MATTIE McGleenan was an All-Ireland finalist with Tyrone in 1995 but has picked his Allstar select from the players he managed at colleges level with St Patrick’s Armagh, the Cavan senior team and the club sides he has guided to success over the years. The end result is a quality line-up that is packed with talented and imaginative footballers. Andy Watters writes…
‘A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step,’ as they say and my journey into management began in the spring of 2000.
I had just managed a MacRory Cup-winning team at St Patrick’s College, Armagh with Jim Herron and I was in my mother-in-law’s bar ‘Gina’s’ in Carrickmore having a pint of Guinness with my brother-in-law Pat McKeown.
He and some of his Galbally teammates were discussing the current problems in their club. They weren’t going well in the league and had lost their manager so I offered to take a training session to help them out.
By the end of the night they had come to a decision (unknown to me) that I was to be their new manager/trainer and so my transition from player to coach had begun.
I have based my chosen 15 players around the teams I have managed over the last 20 years. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a manager and coach having had the pleasure to work with many age groups at schools, club and county level.
I have had a rollercoaster journey enjoying success, defeat and seeing players develop under my guidance. Choosing 15 players was not an easy task and one which I have given a lot of consideration as I could have easily selected numerous players for each position.
1 Rory Beggan (Scotstown)
ALONGSIDE Stephen Cluxton, Rory has transformed the role of the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper is almost a quarter-back now and Rory is fantastic at setting up the plays. The day of calling a restart ‘a kick-out’ is gone, he passes the ball out the field and that’s one of the things he is exceptional at. He keeps the defence in line and wouldn’t be afraid to keep defenders on their toes.
James Farley and Raymond Galligan, my Cavan goalkeepers, would be very close to Rory in my book.
2 Terry Donnelly (Galbally Pearse’s)
I WILL always be grateful for the Pearse’s showing faith in me. Terry was one of the best I’ve worked with, he set the tone in defence with his no-nonsense defending attitude. He was always dependable and consistent with great performances week-in, week-out. His game ideology of ‘Simple things done well at speed’ still rings true today.
3 Kieran Hughes (Scotstown)
TO ask your full-forward to go and play at full-back to upset the mindset of the opposition three days before your first-ever county final sounds like complete coaching madness. Kieran’s answer when I asked him to do it was simply: “No bother Matt if it helps us win”. Conor McManus was the key forward for Clontibret and Kieran was the man sent to mark him. The rest is An Bhóth history.
4 Chris Rafferty (St Patrick’s, Armagh)
CHRIS was a natural leader in defence at full-back for the St Pat’s team that won the MacRory Cup in 2000. He was very smart on the ball, always retained possession and his distribution out of defence was excellent. At that time he was as good a defender as there was but the problem for him at county level was that Armagh had Francie Bellew and those boys, they were blessed in that department. Chris always had a great attitude was a natural leader of the defence and went on to help his club Pearse Óg get a senior championship.
5 Donal Morgan (Scotstown)
A QUIET figure on the team but when you needed a big performance, Donal led the line and he was captain of that An Bhoth side. He would never question refereeing decisions or challenge his fellow defenders to man up but he was superb throughout his club’s run to the Monaghan Championship title.
6 Shea McAleer (Monaghan Harps)
A SOLID, dependable player who led the Harps from Division Three to Division One and always by showed great example. Strong and tenacious and a very positive character around the changing room.
7 Kevin Beagan (St Patrick’s, Armagh)
CAPTAIN of the MacRory-winning team in 2000. Just a great leader, great personality and when the going got tough, Kevin got stuck into the action. A tenacious wing-back and his reading of the play and his covering in defence was exceptional. Long before sweepers were deployed by teams, Kevin had a natural ability to read the play and know where the danger was so he could cut it out.
8 Francis ‘Frank’ Caulfield (Scotstown)
WHEN we were under pressure, Rory placed a ball to Frank and he did what was needed. He caught the ball, settled the game at that moment and did the simple things well. A huge presence on the team. Known for scoring the odd goal now and again.
9 Sean Cavanagh (Moy and St Patrick’s, Armagh)
I HAVE known Sean since he came to St Pat’s as a 17-year-old to do his A-levels. He was a winner from the day I met him and always pushed himself with some magical inner drive to be the very best, the complete package. He loved training, scoring, fielding, hard running and decision-making on and off the ball which set him apart. One of the best in the modern game.
Whatever you were doing in training, Sean would have been in the top two or three. He was never content to sit back in the pack at any stage, he was always setting the example for the rest of the team. He stood out because he always wanted to be number one.
He had natural ability of course but he worked seriously hard at it. His commitment to training and extra-training was unreal. At that stage, in free periods at St Pat’s, he would have been taking a bag of balls down to the field once or twice a week to do extra shooting practice. That set him apart from a lot of other players.
10 Martin Reilly (Cavan)
A QUIET and unassuming person who always brought his best game to the table. Adaptable and happy to play anywhere on the team, he has a superb left foot. In Castlebar against Mayo in 2017 his audacious outside-of-the-boot pass to Thomas ‘Mossy’ Corr from all of 45 metres was a fantastic exhibition of precision passing which ended up in a game-changing point.
Niamh Hughes of Dungannon Aodha Rua would push Marty close on any given day.
11 Joe Coyle (Monaghan Harps)
‘BIG Joe’ a massive personality in the changing rooms. Intelligent with his ball distribution and very strong in possession. His composure in possession in the last five minutes to control the temperature of the game and win the intermediate league against Truagh Gaels a few years ago still brings a smile to my face.
He just shades the position from ‘Big G’, Gearoid McKiernan from Cavan, who is a brilliant player with another bullet of a left foot.
12 Conor McKenna (Eglish and St Patrick’s Armagh)
WHAT can I say? When I first coached Conor at U13/14 he was just brilliant, untouchable and it was easy to see he was special. He did things with a football that other players just couldn’t do and I remember him in a MacRory Cup game – he scored 45s, he scored points of either foot, he scored an absolute peach of a goal. That was just Conor, if he saw any space to attack then he went at it, there was never a case of him turning back, it was always straight at the goals. He is an exceptional striker of the ball. Just go on YouTube and look for ‘Conor McKenna Ulster schools 1-7 performance’. Say no more, it’s no wonder AFL came calling.
He would have gone on to have been a star for Tyrone and maybe he still will. God knows what’s coming down the road for Conor? He is still young, he’s only 23 so he has a pile of time on his hands. Hopefully he will stay injury-free.
13 Darragh McVeety (Cavan)
MY captain in the second year I took the county. We moved him further up the field after the first year and he just excelled in the forward line.
His goal against Kerry in Kingspan Breffni Park will always stand out. We were chasing the game and needed something special and Darragh’s first touch, turn and shot from 25 metres into the bottom corner was just class and blew the roof off the stand! Hope he’s not still stuck in Patagonia!
14 Darren Hughes (Scotstown)
DARREN was captain my first year in Scotsotwn and he is a professional sportsman in all aspects of the game. He was a major handful for any full-back in Monaghan or in Ulster. His goal against Slaughtneil during an outstanding game in the Ulster Club Championship brought An Bhóth to their first Ulster club final since 1989. A great ambassador and role model both on and off the field.
15 Shane Carey (Scotstown)
GETS this position narrowly ahead of his club and county team-mate Conor ‘Cese’ McCarthy and Ronan Clarke (St Patrick’s, Armagh). Always played with a smile on his face and scored 2-5 in the 2013 county final. Ice-cool with free kicks and never afraid of a challenge.
Overview.
I have had 20 frustrating but brilliant years trying to chase another MacRory Cup title with St Pat’s but it still evades the Sandy Hill lads. However, the journey I have experienced with the teams (not to mention Michael Slane’s road trips around Ulster to games) have been some of the best days of my sporting life. I commend all MacRory players for their passion and commitment to the St Pat’s green and red.
The top player will always challenge you to make training better, to make games better and to be better. What sets the players in this team apart is that they always wanted things to be better and get the maximum out of themselves. They always challenged me in a seriously-positive way that ‘we want the best in what we’re doing here’.
One notable absentee from this team, who I only coached for 30 minutes, is Cormac McAnallen. It was pre-season in 2004 and he had driven from Belfast from a presentation to play for Eglish against Culloville Blues one Sunday morning.
He had arrived just before half-time and pleaded for some game-time to play with the Eglish lads. Sadly it was his last appearance in the black and white jersey. That was Cormac, full of energy and an insatiable appetite to play the Gaelic game. A great friend and team-mate, I still miss his smile and presence around the club.
I have had some memorable days with Eglish youth over the past 10 years and the likes of Jack Gibney, Dillon Horsefield, Ethan Jordan, Simon ‘Tiger’ Woods McGurk, Luko Donnelly, Kieran Begley, Seán Barrett, Dan and Stevie Muldoon and Matt Óg and Michael McGleenan. I am really looking forward to seeing these young men develop into the next generation of senior players for Eglish.
The friendships I have made have enriched my life, from Ardboe to Aghyaran, Scotstown to Latton, Killinkere to Cavan town. I head to Carrickmacross when this crisis settles and new challenges and experiences await with Jinx, Winny and Mull.
