AN electrician by trade, former Down and Ulster hurling goalkeeper Graham Clarke could consider a career in diplomacy post-lockdown.
Tasked with selecting the top Ulster hurlers from his playing days, he wisely avoided controversy, at least within his own club Ballygalget, by not picking any of his club-mates.
“I’ve two brothers on teams, two cousins, three best mates [wisely he doesn’t name them]; there’d be room for no one else on the team! Ballygalget Facebook has had ‘The Best Player You Played With’, all that going on anyway, so for once I thought I’d leave my own club out of it.” Well, almost…
It was also his own decision to limit selection, at least in the starting 15, to one per club, giving him the excuse for why he didn’t pick certain players.
That approach might present other problems but such was the wealth of talent in Ulster in his era that there’s still a phenomenally strong side chosen.
Strong panel, to be precise.
Clarke might also become a marketing man, having chosen 20, whom he bills as ‘20 players I played with over 20 years for 2020’.
“Boys will still be ringing me asking ‘Why didn’t you pick me?!’ These are players from what I call ‘The Casement glory days’, so I didn’t choose some of the younger lads who played near the end of my career.”
As a ’keeper, he had a great perspective on both team-mates and opponents, and even when not on the pitch he had the view as ‘a fan’, either from the stands or the bench.
“I was sub keeper for three, four years behind Noel Keith. I remember going to challenge matches and being the only sub not used – because Down were playing Dublin, Kerry, Laois, Wexford, and Offaly and they would have been very competitive matches. Throwing a 17- or 18-year-old in with those boys wouldn’t have been the done thing.”
When he did claim the number one jersey for Down he played on their last Ulster winning side in 1997, going on to the middle of the last decade – and also represented Ulster regularly in the Railway Cup/Inter-pros.
There were other factors in the men he chose – he’s fond of players being “good under a high ball” – and also added:
“They’re all good team-mates. When you go into a group, a changing room, you don’t want any oul’ nonsense. If you met them Down in Dublin, or at an Antrim League game, they wouldn’t have avoided you. You need camaraderie, I’d have a good relationship with all these boys. There are a few characters, boys you could have a bit of craic with.”
Graham Clarke’s 20 from 20 years for 2020:
1 – Graham Clarke (Ballygalget & Down)
“I actually picked myself - do people do that?”, he wonders. They do, Graham, they do – and it’s a fine decision. Pressed about his own qualities, he replied:
“I was a good striker of ball from a young age; my dad’s a farmer, we’d a big field, and rain, hail, or snow we were thrown outside. I was big into shot-stopping: everyone wanted to be Davy Fitzgerald or Joe Quaid, both brilliant shot-stoppers, so I modelled my game on that. Ger Cunningham was another idol of mine, he had brilliant puck-outs.
2 – Paul McCormack (Keady Lamh Dhearg & Armagh)
He has an All-Ireland medal with the footballers. Very strong and tough. He didn’t play corner-back much with Ulster, would have got a couple of games in the half-back line and for Armagh he would have played centre half-back and around there. But I felt I wanted to get my best player from Armagh who I played with. They started to come later in the 2000s and actually beat us in my very last Ulster Championship game. I always had respect for Paul, he was a good player.
3 – Cormac Donnelly (Ballycastle & Antrim)
The man was just an animal. ‘Magic’ [Gareth Johnston], my own clubman, used to mark him and the pair of them had some battles. Cormac’s career was finished very early [by injury] but my last Ulster game he was full-back and he was something else. Two strong hands. Gregory O’Kane was the manager, told me to do some short puck-outs to Cormac; next thing the ball is about 100 yards down the pitch. He was only young but he was so athletic.
When Antrim ran Cork close in 2010, Liam Watson had a great day – but Cormac Donnelly was absolutely outstanding on Aisake O hAilpin, never gave him a shot that day.
4 – Michael Conway (Swatragh & Derry)
He probably never played left-back much, might have popped up at full-back. Tough, tough, I like a tough full-back line. The brother Liam was the same. Ballygalget prided themselves on that over the years, being rugged and no-nonsense, and Mickey Conway epitomised that. He played a bit of hockey as well and he was a tough, tough man, I have a lot of respect for him.
5 – Karl McKeegan (Cushendall & Antrim)
Probably one of the most decorated players in Ulster, with Antrim and Cushendall. He was a constant, started off and finished up around the same time as me. He played in a lot of positions, strong under the high ball for a smaller man. Played a lot for Ulster. Didn’t look the quickest but read the game well. Cushendall could have had five or six on this team, [Neil] McManus came at the end of my playing days.
6 – Gary Savage (Ballycran & Down)
I had to pick a couple of Down players. ‘Gazza’ was great under the high ball. I played against him and with him a lot. Sean McGuinness used to say to him ‘Gazza, like a pendulum across the back’, he used to have to go between right-half and left half-back. These players played a long time for their counties too. ‘Gazza’ was around from the late Eighties.
7 – Ciaran Herron (Lamh Dhearg & Antrim)
I could never understand how he was so good, Lamh Dhearg were Division Two. Again, massively decorated, he has a load of Ulster Championships. He played a long time for Antrim and then moved up to Derry and played for Kevin Lynch’s.
8 – Jim Connolly (Rossa & Antrim)
Jim would be the same age as me. I actually marked him a couple of times when I was playing outfield for the club, minor and senior matches – but I could never get anywhere near him. Jim was very good under the high ball, a brilliant catcher of the ball
9 – Karl Stewart (St Gall’s & Antrim)
He was something else – again, I could never understand how he was so good as a St Gall’s player, a footballer as well, a talented, talented boy. All these players were regulars on Ulster teams that I was on, mixed it with the best players in Ireland.
10 – Oliver Collins (Lavey & Derry)
Strong under a high ball, took frees, could score from anywhere. Moved around the field, tackled. We beat them in, I think, an Ulster [minor] semi-final when he was full-forward and we won Ulster that year, went on to play Offaly – but Olly Collins always stuck in my head from minor days. A brilliant player throughout my career.
He played the game and never looked as if I was under any pressure. I love that sort of player, probably because I’m a different build, I’m all-action, all go. He just loped across the ground but seemed to have time on the ball.
11 - Gregory O’Kane (Dunloy & Antrim)
Starting off for Ballygalget we were up against a Dunloy team that was just unbelievable. They were a machine. We were top of the Antrim League at times, had great games against Dunloy in the Ulster Championship and Antrim League.
North Antrim is a place the Ards clubs love going to: Loughgiel, Cushendall, Ballycastle, Dunloy, they play a great brand of hurling. I loved the challenge of playing Dunloy. Being a supporter of hurling, there was nothing like watching Dunloy in full flow.
They had brilliant forwards but Gregory was the man who made them tick: his movement, his passing of the ball, he was a great number 11.
12 – Paul Braniff (Portaferry & Down)
He started off his career as a 17-year-old and he was a bit like myself – he couldn’t get any more out of himself. Paul Braniff couldn’t have been any better than he was, he got everything out of himself he could. He’s very highly respected in Down – to have him and ‘Magic’ at the same time was something else. We all should have won a lot more off the back of that. He was a stylist, he was strong.
13 – Brian McFall (St John’s & Antrim)
McFall said the other day that his recovery was in the Whitefort on a Monday! Again, Liam. My brother played right-back for Ballygalget and Down for years and it was some battle between the two of them, they’d have marked each other a lot. McFall would have continued to try to score, score, score.
Just a talented, talented player: could put sidelines over the bar – although he had an added advantage, apparently he was taking sidelines at Casement during the week. When he scored in Casement there was some roar went up, same with the next man…
14 – Geoffrey McGonigle (Kevin Lynch’s & Derry)
I just had to have him in at full-forward. He was in and out of this team because of another guy from his club. He was a powerful bull of a man, low to the ground. I just enjoyed watching him, even when Dungiven were playing Loughgiel or Dunloy in an Ulster game.
Liam Hinphey put up on Twitter his hurling team of the ‘Sunday Game’ era and it made me laugh so much – all these names like Henry Shefflin, Ollie Moran, and then, at number 14:
‘Geoffrey’.
That summed him up for me. He didn’t stray too far from the edge of the ‘square’. In modern hurling your full-forward slips out the field, leaves space for runners – McGonigle didn’t stray too far from 14 metres out – and when he got that ball, he was deadly, because he hit the ball so hard.
15 – Liam Watson (Loughgiel & Antrim)
You have to have Liam Watson on your team. Probably the daddy of them all: speed, strength, power, accuracy. My brother would have marked him a few times, a brilliant player, absolutely fantastic. Like Paul Braniff and McGonigle, he struck the ball like a rocket.
Panellists:
Liam Hinphey was an outstanding player, as are Neil McManus and Arron Graffin, but I didn’t want to pick anyone who was still playing or recently retired.
Johnny Campbell (Loughgiel & Antrim)
Brilliant organiser, brilliant tactically, brilliant brain, brilliant distribution of the ball – class player.
Alistair Elliott (Dunloy & Antrim)
I hate even leaving him out – but I had to get Gregory O’Kane in some way. Alistair Elliott tortured me at U14 Feile one year, when I was 10. They got to the final of Division Two outright, I think, and Alistair Elliott scored five or six goals on me that day. Over the years, I’d say he scored more than any other player against me. Since I started off in Wexford that day he was that good we had to get our best player, Barry Coulter, to go back and mark him as full-back – Barry was our main threat up front. He was just brilliant. Over the course of 20 years he tortured me, he was so elusive.
Noel Sands (Portaferry & Down)
A two- or three-time Allstar nominee for Down, there’s not too many of them around. Absolutely outstanding. I saw these players at first hand, my brother Liam was marking them, that was the only problem [laughs]. Sands was very tough player for such a small man.
Johnny McIntosh (Glenariffe & Antrim)
A brilliant player. A bit younger than me, an outstanding forward, could have done anything with the ball.
Sean Delargy (Cushendall & Antrim)
An absolute flying machine, another constant throughout my career, played for Ulster a lot.
I wouldn’t even call them subs, they’re a panel – and wouldn’t it be great if you had had them going in against Wexford or Dublin or Kilkenny in a Leinster Championship?
Graham Clarke’s 20 from 20 years for 2020:
1 – Graham Clarke (Ballygalget & Down)
2 – Paul McCormack (Keady Lamh Dhearg & Armagh)
3 – Cormac Donnelly (Ballycastle & Antrim)
4 – Michael Conway (Swatragh & Derry)
5 – Karl McKeegan (Cushendall & Antrim)
6 – Gary Savage (Ballycran & Down)
7 – Ciaran Herron (Lamh Dhearg & Antrim)
8 – Jim Connolly (Rossa & Antrim)
9 – Karl Stewart (St Gall’s & Antrim)
10 – Oliver Collins (Lavey & Derry)
11 - Gregory O’Kane (Dunloy & Antrim)
12 – Paul Braniff (Portaferry & Down)
13 – Brian McFall (St John’s & Antrim)
14 – Geoffrey McGonigle (Kevin Lynch’s & Derry)
15 – Liam Watson (Loughgiel & Antrim)
Panellists:
Johnny Campbell (Loughgiel & Antrim)
Alistair Elliott (Dunloy & Antrim)
Noel Sands (Portaferry & Down)
Johnny McIntosh (Glenariffe & Antrim)
Sean Delargy (Cushendall & Antrim)
