EVEN at the very best of times, the wind chill factor at Garvaghey has the ability to take the breath away. On the dark nights as autumn turns to winter, things are cranked up a notch high on the hill.
As Mark Gallagher got ready to leave his Eglish home on Wednesday night, he knew what to expect. Layers were piled on ahead of the final training session ahead of Tyrone masters’ All-Ireland final date with Dublin tomorrow.
It’s been 22 years since he swapped the stifling heat and humidity of Florida for not-so-sunny south-east Tyrone, yet the shock to the system hasn’t quite gone away.
“The first time I came over here was on an open-ended ticket, stayed for 10 months, loved it.
“I trained with Eglish during that time, played football, just really enjoyed it. It was ’95, we had a great summer that year, and I remember thinking I could put up with the winters if the summers were like this.
“And it’s been winter ever since…”
Luckily for him, the sun is still shining on the Indian summer of an unlikely and unexpected Gaelic football career.
Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Gallagher grew up playing volleyball on the beaches nearby, or just up the road in Miami. An early fascination with soccer soon turned to American football and basketball when high school came. From a family of Chicago Bulls fans, he idolised Michael Jordan.
He did not idolise Peter Canavan. He had never heard of Peter Canavan. Or Kevin McCabe. Not even Frank McGuigan. Despite his grandfather always reminding him of their Irish roots, Gaelic football might as well have been played on the moon.
That was until, one day, a man from Trim in Meath - a friend of Gallagher’s father – enquired if he had any sons who fancied trying their hand with the St Patrick’s GAA club. The young man didn’t have to be asked twice.
“I was 20 at the time, I tried it and loved it straight away. Because I already played basketball and volleyball, there was just something that sort of drew me in from the off.”
It was through St Pat’s that he first met future brother-in-law Barry Fay and, in turn, his now wife, Leona.
“They both played football out in Florida too, and then Leona played camogie for Tyrone for years… even up to this year in fact, she was still togging out in goals.”
That first visit in 1995, the year Tyrone lost the All-Ireland final to Dublin, wasn’t designed to be a test run. Yet within three years Mark and Leona were married, and by ’99 had set up home in Eglish.
“There was just something about the community here… they welcomed you straight in. Even for me, coming from Florida, you were one of them straight away.
“Where I had beaches before, now I have rolling hills and beautiful countryside. It’s a bit of a difference.”
His natural athleticism and a growing understanding of the game saw Gallagher become a stalwart of the Eglish senior side, operating between wing half-back and half-forward, still lining out until he was 37.
When the winter months rolled around, he would go back to what he had known since childhood.
“That’s when basketball takes over,” says Gallagher, a point guard for the Dungannon-based Tyrone Towers.
“So it’s not that you’re super-fit, it’s just that you’re not getting unfit. One sport rolls into each other that way, and they complement each other very well.”
As a result, the 48-year-old still regularly lines out for Eglish reserves alongside good friend Donal McAnallen, but it is with the Tyrone masters that the pair – the entire panel – have enjoyed an unforgettable ride in recent months.
On the advice of basketball coach Aidan McGahan, Gallagher first got involved with the masters eight years ago, when Peter ‘The Great’ was still strutting his stuff in county colours.
“I just showed up in Carrickmore one night and that was it…”
In 2018 they reached the All-Ireland final too, going down to the Dubs. This time, though, things feel different.
The involvement of All-Ireland winners Ciaran Gourley, Ryan McMenamin, Conor Gormley and Stephen O’Neill – who looks to have lost little of the old magic - has brought an extra edge.
“I picked him up in one the training drills a couple of times,” says Gallagher, “yeah… it didn’t end well for me.”
Yet while the big names may draw their fair share of attention, it is the quality and depth of panel that has taken Damien Leonard’s men to another level as they prepare to battle with Val Andrews’s Sky Blues once more.
And, with Tyrone bringing Sam Maguire back to the county less than two months ago, Gallagher is hoping that success when they run out in Drumlish, Longford tomorrow afternoon.
“Even at training tonight, there was probably 37 or 38 there, a real good crew out.
“The majority of guys have all played against each other, so everybody knows everybody for the most part, and if you didn’t know them you’d get to know them after a few weeks.
“If anything, you probably have a chance to enjoy it all more now, at this stage of your playing days. There’s a real good camaraderie - you can tell everybody is just really enjoying it.”
