WEST Belfast GAA powerhouse St John's was at the forefront of the efforts to establish the Ulster Club Football Championship.
The competition had been played unofficially from the early 1960s and St John's stalwart Andy McCallin Snr was among those who successfully campaigned at Ulster Council level for it to become enshrined in the GAA calendar from 1968 onwards.
'The Johnnies' had enjoyed regular success in the Antrim championship and made the breakthrough at provincial level in 1977 when a talented crop of young players emerged alongside Allstar forward Andy McCallin and a towering midfielder from Roslea in county Fermanagh by the name of Peter McGinnity, who had just taken up a teaching position at St Augustine's on the Ravenhill Road.
Although the campaign ultimately ended in disappointment, Andy and Peter recall the glory days of 1977/78, when St John's became the first Antrim club to win the Ulster title and reach the All-Ireland final...
The hat-trick
ST John's were the dominant force in Antrim football in the 1970s. Spearheaded by class forward McCallin, an Allstar winner in 1971, the Falls Road club were county champions in 1975 and 1976 and completed the hat-trick by beating Creggan Kickham's 3-8 to 1-9 in the 1977 final.
"They gave us a harder game than we expected, we might have been a bit complacent and they had nothing to lose," recalls Andy, who scored 1-3 in that game.
Peter, who transferred to the club in 1976, adds: "That was a serious St John's team. A lot of the boys had played at the Ranch (St Mary's) like me – the likes of Liam Jennings, Kevin Gough and Mickey Darragh – and there was Joe McGuinness, the three Cunninghams and Andy [McCallin] and Gerry McCann who had played on the Antrim team that won the All-Ireland U21 in '69. There was John Rainey, who won a Sigerson with Queen's in '71 and Kevin McFerran – the Ulster club championship cup was named after Seamus McFerran who was a relation of Kevin's."
The manager
ANDY McCallin Snr was a dyed-in-the-wool Johnnies stalwart. A former player who went on to become club chairman, he was the senior team manager in 1977.
"He was steeped in the club and there was a lot of respect for him because of what he had achieved and what he had done in the GAA," says Peter.
"He took no prisoners either! I can't ever remember him getting very annoyed at me but he called a spade a spade, so you usually got it (his opinion on your performance) straight up!
"Getting beaten by Clann na Gael in 1976 would have been disappointing so we got a bit of a touch that day. But he was Mr St John's and he probably had a bit of charisma before charisma was acknowledged as being very important for a manager.
"Young Andy, or 'wee Andy' as we called him, definitely fulfilled everything his father might have hoped for from him."
Arco-nada problem
NORTHERN Ireland star Gerry Armstrong (who famously smashed the winning goal past Spain goalkeeper Luis Arconada in the World Cup 1982) had been part of the St John's side that won the 1975 championship. But he had left for England after signing for Tottenham Hotspur and wasn't available from the 1976 season onwards.
"I played with Gerry in tournament games but I never played with him for St John's," Peter explains.
"He stopped playing the year before I went to the club – hopefully it wasn't anything to do with me! "If Gerry Armstrong had of been about it would have been incredible, but it was still as good a club team as St John's would have had for a long time."
Raiding the Orchard
ST John's began their Ulster run against Monaghan champions Scotstown and progressed to a semi-final against Crossmaglen.
The club's run in Ulster in 1976 had been halted by Jimmy Smyth-inspired Clann na Gael, the Armagh champions, but that experience stood the team in good stead as they prepared for another crack at the Ulster title.
Once again, St John's drew the Armagh champions and that Cross side included some of the players who had taken the Orchard County to that year's
All-Ireland final.
"Cross had Joe Kernan and Larry Kearns, so they would have had a lot of experienced players," recalls Peter, who played in midfield alongside Liam Jennings.
"They had beaten Clann na Gael (in a replay) in the Armagh championship so they were worthy opponents. That game was played up at Corrigan Park and we were glad to get past them."
Gaels Force
CAVAN Gaels (with Ulster Council president Oliver Galligan playing at right half-back) provided physical opposition in the final at Castleblayney. The Johnnies had to overcome some rough-house tactics from the Breffni champions but they were worthy winners in the decider.
Star forward McCallin had his jaw broken during the game – the perpetrator wasn't sent off but he was suspended after a post-match inquiry.
"I released the ball to Hugh McCrory and the guy came in with a forearm smash and I ended up in the Royal overnight," Andy recalls.
"My jaw was wired-up over Christmas that year."
After the game Andy, braving the pain with a bandage wrapped around his head, accepted the trophy on behalf of the club. His injury put a dampener on the celebrations.
Peter recalls: "We were the better team throughout that game.
"Andy was a marked-man for us but he was an incredible player at that stage. He was maybe coming into his prime, he was unmarkable and very accurate off either foot. He was a classic corner-forward.
"We played very well that day and we were worthy winners.
"We were delighted but we didn't pass that many remarks on it. We had won a football match, we got a bite to eat in Castleblayney – which was unusual for a club team at that time – and then we went back to the St John's club on the Whiterock Road and savoured it.
"St John's hadn't won it before so it was a big thing, but winning Ulster meant there were obviously bigger fish to fry then."
A nod to Joe Pat
ST John's were very strong on their home patch at Corrigan Park which had been relayed three years previously by Fermanagh native Joe Pat Prunty, who sadly passed away recently. The firm sod was tailor-made for the likes of the speedy McCallin and it was certainly a factor in the St John's success.
"Joe Pat – who went to primary school in Roslea with my mother – completed the St John's pitch in 1974," Peter explains.
"The Corrigan Park pitch was a great surface for a footballing team. The likes of wee Andy had a field day on a good surface. The Queen's University pitches were a big break for him – he did them around 1971 and that was the start of it. St John's might well have been the first club in Antrim to get a Prunty Pitch and it was a brilliant pitch to play on."
The boys of Summerhill
UNSINKABLE McCallin was back on the field by January 29, 1978 when St John's began their quest for the Andy Merrigan Cup.
London champions Kerry Kingdom Gaels provided the opposition in the All-Ireland quarter-final. It was a first foray into the national competition for St John's but they settled quickly and eased past the English visitors 4-9 to 1-8.
After that dominant performance, St John's took on Meath's Leinster champions Summerhill who were routed in the semi-final, again played on Joe Pat's pitch at Corrigan Park.
"My father said it was the best display of football he ever saw from St John's," says Andy.
"I honestly don't remember what I scored. I never remembered at the end of the match what I'd scored – never. I always waited until the next day to read it in the papers!"
The College boys
MUNSTER champions Thomond College were the opponents in the All-Ireland final. Thomond (who also included a now high-ranking GAA official – the highest of all in fact in current president Larry McCarthy (inset) – in their squad) had come through three replays to get the better of Kerry's Austin Stacks at the Munster semi-final stage.
The first meeting had finished 2-6 apiece and the deadlock remained unbroken over two more clashes before the students eventually overcame them with a 3-8 to 2-5 victory at Pairc Uí Chaoimh.
There were no signs of fatigue as Thomond accounted for Cork's Nemo Rangers in the Munster final and a 1-12 to 1-8 victory over Sligo's St Mary's cleared the way for the All-Ireland final against the Belfast side at Croke Park on March 26, 1978.
Total panic
THE final itself turned out to be a damp squib and it ultimately left a sour taste on what had been a superb campaign. Thomond ran out 2-14 to 0-3 winners and Andy says the damage was partly done by the Ulster champions' 11th hour arrival at Croke Park.
"In my opinion, we made a mess of the arrangements," he said.
"The traffic into Dublin from Malahide was horrendous and we arrived into Croke Park 10 minutes before the match – it was total panic."
Peter, who returned to the Ulster final the following year (St John's lost to Monaghan's Scotstown)
and again in 1982 when his native Roslea were beaten by St Gall's, adds: "It wasn't very long after 1977 that college teams weren't allowed to play in the competition any more.
"That Thomond College team had Richie Bell of Mayo, Pat Spillane, Mick Spillane, Brian Talty (Dublin)… It was like a who's-who. They were phenomenal, an incredible team and the scoreline reflects that.
"They were better than us that day although we didn't perform as well as we might have hoped.
"I'm not sure what the problem was with us – nerves shouldn't have been a factor.
"Maybe the occasion got to us but having run up big scores in the quarter-final and the semi-final, maybe there was a degree of over-confidence. But we just didn't appreciate what we were going to meet, although a lot of the St John's boys would have played Thomond College in colleges' football so they'd have known exactly what they had.
"But they deserved to win that day and the scoreline reflects that. The thing about that was that I don't remember that much about the satisfaction of winning the Ulster Club, although I obviously cherish it, what I remember most about
that campaign was losing the All-Ireland final.
"It's the ones you lose that you remember most, I think. When I think of that run, it's the All-Ireland final that jumps into my mind and then you try to salvage something from the rest of the campaign."
