CO'K: What do you remember of your debut?
RC: “It was in 2003 against Wexford up in Lavey, when Derry were playing Division One. I don’t mind much of it. I think I came on wing-half or centre-half forward. I think we were well beaten. I can’t remember much detail but it’s a day I’ll never forget either, making my debut for my county straight out of minor, playing with boys like Ollie Collins and Emmett McKeever. It was a special day.”
Those were heady times for Derry hurling?
“It was a great time for Derry hurling, winning those back-to-back Ulsters and they were still playing Division One hurling the first year or two I was up. It was a nice introduction to get to play the likes of Wexford, Cork and Tipperary. I’ve seen the first tier and the fourth tier while playing. Getting to play at that elite level as a young boy, it was a privilege.”
Did the best player you ever played against come from that period?
“I was lucky enough to play for Ulster five or six times as well, and I marked Tommy Walsh around 2007. It was down in Parnell Park, I was wing-forward. I was happy enough, I got a couple of points off him.”
Who was the best player you played with?
“I’d have to say Ollie Collins. I saw that video on YouTube of them against Offaly in Croke Park [2000 All-Ireland quarter-final] and he was immense. He had everything. He could catch, strike, run - he was everything a hurler needed to be at that time.”
You’d won an All-Ireland minor football, so why go down the hurling route?
“I think I played three seasons at senior football but I was getting runs out here and there. It wasn’t really my cup of tea sitting on a bench and coming on. That’s maybe part of the reason for finishing up with Derry hurlers now too. That might sound a wee bit selfish but at 34 years of age, there’s other things I could be doing. Back then it was an easy decision – I could sit on the bench for the footballers, or be one of the main players for the hurlers. I’d just rather be playing. The biggest achievement in my career was winning that All-Ireland minor. It seems like a blink of an eye and now the whole thing’s finished up.”
On the face, Derry hurling’s been on a downhill trajectory since then. Was it tough to keep going for 15 years?
“I suppose it was easy when you were playing Division One. You had everyone rowing in behind you and you had the best hurlers in the county playing, boys like Henry Downey had just finished playing football, and the likes of Geoffrey [McGonagle] too. It kind of went downhill after they retired, a lot of them were the same age bracket and there’d been very little come through behind them. Myself, Liam, Kevin, Conor Quinn came in around ’03 or ’04 and been there since. Hopefully there’s a new batch coming behind us.”
How does the way Derry hurling was viewed inside and outside the county compare now to when you started?
“When I started, I’d just come out playing three years of both minor football and hurling for the county. It was an honour to play either. The more you played, you saw it was a second class sport in the county, which was new to me. I loved playing for Derry, no matter what code it was. As you went on and we went down levels, boys lost interest a lot handier than they would have playing football. It was just disappointing that if we’d had a full commitment from the best hurlers in the county, we could have had a Christy Ring or two.”
What’s been the biggest highlight of the 15 years?
“There mightn’t have been many medals but I made a lot of friends down the years, in my own county and in other counties. That’s something I’ll bring with me for the rest of my life. I’ve probably had more low points than highlights. Last year finishing up in Croke Park and getting a couple of points was probably a highlight.”
Low that stands out is losing a Christy Ring quarter-final to London in 2012 - they went on to win it, it seemed to be sitting there to be won?
“That’s up there. Personally, I had one of my worst games, I was taken off at half-time and I was very disappointed in myself. To watch London go on and win it was even more gutting. We didn’t perform and that was a major disappointment. Losing to Antrim by a point in the 2014 Ulster final when I was captain as well - we had a man sent off and he later had it rescinded, and it was never a red card in my eyes. Getting as far as the Christy Ring final was nice, but Kerry were a level above us that day and that whole year.”
Was it in your head that there are few perfect ways to go out, and winning the Nicky Rackard in Croke Park was as good as it might get?
“I’d been thinking about retiring for a few years. I picked up a few injuries through my career and every winter it was getting harder to commit. I just felt it was the right time. I know it’s maybe not the one I wanted but it will have to do at this stage. I honestly think if we’d been playing at that higher level last year, we would have given Antrim or Carlow a good run for it. There’s no reason why they can’t win it this year.”
Commitment wise, how much has it changed?
“I was one of the boys that was always at training, I hated missing, but the way it is going now, the boys are expected to be in the gym 3, 4, 5 nights a week and then the pitch twice as well if they want to compete. Collie [McGurk] had a very sensible approach, we only trained together one night a week until Nicky Rackard last year. I just don’t think the legs or the mind could do it anymore. I’ve been around that long, I think I’ve given everything I can. The game’s suited now to the smaller, faster, fitter boys rather than catching and striking, which were my two strong points. I never claimed to be the fittest or fastest.”
Did you enjoy the gym work?
“Nah. I didn’t like the running or the gym work. There are boys that love it. I was more about catching and striking. I said if I was coaching, I’d tell people three things you need to play hurling are to be able to catch the ball, strike it, and run. I had two of them and tried to work on them. That maybe held me back from playing a wee bit longer at a higher level.”
Were you tempted to stay on by the lure of a higher class of hurling in the Christy Ring?
“Definitely. I’ll be a bit disappointed at myself not going back if they do win the Christy Ring, but I’d be absolutely delighted at the same time. I’d love to see Derry get it. I’d been speaking to Collie after Hallowe’en and said I wasn’t sure what my commitment would be. He gave me until after Christmas to see. I told him I’d go a Saturday morning a week before Christmas. I’d the alarm set, the bag packed the night before and I was woke up to go, but I just didn’t have the heart to get out of bed and go to it. That was my mind telling me ‘you’ve had enough, let it go’.”
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Career achievements
1 x All-Ireland minor football championship (2002)
2 x Ulster minor football championships (2000, 2002)
1 x Ulster minor hurling championship (2001)
2 x Nicky Rackard Cup (2006, 2017)
1 x Christy Ring Cup finalist (2015)
1 x Christy Ring star (2015)
5 x Ulster Poc Fada winner
6 x represented Ulster in inter-provincial championships
1 x Derry senior hurling club championship
1 x Derry intermediate club football championship
