Scary Coleman a great character

One of the best characters was Eamonn Coleman.

Eamonn came on the scene around 1990/’91 and he scared the hell out of journalists. There was the famous time after Derry upset Dublin in the 1993 All-Ireland semi-final when he said: ‘youse boys know nathin’ to a group of southern journalists, but I got to really like him. He had a great way of disarming you. You might ask him what he thought of a game and he would say ‘not much’ but you had to wait for the wee smile and ask him the same question a different way and he might give you a minute-long answer.

I remember interviewing him at half-time of the 1993 All-Ireland final for the BBC down by the entrance to the dressing-rooms. It was raining and I was soaked but I got him on the way in. The whole thing lasted for 19 seconds. Nineteen seconds. I asked him how it was going and he just said ‘tough stuff’. He said Niall Cahalane should have been sent off and not Tony Davis and then when I asked him about the second-half he just said ‘its’ not over yet’. He hardly said anything but it made for great TV. RTÉ picked it up as well.