Football

O'Callaghan out to Erne Championship memories

Fermanagh's Richard O'Callaghan is confident the Erne county has made a lot of progress since their 2011 defeat to London in the All-Ireland Qualifiers
Fermanagh's Richard O'Callaghan is confident the Erne county has made a lot of progress since their 2011 defeat to London in the All-Ireland Qualifiers Fermanagh's Richard O'Callaghan is confident the Erne county has made a lot of progress since their 2011 defeat to London in the All-Ireland Qualifiers

IT’S rare for a player to make his debut in the Championship, but times were hard when Richard O’Callaghan was thrown in at the deep end during Fermanagh's turbulent summer of 2011.

Seasoned campaigners had left John O’Neill’s panel and Enniskillen Gaels midfielder O’Callaghan got his first taste of the real cut and thrust as a substitute in the Ulster quarter-final loss to Derry. He did enough to book a seat on the plane for the trip to London and started at Ruislip on what turned out to be a dark day, maybe the darkest day, for Fermanagh football.

Everyone remembers their first start and London 2011 is certainly an occasion O’Callaghan will never forget – the Exiles won by seven points and O’Neill’s one-season reign ended.

“It was a curious time, but still…” O’Callaghan recalled.

“Personally, it was the worst I have ever felt after a football match. I still think about it now and again. I haven't been that low since, thanks be to God.

“But after that… Just the thought of letting down all those people at home in the Championship, and getting beat by London that year was just… It really did get me down for a while after it. But I have developed since then, it's great to be on this team and we are on the rise and will keep on the rise.”

The only way was up after Ruislip and the green shoots of recovery that appeared during Peter Canavan’s two-year reign have been nurtured by the experienced Pete McGrath, who brought O’Callaghan back into the fold last season and guided the side to promotion from Division Three this year.

O’Callaghan has worked hard and looks strong and fit. There is a quiet determination in what he says and a focus and confidence that bodes well for this weekend’s clash with Antrim.

“Pete has set targets and expectations as well,” said O’Callaghan.

“We are a fitter team this year. I have worked this year personally and everybody else has worked harder and we are getting the results of that, on a team basis and on a personal level.

“We are going back to the club and everyone is saying that they are fitter than they have ever been, and it's down to what we have done in the early pre-season and over the year in the strength and conditioning. That's what I would put it down to.”

Sunday’s Brewster Park quarter-final is a repeat of last season’s fixture. It was O’Callaghan’s first start in the Ulster Championship, but he and the rest of the team chased shadows in Saffron for the first 30 minutes. Antrim raced into a 1-10 to 0-1 lead and held on to win despite a fierce comeback from the home side.

“It was just shock, like,” said O’Callaghan.

“They came out of the traps running, we might have been in our own heads a bit too much as to what we were going to do, how we were going to get over them. It was pure shock and they caught us on the hop. We had a mountain to climb, we nearly got there in the end, but we didn't…

“We learned from that this year, and we will be wary of that going into this game. We have to take every game as it comes and not look ahead of ourselves.”

On Sunday, Fermanagh are desperate to balance the books and give a true account of themselves.

“Every Championship day, you don't know what you are going to be hit with, but we are definitely in a better place than to where we were last year,” said O’Callaghan.

“There is no comparison. We are in a far better place in terms of what we got in place in pre-season, how we did in the McKenna Cup, the players we brought in, the progression we had through the league, the targets we set - and we met most of them.

“It's just been seamless the whole way through, whereas last year it was a late appointment, it was all rushed, into the McKenna Cup, into the League, no real pre-season, we had to rush to get up to speed with the rest of the counties.”

While Fermanagh have recovered from their loss, Antrim have failed utterly to build on the win last summer. Manager Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley has gone and so have key personnel, including Brian ‘Bam’ Neeson, who hit 1-6, and Kevin Niblock, who finished the game with 1-3. But O’Callaghan will prepare like they’ll both be there, and James Loughrey and Andy McCallin…

“I haven't thought about that, to tell you the truth,” he said.

“I know that if it was this county, we would have just as capable (players) to come in. They have other men who would be capable of coming in that can do similar, or a better job than those that have left. We have had a lock of retirements in our own squad and I would trust any of the men who have come in to do a job as anyone who has retired. In terms of that, I haven't really thought about it and I am sure they will have players just as good to come in.”

Fermanagh were favourites last year and will be short odds again on Sunday after their League success. But for O’Callaghan, “Championship is still king” and he knows the Erne men will be judged on what they produce from here on in.

“No matter if you are talking club or county, or U12, U14, Championship is king,” he said.

“Sure, it's a bonus to get a good league campaign and get promotion… It gives you something to build on, but if we don't beat Antrim, then there are going to be serious questions asked of us, and serious questions asked between ourselves and from the outside. That's something we don't want. The Championship is everything. The people of Fermanagh just want that Ulster Championship so badly, having never won it before.”

Team captain Eoin Donnelly is almost certain to miss the game with a hand injury. In the absence of his regular midfield partner, more will be expected of O’Callaghan, but he says Ryan Jones is a like-for-like replacement.

“Och, well, if you look at underage, me and Ryan played together in every St Michael's (Enniskillen) team in underage, county minors and U21s,” he said.

“Eoin and I have got a decent partnership over the last couple of years and have got to learn about the way each other plays, but no matter who comes in and who comes out, it's seamless and we know our own roles.”

Victory on Sunday would see Fermanagh through to an Ulster semi-final against a Monaghan side that survived some very nervy moments to make it across the line against Cavan last Sunday. On the evidence of what transpired at Kingspan Breffni Park, Fermanagh would certainly fancy their chances of pushing the Farney men hard, but O’Callaghan refuses to let his focus drift further than May 31.

“We are talking about immediate targets,” he said.

"We have one immediate target at the minute and that's May 31. After that date at the moment, it doesn't exist for this panel.”