The sands of time continue to gather pace; Down 1994 All-Ireland winner Miceal Magill doesn’t need anyone to remind him of that.
When he takes his spot at St Tiernach’s Park tomorrow for the Ulster semi-final between the Mourne County and Armagh he’ll think back to his last provincial derby in Clones against the noisy neighbours.
That was the 1999 Ulster final — he came off the bench in a 2001 All-Ireland qualifier — when Magill had the honour of captaining his county. On the other side of the pre-match handshake was Uachtarán Tofa Jarlath Burns. Tomorrow their two sons, Danny Magill and Jarly Óg Burns, will line out on opposite sides.
“Knowing Conor Laverty, and knowing how much is going to go into match-ups, I wouldn’t be surprised if Conor would look at Danny to pick up Jarly Óg either,” Magill predicts.
He knows Laverty well at this stage. Not just the player and the manager, but the wide-eyed kid looking up at his sporting heroes all the way back in 1994.
That season would end perfectly for Magill. In his first year starting for Pete McGrath, he played a key role in helping Down to their fifth All-Ireland title. An All-Star award would be copper-fastened on the back of marking Dublin’s Charlie Redmond out of the final. The two have remained close friends ever since, so much so that Miceal and his wife Nuala named their first son after him.
The finish may have been perfection, yet the start was anything but as Down’s season came close to capitulation before it even got started.
James McCartan and Greg Blaney, the keystones of the attack, had fallen out with McGrath and withdrew their services. DJ Kane was on the brink.
A crisis point was averted but an 11-point hammering at the hands of Derry in Newry — ‘The Massacre at the Marshes’ — the previous summer had meant that there was little fanfare about this team. Not yet anyway.
In those early training sessions in Ballykinlar, those watching on “you could have counted on one hand”, says Magill. Two of those fingers belonged to Laverty and his father Gerry, who never missed a session.
Magill would tussle Conor’s hair walking off the pitch, maybe throw him a pair of gloves if he’d some going spare at the changing room door. Nearly three decades later that star-gazing child holds the fortunes of Down football in his palm, and the Magill family know that more than most.
As well as Danny’s involvement with the seniors, his younger son Harry played in attack as Laverty’s U20s won the Ulster title against Derry on Wednesday night — their second in three seasons under the Kilcoo man.
Nuala wasn’t in Armagh in Wednesday night though, nor will she make the trek from Burren to Clones tomorrow. She wasn’t in Newry on Sunday past either as Danny was handed his championship debut in the impressive win over a creaking Donegal.
“The last three weeks in the Magill household have been pretty tough for one reason and one reason only and that was because on April 5 Danny’s mum and my wife Nuala was diagnosed with bowel cancer,” says Magill.
“Everything happened very quickly. Nuala was diagnosed on the Monday and the following Wednesday she was in Craigavon Area Hospital having major bowel surgery.
“Nuala had her surgery on the night Down U20s beat Tyrone (quarter-final) and poor Harry, his emotions got the better of him at the end of the game with his uncle Conor and his aunty Michelle and his two brothers, Charlie and Danny. There were a lot of tears.
“The last number of weeks, not knowing the results of surgeries and biopsies and the like, it was a very emotional time for us all.
“For what those two kids have gone through over the last three and a bit weeks, hiding their emotions and still doing what they had to do, I was really delighted for both of them and it gave their mummy a huge lift.
“She’s in recovery now and we’re just waiting on results now but Nuala would be pushing and driving the boys as much as I would. She has a massive love of the game. The photos and the press coverage have given her a major lift.” That scare may be raw in the memory but Magill’s infectious enthusiasm abounds. It’s not the first hard knock they’ve experienced as a family, it’ll not be the last either, but the positivity continues to radiate.
Six years ago this month, Magill woke up just before 7am like he did most Tuesday mornings. Twenty minutes later, not that he can remember mind you, his health, his future standard of living, lay in the balance as he suffered a stroke on the steps of his stairs.
Another stroke would follow in 2019 and Magill counts his blessings that he is in fine fettle to enjoy these glorious footballing moments with his sons.
“Challenging times, but family and friends are wonderful and they rally round you in times of need. I haven’t felt as well in a long time. I’m keeping to the diet as best as I can and keeping in shape as best I can. Maybe carrying a wee bit extra, but as Gary Mason used to say, don’t worry too much yet, it’s National League weather.
“I was under the best of care with the stroke rehabilitation team, they worked wonders. Medication in the morning, medication at night and away you go at your daily routine.
“I was very fortunate in regards getting the beta-blocker injection into me within a certain amount of time for the first stroke. I don’t remember anything about it, I was completely out and had paralysis of the face and left-hand side.
“I was in hospital for 12 days but there were people a lot worse off than me in beds beside me.
“We’ve kept the Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke Foundation very close to us and ran a couple of fundraisers, and hopefully that helped raise awareness of what they can do.” Tomorrow though is all about football.
Magill is travelling in hope rather than expectation. Armagh have won six of the last seven championship meetings stretching back to 1998. Down’s one win, in 2017 under Magill’s former team-mate, the late Eamonn Burns, was a fairly sizable shock.
He shared a changing room with Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney in 1998 as Ireland prepared for the International Rules series with Australia. Magill didn’t make the cut and was placed on the standby list, but he has watched Geezer’s progress closely ever since — and he thinks the Orchard County’s need is greater.
“Down will not fear it, they will relish it, but I think it’s a bigger game for Armagh than it is for Down.
“Geezer needs to win an Ulster title. I think they are so down the road with regards their development that if they don’t beat Down and don’t get to an Ulster final, their Ulster campaign will be deemed a failure.” Whether Down end up one game away from a first Ulster title since 1994 or in the Tailteann Cup by the close of business this weekend, Magill feels that, as the famous Down GAA tells us, the boys in red and black are back, their bellies full of fire.
They may not yet ‘be going Down to Dublin to bring back the Sam Maguire’, but there is a new lease of life in the county, no doubt.
“Down, between senior and U20, have 70 players who want to play football for Down, plain and simple. Conor has come in with Marty (Clarke) and Mickey (Donnelly) and his backroom team and they are all working like dogs.
“I made the comment to Danny on the field after the Donegal game to enjoy every minute because this doesn’t happen every week. Cherish the moment and it accept it because it’s the hard work that goes on behind the scenes that makes days like that.”
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