End of the road for Cross legend McConville

The most famous number 15 jersey in the GAA is being placed back on the peg.

Oisin McConville has confirmed that he is retiring from club football after two decades of loyal service to his beloved Crossmaglen Rangers.

The legendary corner forward, who guided the club to an unprecedented six All-Ireland club championship victories, said the time has come for him to hang up his boots to give some of the club’s promising young players their chance to shine.

The 37-year-old corner forward, one of the most decorated club players of all time, said he intends to continue his involvement in the game in a coaching capacity but his immediate priority was to spend more time with his family.

“I’ve played with Crossmaglen for 20 years and I’ve enjoyed every single minute of it but it’s time to go now.

“It is going to be hard. There is going to be a big void but I have plenty of things to replace it with.

“I hope to do a bit of coaching but that won’t come for a while as I want to take a bit of a break from it. When I start back I want to be fresh and reinvigorated so I’ll need a little bit of time off,” he said.

McConville, who inspired Armagh to the All-Ireland title in 2002, aims to spend more time with wife, Darina, and nine-month-old son Ryan but he will return to the GAA in a different capacity in the not too distant future.

“I am a family man now and, at this stage, I owe it to them to spend more time with them,” he said.

The holder of two All Stars, McConville was the marquee player in a star-studded Crossmaglen side that won six All-Ireland club titles and 16 Armagh county championships, including an astonishing 13-in-a row.

His hugely successful career also includes seven Ulster championships with Armagh and 10 Ulster club titles. He said while Armagh’s All-Ireland triumph in 2002 was a special memory, his personal highlight was when Crossmaglen Rangers won the All-Ireland club crown in 2007 after a titanic battle with Dr Crokes of Killarney.

“I was captain that year and to captain your club to an All-Ireland title is a wonderful thing. It will always stand out when I look back,” he said.

Crossmaglen’s defeat by St Brigid’s of Roscommon in the recent All-Ireland semi-final was McConville’s last game for his club and he admits he was gutted after that loss.

“We were going for the three-in-a-row and that would have been very special but it wasn’t to be. Not a lot of things went right for us on the day. We are much better than that ” he said.

“It wasn’t a case of us being over confident. We were as hungry that day as we have ever been but we just didn’t perform.”

During the course of his GAA life, McConville also made headlines off the pitch when he went public about his major battle with a gambling addiction and he now devotes much of his time to creating a greater public awareness of the problem. He was in Kerry at the weekend where he told a public meeting organised by Gneeveguilla GAA club of the need to be more aware of the dangers associated with gambling.

“It’s a huge problem in society and gambling has increased dramatically over the years. It’s too easy now to place a bet. You can get an App on your phone or text a bet and that had added to the problem,” he said.

He said if he could offer one bit of advice to those at risk of addiction it’s that they should identify one person that they can trust and talk to and not to allow matters spiral out of control.

“It doesn’t need to be a counsellor or a member of the family. Just find somebody you can trust and talk it through with them.”