A Captain's Calling

‘When he phones me I still refer to him as captain’ Joe Brolly

Those were the words of one of our All-Ireland winners about a former playing colleague of his. Perhaps the context of the article in which it was written is one in which we might not wish to dwell on too long, but it got me thinking.

1993. What does it mean to people now and what was its legacy?

Let’s address the first part of that short double barrelled question first. What it means now probably depends on what age you are. Let’s be honest, if you are in your mid 20’s (which most players playing senior football for club and county are) your memory of events will be scant. The belief and confidence gained through memory and experience of people say ten years older will be a lot weaker with current playing generations. That’s a sobering thought and one which cannot be ignored.

Yes, there are youtube videos. Yes, there are pictures, stories recanted time after time. However, nothing compares with ‘being there’ as the modern social media aware GAA marketing types like to remind us. Human beings by their very nature doubt themselves sometimes. I often think those winning experiences are taken for granted by ‘older people’ and not necessarily shared by younger players and coaches.

However, what is not in doubt is that the men of ’93 planted a flag at the summit which should, and I repeat, should be visible to all. They cast all doubt aside like all pioneers do.

July 2012. Clones, Co Monaghan. Derry minor footballers are overcome by a Tyrone side that perhaps the scoreline flattered. Perhaps it did, perhaps it didn’t. That depends on your viewpoint. It’s clear these young oaks were good players. So why were they beaten I hear you say? Good question.

Like the legacy of ’93 the answer could very well depend on what age you are. To a 14-15 year old, the response might be along the lines of: ‘sure, that’s Tyrone. They’ve won All-Irelands and are a strong outfit’. To a 17-18 year old the response might be the same! It gets you thinking, doesn’t it?

However, to a slighter older generation, we don’t buy that. We know who we are. We know where we came from and we don’t accept that. We know what Joe Brolly means. We look coldly on such events.

It takes a collective will. From the young players on the pitch, but also from the older generations who run things off it. Cooperation across all levels from schools to clubs to county is a key ingredient in helping young players to achieve their potential.

‘You can see it. They’ve done the work and are on a high with the power coursing through their bodies. They’ll just look forward to the next game and the chance it gives them to showcase the work they’ve put in. And they’ll enjoy doing so.’

That was Adrian McGuckin speaking about Donegal after they defeated Derry in Ballybofey this summer. The impassioned voice spoke volumes as it beamed out on Radio Ulster’s medium wave. He knew. He looks coldly on such events.

Second things second, what indeed was the legacy of 1993? I said in a previous post that our county continued to enjoy success on the provincial scene via Lavey, Dungiven, Bellaghy, Ballinderry and Loup. But in reality what actually happened was that those successes, wonderful as they were, were taken as a sign of health at a time when evolution was required. If you stand still in any race, you fall behind.

That is exactly what I think Derry has done, or had done.

Back to legacy. Legacy is about each generation standing up and being counted. It is now time for the current generations to stand up. The ’93 men and associates, now in their middle ages (they’ll love that!), children reared and coming onto teams. What does it mean to that generation to see their county excel? Are they content with knowing that their generation succeeded? Once. Or is the burning desire there to leave nothing in the tank as they say to ensure the flame of the likes of Eamon Coleman is passed on?

After all, Eamon and his peers passed it on to them and they benefited. Not only players, but friends, club mates, families and associates all benefited from that passing on of the flame. That belief, the irrational belief that you can and will be better than any other team or county is still there in spades. It rests in the hands of a generation who are now at a crossroads. Accept contentment or drive onward.

The GAA and Gaelic football is in a very different place to where it was in 1993. Henry Downey lifted the Sam Maguire in a stand covered by a tin roof (poetic license excused). Now modern fibreglass and plastics technology abound, steel hangs from sky, and scanners notify a database you have entered that same ground. Field sports evolve. Spain, possibly the most successful soccer team of all time, no longer play with a recognised striker. Life moves on and so do tactics, training methods and player preparations. Have we?

The battlegrounds are no longer what they were. Off or on the pitch, sports science, medical and anatomical knowledge all progress year on year. That’s human nature and evolution in action. There are those ‘back in my day experts’ who will no doubt frown on such statements. However, to quote another member of that ’93 team who said recently:

‘I’d rather have a happy medium but it has just come about with teams trying to catch up on each other and do the same work and I suppose there’s no real stopping it’

There’s no real stopping it says Enda Gormley, and he’s right. If there’s no stopping it then you either get with it or you stop completely and spectate.

That my friend is reality and its reality coming from a person who knows what it takes to be a winner. If someone whose very makeup portrays what it means to be an Oakleaf winner says this then it’s time the rest of us listened. Young and old, over 25 and under.

The young players in Derry are as good as has ever been produced in the county including those generations classed as ‘successful’. It is up to the generations who have experienced success to both convince them of that and make that statement a reality. They owe it to themselves and they owe it to those who went before them. Soldiers like Doherty, Dougan, Muldoon, McGuckin, Bradley, McCloy, McFlynn, Lockhart, McBride gave their all for the cause and often got little in return. Those men deserve better. Their legacy deserves better.

The leaders of this generation of players, and those on the cusp, need to make themselves known and heard. You can lead at 21 or 31, no difference. Leaders lead by example and by the example they show their team mates, managers and peers.

Recognised as one of the world’s most influential people, author of the best selling ‘The seven habits of highly effective people’ and a recognised authority on ‘leadership’, Stephen Covey passed away last week at the age of 79. To those wanting to achieve, he offered the following advice:

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

Covey knew that when you put your life into something 100% you will never be disappointed. If you give anything less, disappointment is only an act or two away. In our case, priorities, courage and the interplay between the ‘93-generation’, who have been there and wear the t-shirt, and those who have not, are vital factors in determining our collective future.

Let’s hope neither shirks their responsibilities. ‘The captain’ never did.

Longford give Derry the Blues

So that's it then. For another year anyway.

On Saturday evening, with Michael Duffy's whistle greeted by joyous cheers from the home fans in Pearse Park, Derry's inevitable end came as early as many expected, but sooner than most had hoped. That's the reality of the 2012 season. It was bad enough that 'lowly-Longford' were heavy favourites to beat Derry, but that they went on to do so with some degree of comfort is the harshest reality of all.

And yet this was far from a poor Oak Leaf performance. Castigated from Coleraine to Cork in the aftermath of the Donegal defeat a fortnight ago, for not showing the requisite fight, spirit and hunger one could reasonably expect from a county side, Derry produced a performance that displayed heavy doses of those very same ingredients. They showed intense commitment throughout, stuck diligently to the task at hand and fought to the bitter end. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to avoid defeat. Instead it rubber-stamped Derry's championship exit before the calendar had even turned to July.

In his post-game interview, John Brennan chose to concentrate on the performance of the referee, but when talking about the game itself he specifically pin-pointed the ten minutes before half-time as the period in which Derry lost this football match:

"The last 10 minutes of the first half, we let the game slip. That was the only point in the game that Longford dominated us. We were careless, gave the ball away and were punished."

He was spot on. Up until that point, Brennan's side had dominated the ball. Patsy Bradley and Michael Friel had a stranglehold in midfield, while John McCamley was offering them fantastic support in winning both primary and secondary possession. The only surprise amongst the handful of Derry fans that made the trip to support their side was that Derry were only level, at 0-5 apiece. The Oak Leafers just couldn't turn their superior possession rate into scores, despite playing with whatever advantage the swirling breeze was offering. The main reason was a lack of composure and basic errors in the Longford's defensive third of the field. Too often the ball did not stick, too often the wrong decision was made by the player with the ball and on numerous occasions the final pass went straight into Longford hands. Add to all that a few missed chances in front of goal, and instead of being clear on the scoreboard Derry were only level.

Then, for the final ten minutes of the half, the home side took control. The Longford midfielders had hitherto jumped with their Derry counterparts on kick-outs only to see Patsy Bradley break the ball down to an oncoming red and white shirt, but in the final minutes of the half they eventually caught on to the Oak Leaf ploy. McIlvaney and Keegan suddenly decided not to compete aerially and the home side swept up on the ground. With Seanie McCormack in deadly form in front of goal, Longford scored three points without reply. 0-8 to 0-5 behind at the break, Derry were facing an uphill climb.

Glenn Ryan would have told his side at half-time to run at the Derry defence, try and win a few frees and keep the scoreboard ticking over. They did this with an easy regularity throughout the second half. McCormack scored eleven points in total, nine of which came from frees. In contrast, Derry found it hard to create any point-scoring opportunities (especially in the second half) and could barely even manufacture a free for themselves. The Oak Leaf forwards just couldn't find any space against a tight and dogged Longford defence. Enough possession had been won, but too often the ball was played to the wing or into the corner of the pitch, asking the forward to run away from goal and subsequently away from the scoring zone. In the meantime, the Longford defence funneled back, forcing Derry to recycle possession before the attack (more often than not) broke down. On umpteen occasions in that second half, Paddy Bradley received the ball in the left corner of the pitch, not an ideal position for a left-footed player. This meant that Bradley - who must have won every ball that came his way - was constantly forced to try and work possession out, by which time the scoring chance was gone. It appeared that Paddy Bradley was played on the left to accommodate Eoin Bradley on the right. Eoin should have been played in a deeper role to allow Paddy and Emmett McGuckin more space inside. On one occasion when Eoin carried the ball from deep he scored an excellent point. At another stage, when Paddy found himself on the right, he too cut inside to kick a trademark score. These were Derry's only two points from play in the second half, and were an indication of the positional switches that should have been made.

Despite that, a goal from Barry McGoldrick grabbed the Oak Leafers by the scruff of the neck, right back into the game. Twice. Under the circumstances it was no surprise that a Derry defender would have to come up the field in order to break the deadlock, but no-one would have expected McGoldrick to grab two goals. Both scores came against the run of play. The first goal was an excellent turn and finish following a sublime pass from Paddy Bradley and it brought the sides level. The second goal came with about ten (injury time) minutes left on the clock. After a long sideline kick from Eoin Bradley, McGoldrick gathered possession on the edge of the square, side-stepped his marker and finished to the roof of the net. This score put his side a point ahead. And it should have given Derry the impetus to go on and close the game out. Instead it seemed to have the opposite effect, somehow putting a pep in the step of Longford, who wasted no time in not only regaining the lead, but subsequently increasing it to three points.

If anything, the two goals masked Derry's deficiencies in the final third, and managed to keep them in a game that was slowly getting away from them. Longford were able to get their scores (and their frees) much more easily as they ran at pace as the Oak Leaf defence to draw frees, and used Brian Kavanagh as a target man to hold up the ball and set up the nearest runner for a scoring opportunity. And yet, the Derry defence played quite well. Chris McKaigue could have done little more to curb the influence of Brian Kavanagh (to whom the ball just seems to stick) while Ryan Dillon and Barry McGoldrick kept their direct opponents fairly quiet in play. Ryan Scott had been thrown in at the deep-end, but looked so comfortable in the right half-back slot he could have been there for years, while Mark Craig and Sean Leo McGoldrick barely put a foot wrong and did a good job in stopping the Longford runners from deep. Just ask Paul Barden, who struggled to get into the match. The locals were blaming Barden's failure to perform to his full capacity on a pre-game, pain-killing injection (ankle), but even so, Derry shackled him well throughout and he's unlikely to be as quiet again this season. However in Kavanagh and McCormack, Longford had enough to get the job done.

Following a melee in the final minute of injury-time (which resulted in Barry McGoldrick's remarkable game taking a final turn for the worse when he received a second yellow card), Derry had one last chance to rescue an unlikely draw. It's been well enough documented since, but Joe Diver's magnificent catch and transportation of the ball - somehow - across the goal-line, provided the game with one lasting moment of controversy. After a few television replays it is still unclear what happened when twenty bodies converged on Damien Sheridan's goal, but referee Michael Duffy seemed pretty satisifed that he knew exactly what happened and blew for a free out with the kind of decisiveness not usually associated with the Sligo whistler.

He blew for full-time almost immediately after and despite the final decision on the goal-that-wasn't, even the most diehard Derry supporter (most of whom were likely in attendance) couldn't argue that the best team had won. Derry hadn't performed too badly, but the scoreboard said it all. The Oak Leafers only managed ten scores, while their opponents had put up 17. Unfortunately at this level, that's just not good enough to win football games.

Some more thoughts from Saturday's game:

• Even though John Brennan vehemently criticised the referee after the game, it should be noted that nothing the referee did (or didn't do) in this game, was the reason for our defeat.
• Having said that, it's a deep concern that after a performance of such inexplicable ineptness in the Athletic Grounds last week, a referee like Duffy is back out on the Championship circuit less than one week later.
• Michael Quinn at centre-half back did an excellent job for the O'Farrell men in terms of marshalling his defence and helping to set up attacks, but his marking ability is questionable. His athleticism matched well with Mark Lynch's running ability, but he may have struggled with a more creative player, perhaps like Conleith Gilligan.
• Colin P Smyth at right half-back also looked a little suspect. John McCamley over-powered him throughout, but did his best work in and around the midfield area (though he also popped up for two good points in the first half). This was another area that Derry could have exploited a little better, in an attacking sense.
• The Longford selector in the orange bib, getting involved in the ruckus at the end, was none other than former stalwart Padraic Davis. A tricky forward in his day, Davis played against the Oak Leafers in an All-Ireland qualifier in 2002 when he scored a remarkable free off the ground from the 50m line (on the sideline).
• Speaking of that game in 2002, Barry McGoldrick's two goals were reminiscent of Anthony Tohill's two-goal haul in Pearse Park ten years ago. McGoldrick certainly showed the same sort of leadership, but this time, the goals couldn't propel Derry to victory.
• Speaking of leadership, Chris McKaigue is beginning to look the part in the Oak Leaf defence. He led the charge forward from full-back on a few occasions in the second half. He should be persisted with at full-back (especially in the absence of any other natural solutions in this area), but might be best suited in the half-back line.
• Finally, fair play to Longford for taking on the mantle of favourites and closing out victory when the game went against them in the second half. This is a side that have been training since October and have the grit and self-belief that previous Longford sides lacked. The qualifier system is weighed very heavily against the so-called lesser counties, but Glenn Ryan's outfit might have another couple of days left in the sun yet.