Football

Derry Minor triumph was won long before Clones showdown

Hawthorn-bound Conor Glass parades the Fr Murray Cup after Derry captured the Ulster Minor title in Clones
Hawthorn-bound Conor Glass parades the Fr Murray Cup after Derry captured the Ulster Minor title in Clones Hawthorn-bound Conor Glass parades the Fr Murray Cup after Derry captured the Ulster Minor title in Clones

“The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.”

Muhammad Ali

SOMETHING I witnessed at our club’s gym a fortnight ago meant I had a very good feeling that Derry were going to win last week’s Ulster Minor Championship.

Let me set the scene. It’s a Tuesday afternoon. When I enter the gym, which is situated beside the club’s pitch, the sun is shining brightly.

There isn’t a cloud in the sky. Given the weather conditions and the time of the day, I don’t expect to be disturbed. When l attach my phone to the music system and set the volume to ‘11’, I assume that for the next hour, my only company will be my dodgy playlist.

But I am mistaken. Not long after I start, my solitude is broken when the door opens and a flood of light fills the shaded room. Jack Doherty and Tiernan Flanagan walk into the gym.

I know both boys. They were on an U16 team that I helped to manage for two years. Their team won the Derry Championship and reached the Ulster club final. That side also featured Conor Glass, Callum Mullan-Young and Conall Darragh.

All five are in this year’s Derry minor squad.

Realising that the two lads were preparing for the Ulster minor final, I didn’t stop my own work out. In the interests of Derry football, I thought it would be wrong to disturb them. But I monitored them constantly.

Like we always said to the boys when they were U16, you play the way you train. You can tell a lot from watching how footballers apply themselves when they are not being policed by a manager and an army of assistants.

The pair begin with a warm-up. If I was 18 years old, and the sun was blazing, I think I might have taken a few short-cuts and went straight into the main routine. But Jack and Tiernan were meticulous.

Their various stretches and exercises took about 15 minutes and they patiently went through every one of them.

That’s when the Muhammad Ali quotation struck me. This is where the game in Clones was being won.

Away from the sunshine of St Tiernach’s Park, the Ulster minor final was being won by the Derry minors who were prepared to train on their own in a quiet gym.

Watching Jack and Tiernan going about their business, I was privately thrilled. Yes, I knew it was a great sign for the Derry minors. But my interests were more selfish.

Our club, Watty Graham’s Glen, has never won the Derry Championship. The John McLaughlin Cup is the Holy Grail. If we are to ever achieve that aim, the challenge facing the club is to develop a group of players that have achieved incredible success at underage level.

But that task is not going to be easy.

Tiernan Flanagan is a natural goalscorer. In training sessions, we regularly did goalscoring drills.

Tiernan’s success rate would be eight to nine out of 10. Sometimes, he’d shoot early. Sometimes, he’d sell a dummy and take the ball around the ’keeper. He never did the same thing twice. Training against Tiernan Flanagan is perhaps one of the reasons why Callum Mullan-Young has developed into such an accomplished shot stopper.

Last Sunday in the Ulster minor final, Tiernan got one chance, and true to form, he stuck the ball in the back of the net. But Tiernan’s goalscoring abilities aren’t limited to Gaelic football.

A gifted soccer player, he is already receiving offers from clubs.

While it remains to be seen which direction Tiernan’s career will take, Glen and Derry have already resigned themselves to the fact that Conor Glass will be joining Hawthorn in the AFL.

Glass was the captain of the Derry minor team. He is a rare and special talent. An exceptional footballer, his skills are matched by a temperament which belies his tender years.

It would be wrong to claim that I coached Conor. He didn’t require any tuition. He never had to be cajoled or criticised.

Okay, that’s not strictly true. On one occasion, I did correct Conor. During a game, he attempted to kick a point with his weaker foot.

The shot went wide. I thought he was being unnecessarily flamboyant and told him so. He didn’t protest. He just nodded his head.

A few minutes later, he took a pass 20 yards from goal and slammed an unstoppable shot to the roof of the net with his weaker foot. Conor said nothing. I said nothing.

Given his talent and innate professionalism, it would be no surprise if Conor Glass forged a career in the AFL.

But let’s be under no illusions. Neither his club nor his county will be broken hearted if Glass decides to return home in a few years.

Right now, Derry football needs every nugget at its disposal. Last Sunday’s minor victory was Derry’s first provincial title in that grade since 2002. In the 20 years between 1980 and 2000, the Oak Leaf county won nine Ulster minor titles and two All-Ireland crowns. In the last 15 years Derry have won two minor crowns.

In recent years, it has been argued that Derry don’t have the players. That’s a fallacy.

The success of Derry’s clubs makes nonsense of that theory. Derry’s clubs are producing the talent. Shane McGuigan, man-of-the-match in Sunday’s minor final, is from Slaughtneil, the current Ulster senior champions. Glen are the provincial minor and U21 champions. St Patrick’s Maghera won the Hogan Cup in 2013 and reached last year’s final.

Derry’s clubs are producing quality footballers. The problems lies elsewhere.

It’s 18 years since the county won an U21 title and 17 years since the last Anglo-Celt Cup.

Of course, success can be cyclical. But it’s still hard to escape the conclusion that Derry have fallen behind.

The fact that Brian McIver has no obvious successor is somewhat telling. It’s almost certain that the county board will have to appoint an outsider.

It’s crucial that Derry find the right man. Muhammad Ali’s quotation is only true up to a point. Monaghan’s success wasn’t born in a gym.

It came from the decision to secure the services of Malachy O’Rourke.

O’Rourke has harnessed all the talent at his disposal and he is the reason Monaghan have won two Ulster titles in three years.

The work is being done in Derry’s gym and pitches. The onus is on the county board to make the right decisions in the committee room.