Keeping things interesting
THE most bewitching tagline of next Sunday’s Ulster final may be Fermanagh’s presence in the showpiece for the first time since 1982 but, interwoven therein, are any number of dramatic stories to light up any page.
The most obvious is that of Barry Owens, who underwent major heart surgery at the start of the year and marked his return to the inter-county scene with a crucial second-half goal against Derry in the semi-final last month. Owens had been on the field less than 30 seconds. Beat that Hollywood.
Well, Marty McGrath can. The Ederney man went through two heart operations of his own within the space of two months in 2006 and was struck in the head by a digger in a work-related accident last year.
Thankfully, operating theatres and hospitals play no part in the story of Shane McCabe, the Glentoran soccer player who will juggle UEFA Cup commitments with his county’s needs later this week.
Then we come to Ronan Gallagher. The Erne Gaels player was tending goal for Fermanagh as far back as the late 1990s but, as Rory’s brother and Raymie’s first cousin, his was a role less conspicuous.
Like his two relatives however, Ronan had his stint away from the county scene — three years to be precise. He missed the county’s memorable run to the All-Ireland semi-final in 2004 and only returned this season. It was a spell that encompassed Charlie Mulgrew’s tenure as manager but it is a road the player refuses to revisit.
Which is fair enough. The tale of his triumphant return is ample fodder. The scene opens in a frigid Healy Park in Omagh in what was only his second championship match in five years.
Fermanagh are five points down with only 15 minutes played against Derry in the semi-final and leaking scores from every rivet. Then things go from bad to downright awful when referee Syl Doyle awards a penalty to the early pacesetters.
Gallagher felt ready for the duel to come. He had thought about this moment in the week leading up to the game, envisioned Paddy Bradley walking up, placing the ball on the whitewash and which side the Glenullin man would choose.
Unfortunately, Conleth Gilligan stepped forward instead. What did he think then?
“I hope he misses,” laughs Gallagher. “I hope he kicks it wide, that’s what I was thinking. I just picked a side and tried to get in the way and that was it, to be honest. Lucky enough, it was kept out and we pushed on and that was the wee bit of luck you need.”
Gallagher wasn’t completely unprepared. He had faced a Gilligan spot kick years before when the pair were duking it out in college and that memory helped him to pull off a save that will be hard beat between now and September.
He might have stepped forward a couple of paces off his line in the process but you couldn’t begrudge Gallagher, or his family, such moment given the night that was in it.
Neither his mum nor his dad were in Omagh to witness his intervention. Nor were most of his family. Instead, they were in the local church at home in Belleek to mark the first anniversary of his uncle Raymond’s sudden death the summer before.
“Maybe something like that had a part in us winning,” he says. “I’m not sure.”
Owens’ sensational entrance after the break stole all the headlines the following day but Gallagher’s save was the catalyst for Fermanagh’s doughty comeback.
“It would have been very difficult [if Gilligan had scored] but, with the way the game panned out, you would not have betted against us clawing it back. They scored the resultant ‘45’ as well so it was really only two points saved.
“It was just that we went about things in the right way after that and games are won and lost after full time, not after 20 minutes. Some people said it was a turning point, but I’m not so sure. It all boiled down to workrate at the end.”
The few steps he took forward to divert Gilligan’s penalty were indicative of the proactive manner in which Gallagher returned to the panel last November, for it was the player and not manager Malachy O’Rourke who initiated the reunion.
Gallagher had been far from idle during his time away. A member of the St Gall’s side in Belfast since 2004, he won three county titles and played in two Ulster finals, winning the one against Derry’s Bellaghy in 2005.
It was the week before last November’s provincial showpiece against Crossmaglen when Gallagher punched O’Rourke’s digits into his phone and it was a decision that he didn’t debate for a second. “Absolutely not. When Malachy was ratified, I was playing with the club and I rang him and asked him for a trial. He said yes and I just came down and had a couple of trials. My first proper training session was the day after the Ulster Club final. When you love doing something, you don’t have to ask yourself twice.”
Ask him if he would be here now, looking forward to another Ulster final with his county, had he not taken that first step and the blank expression on his face is enough to confirm that the thought had never struck him.
“I don’t know, to be honest. You would have to ask Malachy that. I suppose I played okay for St Gall’s but Chris Breen and Fergal Murphy were here and Niall Tinny was away this year. I just called in and got the trial. I’m just glad that I did ring him.”
It promises to be an interesting week for him. He lives in Armagh these days. Armagh City, to be precise, and the novelty of bedding down behind enemy lines is something he is relishing.
He hasn’t bumped into too many of Peter McDonnell’s troops on his travels but he knows them well enough after his days playing with and against some of them in his time in college at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown.
He furthered his Armagh education with that defeat to Crossmaglen late last year and professes genuine admiration for the manner in which the side has maintained its momentum despite a heavy turnover of personnel on the pitch and on the sidelines.
Fermanagh have aped some of Armagh’s most profitable trademarks, particularly their doggedness and refusal to give opposing teams a moment to stop and take stock. The perception is that it could be a game where one score separates them.
“It will. Armagh generally don’t win by too much either but I was up in Crossmaglen watching them against Dublin in the league and they hammered them by nine points. It was men against boys that day.
“Armagh have that ability. I remember the year before last, reading some comments by their players, that some day they will click and they will give some team a real tanking.
“Hopefully, we are able to stay with them, and in the last 10 minutes of games we have been reasonable enough ourselves. That is when we will find out what we are made of.”
His conversation is peppered with reminders that, for all the friends and admirers Fermanagh have gained this summer, they have won nothing yet, ever.
Lest we forget, the county has never won an Ulster title.
The enormity of that fact is what makes this Sunday’s game so appealing to the romantic in us but, left to linger in the minds of the players, it could suffocate their thoughts and overwhelm them.
Even a temporary brain freeze, like the one they suffered against Derry in the opening quarter of the semi-final, would probably sink their ambitions against an Armagh side that has won every one of the six provincial finals they’ve contested in the last decade.
For Fermanagh, who is to say that this isn’t a once-in-a-generation opportunity? Gallagher is one of the elder statesmen on the team and yet he was just two years of age the last time the county played a part in the pageantry of the senior decider 26 years ago.
“If you look at our team, most of the boys have a fair bit of experience,” Gallagher reasons.
“Most of the boys have played plenty of football and, while obviously they have not played in an Ulster final, they know what it is about.
“They know how to look after themselves coming up to big matches. A lot of these boys played in ‘04. People are experienced enough to not hide away, but to distance themselves from the hype.”
History awaits.
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