DESSIE Mone was bitten by the St Paul’s Ulster Club minor tournament bug watching his older brothers Rory and JP competing in the mid-90s.
When they broke out of Monaghan, the Clontibret minors always gave a good account at the famous west Belfast tournament at Christmas time.
In 1995, the young O’Neill’s reached the final but came up short against Derry champions Loup who were inspired by the likes of Paul McFlynn and Johnny McBride.
Mone, who would go on to enjoy a hugely successful career at both club and county level, got his chance to play at St Paul’s a few years later.
So many great footballers who graced St Paul’s over the last four decades – which quickly became known as the unofficial Ulster club minor championship since its inception in 1982 - never got their hands on the Jimmy McConville Cup.
At the third time of asking, though, Dessie Mone experienced that unique winning feeling on New Years Day 2003.
“Luckily enough, we won three county minors in a row,” recalls Mone. “The first year we played in it [2000], we lost to Ronan Clarke’s team - Pearse Og – in the semi-finals. They gave us an outrageous hiding.
“In 2001, we lost the final by a penalty to Ballinderry [scored by Ronan Devlin] and the following year we came back and won the tournament - so those two previous years set us up nicely for the year we won it. We beat Armagh Harps in the final and they went on to win it the following year.”
For all the minor champions around Ulster, heading up to Belfast over the Christmas period conjured so many emotions.
Ahead of their New Year’s Day final meeting in 2003 with Armagh Harps, the Clontibret boys were somewhat distracted when their coach driver was unable to navigate the tight gates entering the Shaw’s Road venue.
“Our bus was driving in through the gates and one whole side of the coach’s windows were smashed as it collided with the gates,” Mone remembers.
“After the game, we took the cup home and the parents had got together to put black liner bags and masking tape to cover one side of the bus. It was very funny.”
The final itself turned out to be less dramatic than their entrance with the Monaghan champions running out 2-12 to 0-4 winners over Harps.
Captain and man-of-the-match Paul McGuigan notched 1-6 while Tommy Greenan – now Clontribret chairman – grabbed a goal from a speculative ‘45.
Brendan Og McGuinness had a brilliant tournament too, while a 15-year-old substitute Conor McManus came on for a couple of minutes towards the end of the final.
Mone also name-checked Clontibret goalkeeper Darren Rooney – “who is only about 5ft 2in but was brilliant in our semi-final win over Killeeshil”.
About four years later, Mone was walking down a street in Sydney, Australia, and bumped into Sean Morrison, a former Harps player – both men bound by their memories of playing at St Paul’s.
“That’s the first thing we spoke about was the St Paul’s tournament,” says Mone. “You travel halfway around the world and that’s who you bump into!
“We actually had a 20th anniversary celebration night of winning it at the start of this year in the clubhouse where we watched a video of the final, and looked through old photographs and newspaper clippings. That shows you what winning St Paul’s meant to us.
“Til this day, I always keep an eye out for the St Paul’s tournament when it’s on. I’ve some great memories from up there as well as watching my brothers in the mid-90s as a 12-year-old.
This afternoon, the young guns of Four Masters of Donegal – last year’s beaten finalists – will take on Cavan Gaels in an intriguing decider,with the Breffni men enjoying their one and only success back in 1999.
While every county minor champion pursues excellence every Christmas, so do the St Paul’s organisers off the field who have built on the pioneering work of club stalwarts Seamus Murray and Liam McCartan – two men who are no longer with us, but “without their vision and determination” the tournament would have faded from view, according to clubman Conor McCartan, son of Liam.
This New Year’s Day final also feels slightly different insofar as there is no Derry representative. The Oak Leaf clubs have dominated the Ulster minor tournament more than any other county, claiming 18 triumphs since 1982.
Ballinderry (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2008) are tied with four-in-row champions Glen (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) at the top of the roll of honours list at St Paul’s.
Bellaghy (1991, 1994 and 2018) have won three, Dungiven (1990 and 2022) and Loup (1993 and 1995) boast two wins apiece, while Kilrea (2007), Lavey (2019) and Slaughtneil (1998) bring Derry’s haul up to an incredible 18 titles.
“I’ve great memories of the St Paul’s tournament,” says Loup’s double winner Paul McFlynn.
“I was 15 in 93 and came on in most of the games that year, usually at corner-forward. I remember we beat Crossmaglen on the way to the final, who had the McEntees (John and Tony) and Oisin McConville in their team.”
Guided by the inimitable Colum Rocks, Loup put away St Eunan’s, Letterkenny in the decider to win their first Ulster crown.
“In 95, I was part of a minor team that wasn’t expected to win,” McFlynn admits.
The ‘95 St Paul’s tournament is fondly remembered around the Loup for their epic semi-final replay win over Armagh champions Killeavy who’d a young Stevie McDonnell in their ranks.
“We drew with Killeavy with the last kick of the game,” says McFlynn.
“I remember I launched it into the square and Barry Duffy uncharacteristically dropped it. It was the first ball I seen him drop and we toe-poked it to the net to equalise.
“What I loved about St Paul’s was that you played with a bit more freedom. When you emerge as a winner in your own county the shackles come off. Everybody going into it is on a bit of a high because it’s bonus territory.
“We used to love going up there on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day and because the matches were on those particular days made it more special. It was a unique time of year to play football.”
McFlynn adds: “You didn’t want to be out [socialising] during Christmas because you’d have a game at St Paul’s coming up. There was just something about St Paul’s and going into the clubhouse afterwards. It was just unique.
“When you were playing in your own county you never travelled too far but for that you were going up in the bus to Belfast.”
Johnny McBride, who went on to represent Derry with distinction, was just 16 and played full-back in the all-conquering ‘93 team.
Two years later, he was lording it for Loup in midfield as they claimed their second St Paul’s title in three years.
McFlynn, McBride, Brian Lavery, Gary Coleman, Finty Devlin, Finty Martin, Ronan Rocks and Kevin Ryan all experienced the magic of St Paul’s in those years.
“They were great times for the community and great for the players themselves.
“When I was studying up in Belfast you’d go up and watch games and as a neutral you’d follow teams like Slaughtneil and Ardboe. It was great getting out to watch football over Christmas. I remember big crowds going to the games back then.”
Loup certainly made the most of that talented group of minors, many of whom went on to have successful senior careers.
“There was a serious retention rate from those squads,” McFlynn says. “It’s the one thing we’ve always talked about - across those two minor teams we calculated there were 11 or 12 boys who went on to play senior football consistently. Glen are like that too.”
Built on their St Paul’s successes, Loup went on to mine two senior titles in 2003 (as well as an Ulster Club that same season) and 2009.
Current Derry champions Glen are also reaping dividends from their county and provincial minor successes of a decade ago.
Enda Gormley guided the Watty Graham’s to back-to-back Ulster minor titles – in 2011 and 2012 - and Feargal P McCusker took on the baton and delivered two more – 2013 and 2014.
It’s no coincidence that the south Derry club has gone on to win three senior titles in a row – the bedrock of which were those brilliant minor teams that graced St Paul’s.
In winning their first Ulster minor in 2011, Watty Graham’s had eight players who were U16 and three U15s. Three players - Danny Tallon, Cathal Mulholland and Tomas Convery – played in all four winning teams between 2011 and ‘14.
“If you got out of Derry you knew you could do serious business in Ulster,” says Enda Gormley.
“Slaughtneil and Magherafelt were two really good teams at that time. It was great for our players to go up to Belfast and realise that Derry football was strong because we won those first two St Paul’s finals fairly easy.
“For five or six years – from the oldest to the youngest player – the quality in those teams was really, really high. Maybe 10 or 11 of them went on to play county senior football. What I would also say is that they all worked damn hard at it. That was the mindset of that group.”
Gormley says he got just as big a kick out of watching Feargal P McCusker’s minor sides winning in 2013 and 2014.
“You always feared that those young players don’t become as good as you think they could be,” Gormley adds.
“Because of our history [having not won a senior title until 2021] we would have felt we underachieved.
“That’s probably why we were heavy on discipline and working them hard back then. The retention rate was so good among those minors.
“We might have been accused of pushing them too hard but as coaches that’s what we’re proud of most during that era was how many went on to play senior – but they were so driven themselves that they wanted to improve.”
After 41 years, the magic of St Paul’s continues - thanks to the vision of people like Liam McCartan and Seamus Murray and the ceaseless volunteering spirit of a special club.
