“When Inniskeen won the Intermediate All-Ireland (2006), I went up to the highest piece of land, up there.”
James Meegan, 83 years young, points out the conservatory window of the house belonging to his son, Eoin.
“I went up and put the Inniskeen flag up. A fella from across the road asked: ‘What’s that flag doing up there? That’s not Inniskeen land. I’m going up to take that down.”
“And I said: ‘Well I’m from Inniskeen. I own this land. So you can go on up there and try and take it down.”
Tradition is hereditary here, inescapable. Even the great Patrick Kavanagh was coaxed into a sense of sporting attachment on his ‘stony, grey soil’.
Perhaps he began the era of the wandering goalkeeper. Venturing back, rather than forward, leaving a free house. James recalls his own father saying it was the lemonade stand on his agenda.
In any case, Killeevan took full advantage. Open goal, a crucial score, Inniskeen defeat.
Kavanagh was verbally and physically reminded of his error. He scrambled his way off the team bus, and used whatever athleticism he had to hare down the now defunct railway line alongside Grattan Park.
Perhaps that was the true inspiration for “On an apple ripe September morning”:
“And I thought of the wasps’ nest in the bank
And how I got chased one day
Leaving the drag and the scraw-knife behind,
How I covered my face with hay.”
The scraw-knife his football boots, the wasps humming in disapproval on that same team bus he had left behind in a hurry.
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Wee County. Wee country. Small world.
This past week or so would have been interesting for Tommy Durnin. Louth’s win over Meath was played on Monaghan soil, on the grounds of his adopted club, Inniskeen Grattans.
Next up he takes on teammates Andrew Woods, Seán Jones and newcomer to the county scene, Ciarán McNulty.
In the Meegan household, it starts off civil, wishing Tommy and Louth all the best.
But the intricacies of rivalry right on the border line smack you like a slap on a winter’s morn’. Eoin Meegan’s house is technically in County Louth. He says it through gritted teeth.
Inniskeen, Monaghan in that order.
The Intermediate double he claimed in 2000 ranks high above all his achievements in white and blue. His father donned the same club and county jerseys before him. These two men are steeped in football.
They are steeped in their own identity, dating back to 1888 when the Grattans represented Monaghan in the Ulster Championship. Sure enough, they won it.
American psychologist Dr Phil once quoted his own father: “Never miss a good opportunity to keep your mouth shut”. Two ears, one mouth and all that.
There’s no questions to be asked as the memoirs tumble into yarns and stories. You couldn’t possibly feel any further away from the enemies of County Louth, only metres away in reality:
“They talk too much. If they won the toss they’d be talking about winning the All-Ireland!”, says James.
“I worked in Louth for 36 years. If Monaghan won, there wouldn’t be a word about football.
“One Sunday I went to Mass in Dundalk, I got a nudge from behind, expecting a ‘peace be with you’. Instead I got, ‘yous haven’t won Sam yet’.”
Eoin chimes in with a tale then of the Monaghan-Kerry clash of 2018. Michelle, his wife, was outside washing windows on a sunny day when The Farney looked like making hay.
Then, out of the blue, a roar from across the road. Michelle knew something was up, and rushed in to the telly and her dejected husband.
David Clifford’s goal was cheered louder in Darver and Dundalk than Cahersiveen and Castleisland.
Now one Tommy Durnin is caught in the middle of it all, following a move from Junior outfit Westerns in 2021:
“Even from Tommy started playing for us, the Louth boys would say: ‘Only for Tommy yous wouldn’t have won anything.
“We do say to send the rest of them up the road and we’ll send them back as better players too!”.
The Meegans reckon there was no shortage of competition for the midfielder. South Monaghan sides Killanny, Carrickmacross and Magheracloone were all “after him”.
Mickey Harte had been spotted at Grattan Park on a few occasions shortly before the transfer.
Durnin had been suffering from a slump in form. He had been dropped by Louth. Westerns’ early championship exits were doing him no favours.
In the end he made the right call, if not the easy one, as he has previously stated himself::
“Has it helped me? Definitely.
“Your season is over and you get comfortable. You’re not pushing yourself. You’re not going to the gym three nights a week.
“You’re having a few beers at the weekend, you’re living a comfortable life.”
Comfortable wouldn’t do, not for the man who is currently Louth’s most experienced player - 111 appearances and counting.
When Harte moved on, it was Durnin’s house where the players assembled. A little detail, but a large one:
“We know where we are. We know where we want to be. Mickey and them are gone, that’s their decision. That’s grand, we had three years.
“But the players have to push this.”
Sam Mulroy described Ger Brennan’s appointment as one All-Ireland winner in for another.
And Louth haven’t shown any signs of slowing.
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In one sense, Tommy Durnin is the third coming. Eoin waxes lyrical about the great Davy Byrne, a star of Monaghan’s 1988 Ulster winning side.
Before him, it was Joey Byrne, and Monaghan’s All-Ireland Junior title in 1956.
“Proper midfielder”, “traditional” and a “fielder” are some of the words thrown around by James about all three, but even from a story a few years ago against Scotstown, it’s clear how a talisman has grown and grown.
“There was some of the locals saying: ‘You’re better with your own’, but there was never any ill feelings with the players. Tommy’s a lovely fella and he settled in no problem.
“A few years ago against Scotstown, he caught a massive ball in the middle of the field. A Scotstown fella asked me ‘who’s that fella?’ and I says ‘Tommy Durnin’.
“’That’s not an Inniskeen name.’
I says: ‘No, that’s a Louth name, he plays for Louth.
“He says: ‘Jaysis that’s not saying much for Louth.’
That’s what an outsider is up against.
Last year, Durnin was lording it in the middle against the same opposition. Scotstown pipped Inniskeen in the county final and went on to an Ulster club SFC final.
Inniskeen had actually beaten them in the first round of last year’s championship, while John McEntee’s charges claimed a Senior League title.
That one meant a lot, considering the fact one of Monaghan’s biggest clubs haven’t won a senior championship since 1948.
Durnin was a key part of that, and Eoin is a firm believer that “Tommy improved us and we improved him”:
“Ardee were looking for him. His only way to get to Ardee was through Monaghan and back to Louth, but he stuck with us.”
“He wouldn’t have set the world alight in his first year. Every club match he played in Monaghan, he was playing against a county player. That would have brought him on a lot.”
With Monaghan having lost eight on the hop, they remain favourites this weekend, but there’s an air of unease in the county.
James believes that “Vinny Corey is the man”, while also accepting the challenge Louth will bring:
“Louth would be a big, physical side, but that (Sam) Mulroy wouldn’t be overly aggressive. He’s a bit soft.”
Son Eoin cuts in:
“Ah, he got an awful wrap against Meath. I was actually walking across the pitch after the game. A Meath fella had obviously tramped across him, he had three stud marks across him.
Typically enough, James gets the last word in:
“That’s Meath for ya. With Liverpool, you’ll never walk alone. With Meath, you’ll never walk again!”.
In the middle of all the antagonism, magnified by a season-defining match, therein lies the solitary, isolated place that Monaghan and Louth can shake hands and agree.
Tommy Durnin would be glad of such a place, a safe haven in his football career forever on the frontline.
But in two small counties, each backboned by the GAA, there’s The Arctic Monkeys and ‘A Certain Romance’ about it all.
All roads lead to Clones, and the latest chapter in the intertwined story.
As for Durnin, he won’t be short of support. Less of a crossroads, more spaghetti junction, all in good heart and a good healthy rivalry that has resurrected his career: