John ‘Shorty’ Treanor (Burren)
I CAME up against ‘Shorty’ in the 1999 Ulster Club with Enniskillen Gaels. He was probably 35 or so at that time, I was 17 or 18, and the first thing that struck me was, physically, he was a big man. When I stood beside him at the start, one of his legs was probably the size of both of mine.
We had done a bit of homework on the good old VHS, and on ‘Shorty’, so I was handed the pleasure, or displeasure as it turned out. The tapes we watched didn’t do him justice. I was young and naïve, probably borderline silly, and you learn a lot when you come up against senior players – some of them won’t put up with some of the stuff you might use to try and intimidate them.
Nothing really was working with ‘Shorty’… he actually laughed at me at one stage when I was trying to steer his head away from the game and get a bit of chat going.
There were times he’d have tried to talk to me as well, which I didn’t like as a defender. Asking me how things were, what age I was, was this my first year up from minors. And while I was engaged in chatting to him, thinking this boy’s maybe not a bad lad, he’d push me away with one arm and then he’d be gone to receive a short free and start a play, or get involved in a score.
It just felt as though I couldn’t do anything about it. His overall game, his understanding of space and his intelligence off the ball was something to behold. I’ve been lucky to have the pleasure of marking the likes of Peter Canavan in my career, but coming up against ‘Shorty’ in those early days was a massive learning experience.
We just about got a draw in Burren; we got out of jail really. He ran amok on me - in all honesty I don’t know how I lasted the whole game. The next day at Brewster, Seamus Doyle was over us and he wanted me to start on him again, he felt I would learn from the last day, and so did I.
Unfortunately ‘Shorty’ started the way he finished the last game and took me and schooled me again. It was an absolute nightmare up until there was a bit of an incident off the ball where he ended up having to go off. Of course you would never want to see anyone seriously injured, but I was never as glad to see a player leave the pitch.
It was a lesson in football from a highly-skilled, intelligent player. He sold me the same dummy so many times in both games… I would dread to watch them back.
Brendan Devenney (Donegal)
I PLAYED against the Peter Canavans and the Brian Doohers but, when I’m thinking about learning experiences, Devenney comes to mind. I made my inter-county debut in Ballybofey. I would’ve played all my football at half-back but John Maughan believed I was a corner-back and he was the first one to throw me in.
If I’m honest, I have to say I hated corner-back. Absolutely despised it. Maybe now a corner-back could get their hands on more ball but from being a half-back with the club, that didn’t help. Most defenders will tell you they have a forward streak in them anyway!
It was a baptism of fire that day in Ballybofey because Brendan’s pace was just frightening. He didn’t look the biggest but he was hard, maybe a bit like Canavan. Just solid. Coming off the back of a number of decent seasons with the Gaels I would’ve been very confident going into that game but every time he got the ball, over that first five metres he had me burnt.
You talk about the intelligence of ‘Shorty’, but Devenney’s strength was just that rawness and the sheer speed he had. There’s a lot of Donegal players from that time you think maybe could and should have achieved more, and he was highly skilled and so elusive.
There were games he would maybe only touch the ball three or four times but he could finish with 1-3. He was that dangerous.
I think I was scarred nearly after that game and I have to credit Maughan and his backroom team for sticking with me – I didn’t think I’d put on another green jersey after that. It was a massacre, but they obviously had faith in me to play that role.
Steven McDonnell (Armagh)
STEVIE and I would have met a number of times in our peak years. I recently watched back that 2004 quarter-final game and you have mad memories of football. You think of the elation of winning that game but when I watched it back, Stevie had about seven scores inside the first 20 minutes.
Like, I knew I hadn’t done well, but I was watching it wondering ‘how was I not taken off?’ At one point the camera showed Tom Brewster and Hugh Brady warming up – Hughie had to be coming on for me, so I don’t know what happened.
Stevie enjoyed a bit of everything, it would be fair to say. There were days we didn’t shake hands when we met each other at our positions.
I can’t even say it was a love-hate relationship – it was maybe hate-hate and then love at the end of our careers when we’ve shared a couple of Ulster gigs, and it’s then you realise those were the days you lived for. We’ve been in touch a number of times on social media too and it’s mad how football can do that. You just come full circle.
On the field, he always carried a goal threat, was two-footed, quick, could win his own ball or go on the loop and be clever to maybe screen you so you were cut out by his run. You couldn’t take your eyes off him because he had that sort of elusiveness where he would walk one direction, be away looking for a free-kick, you couldn’t watch him on the ground ... he had everything in that sense.
In terms of verbal warfare, he would let you know when he scored. There was always a line you wouldn’t go over but you would stretch and certainly test the water and go as close to the line as you possibly could.
Those sort of naughty happenings probably summed up the Noughties - there were times there may have been people testing other peoples’ toenails to make sure they were alright, just making sure their feet and heels were in their boots okay. Out of concern, obviously.
There was very little that didn’t go on, but you knew you were going to war. You were going to have highs and lows that you wouldn’t feel in most games.
Stevie and Ronan Clarke had an unbelievable understanding and I was lucky enough to play alongside Barry Owens and we had built up a good rapport too. But if you ask Barry, the hassle and hardship we had with those two boys… then Ronan Gallagher had a few involvements as well.
What you try and do now is impart as much onto other lads, either boys you played with later or the ones you’re working with now. There was a lot to learn from all of them.
Some people are probably wondering why I didn’t choose Canavan but, really, I don’t think there was anything Pete was going to teach me about him that I didn’t know already. Growing up and watching him, I idolised the man, but I don’t know if I learned anything the day I marked him. I think I just stood and looked at him, passed the day off, thinking no matter what I do here it’s not going to end well for me.
