Yeah.” it. There is no point saying you didn’t hardly believe their “People say to me that I am talking shit. DB: “So you didn’t have those common mean it, or shy away from it. I just eyes as they crawled People on nights out asking me about you; childhood dreams of playing for Donegal, wouldn’t have done it and to be honest, it along the narrow lanes ‘Do you talk to him?’ Do I talk to you? rather Celtic?” didn’t enter my mind once to say, ‘Oh fuck, of Magheragallon (Laughs). KC: “I really loved playing for Donegal I need to take care of this.’ towards the home of “People think because that happened and I was really proud to do it. And hope- “You are going to find this strange. But I Gaoth Dobhair CLG. that I would have a bad relationship with fully if my son chooses to do that now, it is never read our book. There for all to see, yourself. Or that I see myself as an un- a fantastic thing to do. “I haven’t read ’s book was an eight by four lucky person. That couldn’t be further “But there is an element of that. I was a either and I haven’t read Jim’s.” foot sign with the message; ‘We’re a special from the truth.” soccer player and then the first thing that DB: “Never read Jim’s?” kind of people, we breed defiance. We DB: “I have one friend who, if we are at a turned me was Stephen playing for Gaoth KC: “No. I just have no interest. It’s not Tnever fear. Gaoth Dobhair Abú.’ social occasion, likes to introduce me as Dobhair and they won a Ghaeltacht Cham- out of stubbornness or bitterness that I A declaration of war? Perhaps. Prob- ‘the man who cost Kevin Cassidy a Celtic pionship. That was my first introduction haven’t read it. It’s just… I don’t mean this ably. Cross.’” to it and then I met Sarah (Gallagher, his to sound bad or anything, but I have no in- Their surprise didn’t stop there. From KC: “Do you know what I have noticed, wife whose father Willie played for Done- terest in what he has to say.” one end of the parish to the other, Gaoth and I would say you see this too, but it is gal), obviously her history and family was DB: “Ok, what are the relationships like Dobhair’s former player Stephen Cassidy amazing how that affected other people. steeped in it. with former teammates from that had taken it upon himself to fasten a green “The amount of people from other coun- “I spent time listening in Teach Mhicí’s time? Even things in Gaoth Dobhair sour- and white flag to almost vee rything that ties that come up to me and they say, ‘Do CALM BEFORE to the older boys in the bar. My ambitions ed for a while.” stood upright. 180 flags in all. It felt a bit you know what, I am absolutely heart- THE STORM: were always Gaoth Dobhair. KC: “I was explaining about Eamonn much for a Championship group stage broken that happened to you.’ But they “The first time we won the Champion- and Neil (McGee). game. feel worse than I do! Jim McGuinness, ship, I was thinking, ‘It doesn’t matter “That was important to me (to repair the Over the past few years, Naomh Conaill “It just shows you the power of the GAA. Michael Murphy, what I do now, we have done this.’ relationships) because they are clubmates hadn’t any problems with dismissing I never thought it was anything else other and Kevin “If you are a sportsman, you want to be and friends. This year has sorted all of Gaoth Dobhair. In 2016, they beat them by than ‘that’s that thing between myself and Cassidy, in the best you can be but it wasn’t a child- that. The rest of it is not important. 12 points in a county semi-final, prompting Declan and that’s it done.’ hood dream to win Sam Maguire, if I am “Let me tell you, when you are in a coun- the retirement of Kevin Cassidy. “The amount of genuine people con- ahead of the 2011 being honest.” ty squad you think you are all close and Cassidy was persuaded back the next cerned that told me they thought about it DB: “So where were you in 2012 when that you have so much in common. But year when Mervyn O’Donnell took the job for months afterwards. I always just say, All-Ireland Donegal did?” when you step out you soon learn. nobody wanted, promising to restore the ‘aye, but sure what can you do?’ semi-finalagainst KC: “I was sitting at home. Like, it’s sur- “Who would I see? The likes of (Bren- club’s honesty. They faced Naomh Conaill “I don’t know if it is just the way I am as Dublin. In real. I had been in and Donegal dan) Devenney. John Gildea. Adrian in the county semi-final and although they a person, but there is not one day I look November 2011 beat Cork in the semi-final. I had watched Sweeney from time to time. People you lost, the margin was a point. back and say to myself, ‘I shouldn’t have Cassidy was the Kerry game in New York and at that would bump into and have a conversation This year, Gaoth Dobhair won 0-12 to done that.’” dropped from the time Cork were a good outfit. with. But I wouldn’t see anyone else.” 0-6. The teams met again in the final and DB: “Surely some family members must “But they beat Cork that morning. DB: “That day you were doing the co- the Gaeltacht men clawed their way to have been hurt by you being cut from the Donegal panel. Sarah and them had gone home and I was commentary with TG4 and McGuinness their first Dr Maguire Cup since 2006. panel by Jim McGuinness at the time?” Picture: Oliver left behind because we were playing in the came over for a toe-curling post-match in- Back on top of the leaderboard with 15. KC: “On my side of the family, they are McVeigh /Sportsfile final that day in Boston. So I was listening terview… “ Now, they take on possibly the greatest all like me. Not once did they turn around to the radio and once they beat Cork I KC: “I am asked about that all the time. I ever club — Crossmaglen Rangers —in and say, ‘Declan should have done this or know they had it. Mayo weren’t going to walked away and never thought anything the Ulster club semi-final in Omagh this that.’ They naturally stood up for me. But stop them. about it until people said it to me. I hon- Sunday. if it hurt them, they didn’t tell me it hurt “So the actual day of the final it didn’t af- estly didn’t even feel awkward in that situ- On the edge of the square is Stephen’s them. fect me because I knew at that stage the ation. I know your man was asking was I brother Kevin Cassidy, 37 years old. Two- “But like, my answer is always… Fuck- game was won. going back and I had said I wasn’t going time All-Star. A serious specimen yet. ing hell, I know this is the strangest thing “Whenever I was in the car going to back. Seven years almost to the day he was cut to say, but it’s only a game of football. training with the McGee brothers, we al- “To me, it was a case of ‘you know and I from the Donegal squad by manager Jim “To be honest, I never started out want- ways talked about bringing Sam into know, so let’s cut the bullshit and leave McGuinness for participating in a season ing to play for Donegal. It was never an Gaoth Dobhair and how great that would it.’” diary of Ulster football personalities. ambition of mine to walk up those steps be. DB: “If you went back, you might have When you thought it couldn’t get any and lift Sam Maguire. “So on the Wednesday they were coming played on until 2014 or beyond.” uglier, it did when McGuinness later into Gaoth Dobhair. I was just in the house KC: “I weighed all this up before I made barred Cassidy and his wife Sarah from with Sarah. But you know our house, it’s the decision. What I thought I might leave going on the team holiday. just across from the GAA pitch. behind was an All-Ireland in 2012. Six years ago, he watched his former “I was sitting eating Weetabix about half “But we would have won it in 2014 and teammates win an All-Ireland, from the eleven at night. I could see Sarah moving that is not being cocky. I know if I had have comfort of his own sofa. away, she was trying to pull the curtains been there and Mark McHugh was there, And now he sits down with the author of as the cavalcade was taking the cup there. we would have beaten Kerry that day in the book that cost him all that. “She was expecting me to be off. But if 2014. Me. Myself. you are like that in general, then some- “So that’s two All-Ireland medals. Or as they say in Gaoth Dobhair; ‘Mise.’ thing in life is going to bring you down. If I Chances are you might have won the odd was going around moping and crying that I All-Star along the way. But I still stand didn’t have an All-Ireland medal, then I over the decision.” ‘WE BREED DEFIANCE’ wouldn’t have done half the things I did DB: “A lot of people will be reading after that.” these words and not believe it for a second. Declan Bogue: “Let’s get straight into DB: “At the time, we talked about this. I But I am looking at you now and I know it Saturday, 17.11.2018 Irish Examiner Weekend Sport

BIG INTERVIEW 15

is authentic.” “I think if I had have went back, maybe The teams can then stay in Teach Mhicí, ot everything has KC: “I know for a fact that the only they mightn’t have gone on to win it. the pub that Kevin and Sarah along with been easy. people who probably truly believe me are Who knows? Maybe that unrest, or I was other members of Sarah’s family, took He lost his father Sarah and Hugh (McGinley, business taking somebody’s spot who was getting a over from her parents, Willie and Kath- on St Brigid’s Day partner). I don’t say it to that many people game… Myself and Sarah discussed it on leen. 2013. In truth, he in fairness. holidays and we felt it was the best thing to They have spruced the place up a bit. was lost long be- “People come into the pub and say, ‘Ah do. Gaoth Dobhair footballers of both genders fore that, a victim Jesus Christ, are you sick about missing “It will sound strange to you Dec, and to are behind the bar or in the latest inno- of his addiction. out?’ And I have an automatic response a lot of people, but it is probably the best vation; a wood-fired Pizza shop. “He landed now…” decision I ever made in my whole life. ‘I threw myself “Sarah thinks there is something wrong around Christ- DB: “I heard Mick McCarthy saying in “When I left Lanzarote and went home, with me as I can’t sit still. I have to be mas Eve (2012) down to the house,” says an interview recently that when he and his within that squad I knew they wouldn’t be into my family, doing something and if I am not doing Cassidy. wife go for dinner with a new couple, he far away into work, into something I have to be thinking about N“The twins were only newly born. He counts down the minutes until the big “ But I made my peace with it. I just life. I think I something,” he laughs. seen one of them and then I gave him a lift. question… “ thought, ‘where do I go from here? What definitely “I love holidays but if I am sitting in the I dropped him up to the pub and of course KC: “YES! After the second pint is do I want to focus on from here?’ wouldn’t have house and I have nothing to do, the mind he was looking for a few pound for a few normally the answer.” “I threw myself into my family, into achieved half the goes into overdrive and I am thinking of pints so I gave him a few pound. DB: “I read Jim’s autobiography myself. work, into life. I think I definitely wouldn’t this and that. Some people see it as being “And then two weeks before he died, I He doesn’t mention the approach he made have achieved half the things off the field if things off the bad, but I see it as good. It keeps me ener- had the twins in the car and noticed him for you to come back into the panel in I didn’t make that decision.” field if I didn’t gised and happy. walking in Gaoth Dobhair. So I swung Easter 2012.” make that “Hugh will tell you there. We have around the car and just as I pulled into the KC: “Listen, that’s Jim. ‘WE NEVER FEAR’ decision,’ says worked together this past ten years and car park of the pub, I could just see him “I don’t know why. Maybe at that time Kevin Cassidy. sometimes he will turn off the phone be- close the door behind him. And he died the he was trying to save face in front of the So what has he achieved? Jesus, where Picture: Brian cause I am just relentless. If I get an idea, it following week or so. squad. But at the end of the day that con- do you start? has to be done now.” “That was kind of the relationship. You versation happened. Back in 2011 he was teaching in Little McDaid There’s the odd bit of leisure there too. Lei- know with your father you are always “The Thursday before the Easter Holi- Angels, a school in Letterkenny for pro- sure that couldn’t be enjoyed as an inter- striving for that kind of relationship and days he came up to the school. I was plan- foundly handicapped children where he county player. that wee turn I did that day was like what I ning to go to Lanzarote on the Saturday would teach them songs, how to tie their He spent four summers in America, did through my youth. You want that at- with my family. shoelaces, take them to the swimming playing for McBrides’ in Chicago and tention but the pub was just the bigger “PJ McGowan (former Donegal Chair- pool. A job that special people do. Donegal in New York where he never draw. man) was there, he set the thing up. Jim Now, he has been on a sabbatical for touched a drop of beer until his side were “It’s funny how that was the last… It said, ‘Listen, let’s just get back in, come some time. He and his best friend Hugh finished in their Championships. Each just kind of symbolised that’s the way he back in.’ McGinley are on fire with ideas and cre- time, he brought his family. was.” “I said, ‘How are things going to be?’ and ativity. Son Fionn is three on St Stephen’s Day. Sarah’s parents are still trucking along. he said, ‘I spoke to the lads, everything is They have a residential Gaelscoil — Co- Aoife and Nia have First Communion in Her mother Kathleen will still venture grand.’ láiste Chú Chulainn — based in Gaoth May. in behind the bar at Teach Mhicí, but, “We - ‘Well, I will need to think about it.’ Dobhair that takes in five-day courses of Sarah is keeping well too, recently doing are trying to give her a break. She has “At that stage I had a fair idea that Done- primary school children and the casual her second Dublin marathon and is kept worked so hard there. She still enjoys the gal were going to go close. I thought then summer holidays crowd. busy with Teach Mhicí and her teaching craic and she will come in behind the bar the text message I sent him… I was sitting In the evenings, they organise Céilí job. and she will help out and stuff. on the balcony having a beer and I said, ‘I Mórs, water sports and so on, everything He is a regular with RTÉ on co-commen- “But the day to day running, the late have thought about this. I don’t think that through the medium of Irish. tary and files a weekly column for Ulster nights and the locking up, that’s all taken it is going to do the panel any good by me It also doubles up as a venue for GAA weekly ‘.’ off her. It was time for her to go and enjoy coming back in. I think it will cause more teams to do a training weekend, where A couple of months back, Fionn got his harm than good. So I am not coming back Cassidy himself will conduct a training first taste of a Celtic match. Cassidy’s sea- and I wish you all the best.’ session and arrange for challenge matches son ticket is in the thick of The Green Brig- “And that was it. against local sides. ade. Good times. >>>>>>> Weekend Sport Irish Examiner Saturday, 17.11.2018

16 BIG INTERVIEW

her life and the girls were keen for that to the way it is. You have all sort of excuses to Gaoth Dobhair’s And that’s where I played for 19 years game he is in, you have to produce some- happen.” deal with.” Kevin Cassidy after that.” thing every week and it’s fucking hard to The Saturday night before Gaoth Dob- In his columns in Gaelic Life, he has Gaoth Dobhair are getting it right. do it! So I know where he is coming from. hair beat Cargin in the Ulster club Cham- made no secret that his preference for and Odhran O’Donnell has been assisted by Michael “To be honest, had I not have gone back pionship, Kevin and family were up to visit styles is more closely aligned with Cross- McFadden-Ferry Boyle who spent years as Paul Durcan’s (to play senior) one of the biggest regrets Sarah’s father Willie for his 94th birthday. maglen than that which for some years be- celebrate after understudy in the Donegal panel and is would have been not getting back to The day after the county final when half came ‘house style’ in Donegal. the final whistle already showing immense promise as a normal with the lads. of Gaoth Dobhair was sideways and the And yet, Gaoth Dobhair looked most in the Donegal coach. The commitment is there. The be- “Whatever happened, happened. But party reached Teach Mhicí, Willie popped vulnerable in the Donegal county final Club SFC final lief is there. John Morrison, Cassidy’s life can be too short at times. And we in and ordered up a Smirnoff Ice. and the Ulster quarter-final while retreat- former county co-manager has been on the might have got to that stage where we “He has five county Championships,” ing back and trying to protect a lead. against Naomh phone and helped with his individual men- could have just passed each other but proudly boasts his son-in-law. “We discussed this among ourselves,” Conaill tal preparations. through pure hard work together on the “I was telling the boys how many he had Cassidy reveals. in Ballybofey. training field and going hell for leather, we and the McGees were saying they have “Against St Eunan’s and Glenties, it Picture: ost importantly have buried the hatchet and put it behind three and they were catching him.” wasn’t the plan. We had massive rows Oliver McVeigh/ though, Cassidy us. Outside of football, regardless of what afterwards and we have some of the most Sportsfile and Eamon happens, it is always a good thing to have ‘GAOTH DOBHAIR ABÚ’ pacy and explosive forwards about. I think McGee have down the line.” “When Mervyn (O’Donnell, manager) there was that much pressure and expec- mended a seri- On October 22nd past, McGee posted up came in last year, I was gone. And he said tation against Eunan’s and Glenties, and ous relationship a picture of himself and Cassidy on to me that he wanted — not to win any- even against Cargin in the second half, we breakdown. Twitter. Arm in arm with beers, toasting thing — but just to be honest. Bring the got naturally sucked back into defence. In September their Donegal Championship. ‘The best of honesty back to the club, put in the effort “A lot of those lads, probably 99% of the 2016 in his col- friends. Most of the time’ read his caption. and be there on time, when you said you squad have played for county at some level umn for the So, to this Sunday. were going to be there,” reflectsCassidy of over the last ten years and they are used to Irish Star, McGee detailed the stinking at- Just before the Gaoth Dobhair team this renaissance. it. mosphere in the dressing room after that leave the dressing rooms in Omagh, they He understood where Mervyn comes “I really think the game against Cross- 12-pointM Championship defeat to Naomh follow a tradition passed down from when from. He tackled the role himself, maglen will be a real humdinger because Conaill. the majority of the team were fishermen. becoming manager at 34 with an inside our lads love to play ball.” ‘After Gaoth Dobhair lost to Glenties in As he has done for the last twenty years, knowledge of the depth of talent coming At full-forward, he is integral to the the Donegal club championship, Kevin an- selector James Gallagher will lead a dec- through the underage structures through plan. He picked up two points at crucial nounced that was it for him. He was hang- ade of the rosary in Donegal Gaelic. Even his close friendship with Tom Beag Gilles- times in the county final. Against Cargin ing up his boots,’ McGee wrote. avowed atheist Eamon McGee complies. pie, a man who gave hundreds of hours to he cut loose with three points from play ‘I’ve been through a hell of a lot with For every game since that win over perfecting Cassidy’s shooting with endless and a fisted goal. that man, but we walked out of that room Glenties in September, Stephen Cassidy drills in all weathers. When the game was in the balance he without saying a word to one another. has been out with his old team mates from But that year of 2014, Donegal seniors executed a clever tap-down to Michael ‘It’s sad, it’s depressing, and it’s all 2002 and 2006 sticking up more flags,mor e and minors went all the way to the All-Ire- Carroll to seal the game. rooted in the fall-out to the book This Is posters. land final. Cassidy got his players back “I started out playing forward with the Our Year that Kevin collaborated on with Gaoth Dobhair is devastated by five days before the Championship com- county minors. We got to the Ulster final Declan Bogue.’ economic neglect and successive menced and they never got out of their and I played full-forward and was replaced He finished that column by leaving both governments that don’t care their region is group. in every game, never touched leather in men some wriggle room, his conclusion; ‘I torn asunder by emigration and closures “I enjoyed the time but it was probably any of the games. Not once!” he recalls. hope we can get back to something like the of factories and hotels. the wrong time for me to take it,” he says. “Anthony Molloy was the manager. He way we used to be. He’s still the Kevin Cas- At times it feels the football is the only “Will I ever manage again? Probably came and talked to me. sidy I looked up to when I was 15 years thing keeping them going. not! “I was playing midfield for my club and old.’ And now they play Crossmaglen “You just think that if you play for Done- was probably one of the more influential “Somebody sent me a pic of that column Rangers. gal or Gaoth Dobhair at a high level you players at that age group. But I wasn’t and it didn’t put me up or down. I didn’t This wasn’t supposed to happen to a have to do certain things to get yourself touching leather and he said he would have a discussion with him about it,” says man like Cassidy. into shape. You expect that everybody else have to try me somewhere else and put me Cassidy. A special kind, that breeds defiance. will do that naturally too, but that’s not wing back. “I know the game I am in now and the And never fears. Weekend Sport Irish Examiner Saturday, 15.09.2018

8 BIG INTERVIEW The Declan Bogue interview Twenty five years ago this weekend, Johnny McGurk won an All-Ireland title with . Life changed dramatically for him in retirement from football. He ended up in prison for almost six months after defrauding his employers of more than £500,000 to feed his gambling addiction. Here, he speaks for the first time about his journey, his addiction, how he can help others in the future, and how his club, Erin’s Own, have been his saviour. ‘I lost my marriage, I left the house and I finished up in prison’

eptember 2, 2018. ate an inevitable decline, but shunt the there is always a bit of tension there about May 12, 2016 Croke Park, All-Ire- train off its tracks altogether. it. It still hangs about that panel, full stop,” land football final McGurk says. Antrim Crown Court day, 2.30pm. Thursday, September 4, 1994 “There’s never a day you don’t think The 1993 Derry team that if we would have won another All-Ire- Judge Desmond Marrinan hands down a are being honoured An apartment, Chicago, Illinois. land if Eamonn had stayed. 30-month sentence to John Malachy for their only All-Ire- Eamonn Coleman has the news relayed “I do feel his absence contributed to the McGurk for defrauding Patrick Bradley land title, out there down the phone in a trans-Atlantic call fact Derry did not get back there. Big time. Ltd of Kilrea. on the pitch. from Derry County Board chairman “It took a lot for Coleman to get that McGurk had pleaded guilty to theft of It’s hot and humid in Harry Chivers, that, “You are not being re- team where he did, because he was the per- £572,206 and 34 other charges involving their matching suits. Some have loosened appointed.” sonality man. fraud by abuse of his position of trust as their ties and unfastened the top button. A day later, Coleman’s trainer Mickey “In 1990, I hadn’t played any county foot- the company accountant. S‘Jayz boys, she’s close.’ Moran is interviewed for the job. News ball and I was 24. Then, when he came in, In passing sentence, Judge Marrinan Thomas Niblock, of and leaks out that he has the job. Perhaps he you felt that something could be done and stated it appeared the ‘excitement and the BBC , has the honour of had it before the interview anyway. players started to believe. thrill one gets out of playing at the very introducing his childhood heroes to step The following Tuesday, a meeting is “Coleman said ‘we wull wan this, biys.’ highest level needs to be replaced with forward and take the applause. called for players and Moran at The Elk He brought the whole team together be- something,’ as McGurk became chroni- First up, goalkeeper Damian McCusker. public house in Toomebridge. Accusations cause Lavey and , they despised cally addicted to gambling. Then corner-back Kieran McKeever. Tony of lying and swearwords fill the airless each other at club level and still did, but he This demonstrated, he continued, how, Scullion. Fergal P McCusker. room. The players are distraught by what glued the thing together. ‘a decent man can ruin his life by succum- “At right-half back,” Niblock called, “a they feel is a betrayal of Coleman. “You can’t underestimate how big of a bing to the seductive siren call of gamb- Lavey man. His late winner against Dublin Eamonn Coleman, the players’ man, players’ man he was. would ling.’ in the 1993 All-Ireland semi-final is the would not be back with this group again. have sat at the front of the bus and he was stuff of legend. A famous footballing name He even encouraged the players to go back fantastic at coaching, he did all of that. he judge was very kind from a famous footballing family. Number himself, as poison seeped out of an open Coleman would have been standing about to me, he said. “I had five, was John McGurk.” wound that even though it is 25 years ago, watching if boys were on their game, a lot of good refer- Out he comes to be clapped on the turf. gets a new airing this week with the publi- J o h n Mc Gu rk in joking and having a bit of craic, but he had ences, a lot of people Bald headed, clear-eyed and so, so lean cation of The Boys of ’93; an autobiography action for Derry in the players wanting to play with each from both sides of the looking. of Coleman. (Sample quote from Col- the 1993 All-Ire- other.” community spoke up Twenty five years ago, Dermot McNi- eman’s son Gary to a Derry selector after The players went back to play for Derry for me and I had a choll overcooked a handpass to McGurk as his father was betrayed; ‘You’re only a l a nd se mi- fi na l again under Mickey Moran. McGurk went great barrister and a they sought a winner against Dublin in the fucking ball pumper; balls and water against Dublin. back, but he was, “Like a lot of players; be- solicitor. semi-final. that’s all you’re good for and I think you’re Picture: grudging. The judge told me The wing-back retrieved the ball, cut only a c**t.’) James Meehan “When you go back like that, the heart is why I got it (the sentence) and how I got it back inside on his left foot and slotted it “The county board got it wrong and out of it. Like, when Eamonn had to go and he was very fair. I would be honest — over. back to the players in the first place to tell theT day I got it I just thought, ‘fuck, this is Before they had walked out the tunnel, a them to go back… over.’ I went in and only served five and a Croke Park steward told Johnny not to let “Mickey Moran — best coach in the half (months). There was a rule where if the Dublin fans forget about that day. And world. And his variety of training, bril- you had a low score, based on what you so, with the eyes of the stadium and an in- liant. Every night you came out there was had done, how likely you were to re-of- ternational audience looking on, he something different and it was great to fend, how dangerous you were. If you had turned to Hill 16 and mimed a shot over the train under him. But he just couldn’t do it less than 15 you were liable to get a few bar with his left foot. on his own. Mickey hadn’t the charisma or months off your sentence. The following day, pupils of St Patrick’s the personality for it. How he expected to “So I went in and attended different Maghera would replicate ‘the kick’ to do it all, I don’t know. He underestimated things in there, Gambler’s Anonymous Johnny’s sons. the power and the personality of the and so on. Just as long as you didn’t mess A few seconds of nostalgia across a group.” up, be found with a phone or drugs or alco- whole weekend soaked in it. Derry won an Ulster title in 1998 and hol. So I only served five and half months. “There’s a fantastic atmosphere in have threatened from time to time since, Out in October. Croke Park anyway on All-Ireland final but they never had a team like the one that “I served the first week, three or four day. If you don’t feel it, there’s something McGurk was part of in 1993. days in Maghaberry and my old mate Mar- wrong with you,” says McGurk now, sit- Earlier this summer, the Derry GAA tin McGuinness got me moved to Magilli- ting in a hotel on the outskirts of Derry Twitter account ran a fun feature, video gan very quickly. city. clips of famous scores for the county team “Maghaberry was an absolute disaster. I “The tension of the day is there anyway, and let the public vote on their own per- wouldn’t have survived. It was 24-hour but to be standing in a line with the same sonal favourite. Thousands went to the lockdown almost, only let out one hour a players over again, aye, it was quite emo- polls, and McGurk’s point against Dublin day. And you were sharing a cell. tional. And enjoyable.” was the preferred option for 53% of the “I shared a cell with a big fella for a few There’s one person missing, of course. vote. days with a toilet on the floor.And you ate Their manager; Eamonn Coleman who In a lot of ways, the final and the win your food and everything in there. Abso- died in 2007. over Cork was amazing, but the semi-final lute disaster. The year 1993 was the pinnacle. Events win was just incredible. “I got to Magilligan, and served the rest the next year would not so much acceler- Man, those heights are fleeting. there. It was a bit more friendly than Mag- Saturday, 15.09.2018 Irish Examiner Weekend Sport

BIG INTERVIEW 9

haberry. Still, not the easiest thing in the they were going to win on the Saturday. Johnny McGurk: couldn’t invest my head in anything at said, ‘I can look wherever I want.’” world to go into prison, from where my life “I had an account with an online book- ‘It was amazing that stage. My mind was invested in gamb- “Eventually he just got up and walked had come from, but it had to be done. makers and over a period of about five or ling. out, left me. That was the end of it.” “My first bet would have been when I six months I was completely disciplined, to be out “I always said I would never let my At that stage, 2016, (his children) James was still in St Pat’s (secondary school), just doing this soccer and winning. walking about children down, but as a husband I was a would have been 13, 12 (Patrick) and 10 probably lower sixth. I had a friend who “Until one day, I had 68 grand in it. And I and everybody, disaster. We broke up shortly after, be- (Mark). Very tough on them to come into a owned dogs. put on my soccer bet as normal, the soccer people that cause there was no trust there. I had fooled prison. “You get into that company where you bet lost and by seven o’clock that evening, I know you as a her for five years of her life where she “I had a girlfriend at this stage, Helen. have the odd soccer bet or whatever. Then had nothing left. footballer, as a hadn’t a clue what was going on. Abso- But Deborah, my ex-wife came in first of I went to Queen’s and... it became a bit of a “I mean, I was betting on reserve teams lutely no clue. all with Helen to see the conditions and if problem. I would have spent a lot of time in in Turkey. person and none “It was amazing to be out walking about she was happy with them. And after that, the bookies, not gambling a lot, but gamb- “I had no comprehension of anything. I of them had a and everybody, people that know you as a Helen brought them up. And they came ling often. Even before I left Queen’s I can’t gamble. As well as that, it doesn’t clue what I was footballer, as a person and none of them every week. nearly didn’t sit my exams because I was matter how much. doing my life... had a clue what I was doing with my life. “Because of my good behaviour, at times messing about and never went to class in “I mean, you can drink, and you fall living a Living a massive lie. you were allowed out on a Saturday and I third year. I did Accountancy and Busi- down. But you gamble, you keep gambling massive lie.’ “In prison, you had the choice of getting was allowed to go into Derry City, for five ness Studies. I hadn’t any notes, I didn’t at- and I had no concept of money. I got myself a job, so I volunteered for the kitchen. You or six hours, as long as you came back in tend classes and they came to me and said, into a cloud and you woke up in the morn- Picture: got £18 a week. Peeling spuds, onions, time. Every two weeks you could do that, ‘look, the best that you can get there is a ing saying, ‘fuck this, I am not going back Oliver McVeigh cleaning, washing dishes, all that. You go away and get a pizza or something, third (class honours) if you sit it now. But there again.’ And then it would just eat at started about half seven and worked to some time away with them. you need to go and get all your coursework you again, and again. three. The rest of the day was yours. “All you had was the end of the phone to up to date.’ “And you thinking, ‘I have to get this 50 “I went in with some intentions. I knew speak to your children and Helen so it was So at that stage he copped himself on. grand. And I owe Bradley’s (his employer) my young boys would be starting their great to have those five or six hours rather “That was ’87. Got my work in, got a third money and I need to get it too.’ GCSE maths and James, who was fourth than sitting in a room, in a prison.” degree and at that stage I thought ‘fuck “You find soon that you are not in your year, he was struggling with his maths a this’, Lavey were coming good and I own conversation. It’s like living a life out- wee bit. ow do you rebuild a stepped away from gambling. We got our side of where you are. I could have been “I got my brother who was a maths life after that? Brick first championship in ’88 under John out for a meal with my wife and another teacher to send me the syllabus, the whole by brick. Brennan and I said that gambling had to couple and I was nowhere. I was sitting thing. So I started every evening just going You start with the go because it would just ruin your head watching a screen behind her where there through it methodically. I had done Maths constants; his anyway. was a football game on. You aren’t there. I to A Level anyway so I just did the GCSE sons James, Pa- “At that stage I just parked it. Well, I did this for five, six years and I lived a lie. course in the evenings and reviewed it and trick and Mark. didn’t gamble much. An odd bet here and “The loneliest time of my life. (An) abso- got myself up to speed. Even when it all there but it wasn’t a problem. It didn’t lutely lonely period where the sweat was “When I came out, I tutored James and a came out, they dominate my mind. pissing off me at night with worry, the couple of students for a year or two. told him, “I love “Once I finished playing, I started to debt. Nobody knowing about it. You were “It was good for my head too, to do some- you anyway, daddy.” gamble again, probably for the adrenalin... completely on your own. It was a horrible, thing positive and contribute, rather than He has a fourth child now, with Helen; until it must have been 2006. horrible time. lying watching TV all the time.” littleH Fiadh, his first daughter and a girl At that stage, myself and my wife had “The gambling came out, and the money There was violence in the place. that his sons have “spoiled into the £50,000 in an account, sold a house here and all that and people think… But, the “One fella tried it one day. Typical, he ground,” sitting there laughing at every and there and I had saved up money and only reason I got the sentence I got was be- was the biggest fucker in the place too. little thing she does. whatever. And I gambled the whole 50 cause I was able to prove that every penny And something had gone wrong with him For two people that went through what grand. And lost it. And at that, I started to that I took went straight into gambling, that morning and he came over and put his they went through, he has a good relation- chase it. straight into a credit card that was put into head right into me and I thought, ‘I am not ship with his ex-wife Deborah, who lives in “I can’t gamble properly. I’ll give you an gambling straight away. going to cower down here’, so I looked Maghera now. example. During the 2006 to 2011 period, at “I didn’t buy a house, didn’t spend it on straight into his face. They share the children but sure the one stage I looked at soccer bets and I was anything. What I did was gamble it. “There were about 10 fellas in the gambling £2,000 on a soccer bet on a Satur- “When it came out, I was a nervous kitchen and immediately, they all walked day. And thinking about these soccer wreck. I never contemplated suicide be- out to leave me on my own. teams for day after day after day, looking cause of my weans (kids). My marriage “I was looking over at him and he asked, at their form. And nearly hell-bent that was breaking up around that time. I ‘what the fuck are you looking at?’ And I >>> Weekend Sport Irish Examiner Saturday, 15.09.2018

10 BIG INTERVIEW

the Lavey pitch with some team or other. ‘Lavey were very cal terms that changes nothing. In , they sit second in the roll of And afterwards if there is a kick-about on strong for me. “Online is serious. I know from my own honour with 18 titles, but it was 2010 since <<< the estate up the road, he will give another parish a lot of young fellas will gamble. the last one. Building their superb facil- half hour of detailed coaching before fin- And I went back Most of them will be normal but a lot of ities, shared with the Termoneeny com- ally heading indoors. to training them will be spending more than they can munity group was a risk at the time, but boys are on the Lavey field most nights of He doesn’t attend Gambler’s Anony- teams, there (afford),” says McGurk. has enabled them to grow their underage the week anyway. mous. were no issues “I met a bank manager not that long ago. structures and along with Magherafelt Which is the other, unyielding, con- “What I found was a lot of men just want with that. They And she said, the amount of accounts they and Bellaghy, those trio are hoovering up stant. to listen to themselves. And tell the same told me to go see with people overspending with gamb- the underage titles. On May 30, 1992, a number of Lavey story week after week after week,” he ling is ridiculous. She said it’s going to be In time, he would like to take the senior players dashed from a Greenlough pitch says. back, do my own an epidemic shortly. team again, when the fruits of the under- during a championship game against “I just say, I can’t gamble, because I thing again and I “She said even somebody that earns age work ripen. The last time he did so was Newbridge. can’t. We have a family of 13. My whole just started to £100 a week will be spending £110 a week 2006, but the circumstances for team and Hugh A McGurk, in attendance to watch family stood by me and backed me in live life again.’ on gambling. Someone who earns £400 a manager were all wrong. his sons and his club, took ill and passed everything. My friends from home, my week, will be spending £500 on gambling. It And if anyone wishes to talk to him away aged 76 years. clubmates, the whole GAA community is rife, particularly within GAA as well. about gambling, he is available. The game was abandoned. Naturally, it stood by me and I always believe that if I “Gambling just seems to be an easy out- “I have let a few boys know that I would was a night that his son Johnny will never ever fucked up again, I couldn’t look for let for GAA people.” be available if ever anybody needed me, forget. them. Because I let them down again. They because I suppose for any young fella, I am “The following year we were preparing backed me and stayed with me through all very morning he rises at the biggest case of falling flat on your face to play Down in the Ulster Championship this and I can’t gamble. half six and within an with gambling there is,” he sums up. in Newry,” he recalls. “A few days before “The story about the 68 grand says hour, he is on a building “There were others, like Oisín McCon- the game, Eamonn took me aside. Away everything about me. If you gave me a mil- site fitting windows. As ville, Mark Hehir from Galway and that, from the rest of the players, he spoke lion pounds and stood me outside a a sideline he does ac- but I am the one who did time, probably quietly. He asked me did I know what date bookies, I would spend that million in a counts work for some the biggest fall anyone had. the game was on. day. I wouldn’t have had a concept of what self-employed friends “In a way, if they want to see the worst- “My father’s anniversary,” I replied. I was betting on.” and a bit of tutoring case scenario, they could come to me. I “‘So, you’ll be delivering a big perform- He continues: “Lavey were very strong here and there. He even nearly lost my children, I lost my mar- ance then,’ he said. ‘You’re on (James) for me. And I went back to training teams, went back to some ac- riage, I left the house and I finished up in McCartan.’” there were no issues with that. They told countancy work for a while but got fed up prison. So I suppose if anybody wants to me to go back, do my own thing again and I with it and prefers the sites. see what it can do to you, well then…” or his father, for his club, just started to live life again. I met Helen in E“You know something, you see your The last thing he wants is for any of this he held McCartan score- the middle of 2013 so she was there for me. head? There’s nothing going through your to sound trite. This is not a happy ending. less that day in Newry. “She was a local girl, she played head about having to complete something Redemption is fleeting. There is no such McCartan was taken off for Lavey and won an All-Ireland inter- and I had years and years of waiting for a thing when events like these occur. You and McGurk’s hands mediate with Lavey a few years back. She court case and my head was away,” he can only make it as good as it can be. were sore from grabbing was there for me, very strong for me when says. He insists that relationships have been his jersey all day. Now, I was down about things, kept my head up “Some days you walk out, fit a lock of destroyed, but what he will also realise but he passes on his talents. when I would have thought… windows and there is no stress. And I am not say is that other relationships have He captained this club “Like, the whole time waiting for the fit to do it. How long can I keep it going flourishedbetw een him and the people he to an All-Ireland foot- sentencing and that… Just depression. though? Even though I was an accountant holds dear. ball Championship in 1991. He lost five And the gambling left you with a real de- I am still strong enough to do this when I The man who walks down the street and Ulster club hurling finals. The club has pression as well, it was one of the things can, but I must be fresh as well.” gossips about him stealing or gambling, he beenF good to him and he gives everything about it, waking up and the lows… He holds ambitions in life and football. cannot help. It is not within his gift. back. “But she was very strong for me the last Over the last several years there has “I don’t feel sorry for anyone who holds Young James is with the minors on a number of years, my family, the club. All been an enormous push in the Erin’s Own ill-will to me. I don’t owe them an apology. Monday night. The following night Patrick good to me.” Lavey club at underage. While Johnny, his “But I do feel hurt for the people who I is out with the under-14s, Saturday morn- This modern-day scourge is every- brother Collie, and the Downeys and so on harmed. ings is Mark with the under-12s. Johnny where. Only this February the GAA voted won an All-Ireland club in 1991, they “I feel remorse for all the people I of- coaches the under-16s and 12s. at Congress to ban all sponsorship from haven’t won a county football title since fended. There’s barely a night that he isn’t on gambling companies but on purely practi- 1993. “And I will carry that with me.” Weekend Sport Irish Examiner Saturday, 11.08.2018 Saturday, 11.08.2018 Irish Examiner Weekend Sport

6 BIG INTERVIEW BIG INTERVIEW 7

The Declan Bogue Interview Ryan McAnespie lives his life in Tyrone but tomorrow will go to battle for Monaghan against the Red Hands. Here, he unravels the reasons for his Oriel links, the illustrious careers of his mother and sisters and how his family continue to strive for justice for his uncle, Aidan. Life in a border town

t 1am last Sunday, memories about it.” port to be published. Calls of support have Ryan McAnespie Partition and checkpoints destroyed the been added by and former stepped off the Mon- town. Tailbacks were often a mile long and GAA President Peter Quinn. aghan team bus fol- agitation from holdups was a sad fact of In May, it emerged that a part of his rib lowing a trip back life. Latter-day talk of hard Brexits and EU cage was removed during a post-mortem from Galway that frontiers leaves the locals, who experi- and — without the knowledge or consent might have been enced the worst that barriers and divi- o f th e fa m i ly — wa s d i sp os ed o f . gruelling under sions can sow, dismayed. Potentially vital when it comes to bal- other circum- In an RTÉ radio documentary aired ear- listics evidence. stances, but for a lier this year, neighbours recounted how “I think the family are delighted now side having qualified for their first All- there were cheers coming from the bar- with the way it is going at the minute. Ireland semi-final since 1988, felt like float- racks at the time of the shooting and how Barry Lenihan from RTÉ, the family are ingA home. the road was later closed with gunshots very pleased with him, he has taken a lot He stretched his weary limbs, the ones going off, the implication that some fresh on board and opened the whole thing up that gathered four points from play and ‘ricochets’ were being gouged into the tar. again, moving it forward. At a better pace covered big mileage in a performance that Charges were brought against Grena- at what might have been previously,” says put him in contention for the GAA.ie dier Guard David Jonathan Holden for McAnespie. player of the week, before heading for manslaughter but were later dropped. “But they are happy with the progress home. The day after the killing, Garda Deputy made and the publicity it is getting. I On he went from Monaghan town, Commissioner Eugene Crowley was ap- wouldn’t look too much into it, but the through Emyvale where he plays his club pointed by the Irish Government to inves- family are happy with how it is prog- football. Across the Moy Bridge and into tigate the incident. ressing and it is not being left as history, Tyrone, up the hill into Aughnacloy’s The results of the investigation were re- that they are going to get answers.” main thoroughfare and out the far side of ceived by the Minister for Justice, Equal- His uncle’s name is preserved in history the town to the family home. ity and Law Reform but have never been and lives in the public consciousness. A Aidan McAnespie was shot in the back at a The reason he lives there is knotted and published. club in Boston are named ‘Aiden McAnes- checkpoint in Co Tyrone. i n t e r t w i n e d wi th a st ru ct ur e th at he An RUC investigation concluded that pies’. After Monaghan were knocked out of passes every time he heads off to training the killing was accidental. One of the the 2016 All-Ireland Championship, his Now when Ryan has his post-training “I was never going to leave Emyvale,” he “It was a very football-oriented school,” R O A D wasn’t pushed. My time in St Ciaran’s Tyrone. “I suppose you always dreamed of or a match with his club or county. claims made in the aftermath was that nephew wanted to go and play a summer snack at the Monaghan training complex, says of himself. he recalls. NOT TAKEN: As a there too, there might have been a bit of a p l a y i n g in Al l- Ir e l a n d se mi -f in al s or On the roadside outside the grounds of Holden’s hands were wet and the gun for them but time was too tight to sort out a framed picture of sister Ciara accepting “I grew up there and went to my pri- “It was a good environment to come m i n o r pl ay er , draw, but I am happy with the way things finals, but I never witnessed a Monaghan the Aghaloo O’Neill’s club in Aughnacloy slipped. visas. Some day he will. her 2016 All-Star award on stage beams mary school. Even with my father, through as well. Even the kind of football, wo r k e d ou t. I wo u l d n’ t do an yt hi ng team getting to those stages. is a squat monument. The inscription That version of events was later weighed “To play for a club named after my down at him. cousins, and relatives in Aghaloo, but I y o u ar e pl ay in g wi th bo ys an d it is Monaghan’s different. You would have to move clubs “Tyrone were the team getting there. r e a d s : ‘I n Lo vi ng Me mo ry of Ai da n up against the nine pounds of pressure it uncle… For my family and all it would be “She only had one brother and she was happy to be with Emyvale.” different from club football, what I would Ryan McAnespie and things like that. I would have been And Armagh, they would have been the McAnespie. Murdered at this spot by takes to pull the trigger on such apparatus. nice. Nice to get out and be in somewhere would have been mad into the football His first memory of Monaghan came in have been playing down in Monaghan. c a m e cl os e to happy enough to play with Emyvale.” main Ulster teams. Crown Forces on 21st Feb 1988. Ag ed A 2008 Historical Enquiries Team found different, but it would be a big thing for the when she was younger,” he says of his the Division Two final of 2005. Seamus “It was completely different, the way t hr ow in g h i s “You are always hoping and dreaming it 23 years. RIP.’ that the soldier’s explanation was the family to play for them,” he says. mother. Banty McEnaney’s first year and Paul Fin- they play, even the way they train and all. I weight behind e still leans towards might change and that Monaghan might 30 years ago. ‘least likely version’ of what happened, ad- The ballad Aidan McAnespie has the “But up in Scotstown the club football lay’s lofted free-kick dropped into the net suppose in the schools, it’s just the differ- Tyrone in other go up to the top and at the minute, we are 23 years old. ding the chances of this happening were, refrain, ‘You murdered Aiden McAnespie would have been big up there when she by Meath’s Mark Ward in the last play to ence in school’s football than club football. Tyrone’s cause. ways. A few weeks getting close.” One year older than his nephew Ryan is “so remote as to be virtually disregarded”. on his way to the Gaelic ground.’ was growing up, the Caulfields and win the title. It would be a lot more physical and more Picture: back, he graduated Around Aughnacloy, all the conver- now. In June of this year, the North’s Public His name goes before him. McCarvilles at that time. “We all ran on to the pitch at the end,” he pace to it. Maybe it’s because you are play- Tommy Dickson with his Sports sations are of football right now. McAnes- Aidan was making his way to an Agha- Prosecution Service announced they “You would get people making the con- “I would have gone to all the trainings smiles. ing with the pick of the club footballers but Science degree from pie stays inside his own bubble, a satellite loo game against Killeeshil when he went would be charging Holden, now 48, for nection. A couple of times, such as when and everything, in at Monaghan Harps “That was my most vivid memory. I was it was enjoyable to play there.” University Ulster of the greater Monaghan orbit. through the British army checkpoint, the gross negligence manslaughter. you are going to the gym or whatever, I there and different places around the only 10 or 11 at the time.” O n th e eve n i n g s an d we e ke n d s , he Jordanstown. He On Thursday, a man by the name of ground being close to the Moy bridge In one of his final duties before signing don’t know if they would think it a good county, Magheracloone and so on.” Still, he owes his footballing education developed that huge lung capacity with w a s l i v i ng in a M i c k e y Mu ld oo n we nt ov er to th e border. He had been the target of constant off as director-general of the GAA, Páiric connection or whatever, but different H i s fa t h e r , Vi n c i e , pl ay ed a bi t fo r to Tyrone. Glaslough Harriers, starting at 800 and student house with monument. An old friend of Aidan’s, he harrassment at the scene by British sol- Duffy — himself a Monaghan man and a The monument in areas of Belfast you would be signing up Aghaloo, a bit for Emyvale. As much as the During the week he would attend school 1,000 metre runs, developing to 3k events Tyrone panellist Ben McDonnell, and has lived his adult life in Coronation Park, diers who would hold him for hours at a former coach of an Aghaloo O’Neill’s sen- memory of Aidan for gyms and asked if you were any con- knees would allow. in St Ciaran’s, Ballygawley where he came before football commitments squeezed the other footballers from Errigal Ciaran and hard up against where the barracks were. time. Working in a poultry farm and ior team — wrote to justice minister Char- McAnespie. nection to Aidan McAnespie.” “My father would have been taking me into contact with Pascal Canavan and time available. HBeragh. Even on his own wedding day, he and his checking on cattle across the border, it be- lie Flanagan asking for the Crowley Re- to a lot of Tyrone games and aunties and Martin McElkennon, and the now Antrim He explains: “I would have known it was Right now, he is one of the most import- bride Philomena were stopped, searched came a daily experience. He could almost ther people might uncles would have been big into Tyrone,” b a ckro o m te am of Fin t a n De v l in an d one of the stronger areas of my game; my ant players in the Monaghan team. Talk to and detained in the wedding car as they be sanguine about it. ask him if he was he says. Brendan Trainor. endurance and athletic ability, so I tried to anyone around the panel and they will t r a v e l l e d to th ei r ow n re ce pt io n in Frequent threats were made to end his any connection to “Whenever Monaghan were beaten, Ty- implement that into speak of a seriously level-headed, softly Monaghan town. life. In the end, the family would bring his Brenda Mohan. rone were the next team you were suppor- my game as best I spoken grounded lad. There are flagpoles just behind the dinner down to the barracks, knowing he Long before ting. The likes of Peter Canavan were play- could.” “I wouldn’t be outspoken,” he says. monument and on the week of a big game, would be detained for most of the evening. Ryan was win- ing, someone you were looking up to when Naturally, at one “I would be quiet enough and wouldn’t Muldoon runs flagsof the competing coun- On this Sunday morning, a bullet fired ning an Ulster you were kicking about in the back garden point Tyrone came do any talking or speaking before games. I ties up the poles. from a machine gun went into his back and Championship too. calling. The minor focus on my own performance more than This week, it’s Tyrone and Monaghan, as he lay on the ground, cars swerved past still in his teens, “It would have been more Champion- manager in 2013 was anything.” right there, on the significant ground. to make their way on through the check- his mother was a ship games we would have went to (than M i c k e y Do nn el ly , He has the full sweep of honours, win- The Tyrone team bus will see it as one of point, oblivious to the carnage, deaf to the legendary ladies’ footballer with Monag- league). I remember going to see them play o f A gh a l oo by ning an Ulster minor title in 2013 and get- the last things before they cross the border whistle of the bullet. han. Down in 2008 when they drew. coincidence. He ting pulled into Malachy O’Rourke’s sen- for an All-Ireland semi-final. “When we are younger we would have OComing from Scotstown and immersed “I suppose, when you have a mother made enquiries. It ior training panel the following February As will the McAnespies, different moved to Emyvale. And that was probably in their illustrious teams of the ‘80s, she winning All- and All-Stars and a was a close run thing at just 18, having dragged Emyvale to an strands of the family wearing different one of the reasons why we moved down played in All-Ireland finals when Ryan couple of All-Stars in sisters too, there is a to one extent, but the All-Ireland junior semi-final. county colours as they creep past the south. We were kept away from the area, was a newborn, winning an All-Star from lot to live up to.” insistence that he A year later, he won an Ulster U21 m o n u m e n t , ov er an in v i s i b l e an d not told anything, as such,” says Ryan centre-back in 1997. She played in another He’s one of seven children altogether. would have to switch Championship and by the height of the frictionless border. now. final while just pregnant with daughter The youngest, Darren is 10 now, the same clubs was never summer, came off the bench after 45 A century and one week after Gaelic “But as you get older, you get more in- Eimear and kept it to herself. age Ryan was when he came across the going to fly. minutes to replace Owen Duffy in the Sunday when the Gaels of the country de- quisitive and start to ask more questions When her daughters Ciara and Aoife border for good. “ T h e r e was Ulster final as Monaghan beat Donegal. fied a Crowns Forces ruling, forbidding and learn more about it. When I was grow- came of age and Emyvale gathered up to While he couldn’t sever the tie with interest there,” he His fitness levels and composure has them from playing their games. ing up, the checkpoint… I vaguely re- relaunch their ladies team, she trans- Emyvale, his attempts to bring Darren The funeral procession of Aidan McAnespie at Aughnaclay in 1988. reveals. always been off the charts, but now he has Onto Croke Park. member it there. I might have been six or ferred from Monaghan Harps to play there haven’t worked out. He wanted to The funeral cortege walked past the checkpoint on the way to the “I think they were added a serious scoring threat, he is in To watch their son, brother and cousin, seven. And remembering the soldiers alongside them as they jumped rapidly stay with his friends and so is an Aghaloo graveyard. Picture: Pacemaker in the stages of sort- All-Star territory. Ryan. along the street, but I wouldn’t have strong through junior and intermediate ranks. clubman through and through. ing out something. I Right now though, all he can think of is On their way to the Gaelic ground.