Brendan Crossan sifts through the highs and lows of 2022 in an unforgettable year of local and international sport...
Best road trip…
PROBABLY the best thing about the split season is The Irish News sports team get the chance to sample early round club championship games, teams and venues we might never have seen otherwise.
Ballyvoy was my favourite road trip in 2022 for an Antrim SHC group game between cheek-by-jowl neighbours Ballycastle and Carey Faughs. Just beyond Ballycastle, the road bobs and weaves out to Carey Faughs home place, a snug ground surrounded by beautiful green fields. Ballycastle won the bragging rights on the day to progress to the knock-out stages.
Best post-match chippie…
Clear winner here. Skippers in Dungiven’s main street. Through the evening haze, it appeared like an oasis in the desert a few hours after the Derry SFC final between Glen and Slaughtneil.
Best parking space at Croke Park…
WITH the vast expanse of Clonliffe College closed, car-parking for big games at Croke Park was a nightmare. My spot is a closely guarded secret but it’s somewhere above the Skylon on a side street, with no pay-on-display that never lets you down and is far from the prying eyes of those pesky Dublin clampers who love nothing more than snaring a northern registration.
Now you see me, now you don’t…
NEWRY City unveiled new signing Jamie Clarke with the hope being that the former Armagh forward could juggle both his soccer and Gaelic football commitments with Crossmaglen Rangers. He was wrong.
Just as the club championship kicked in, Clarke briefly disappeared from Crossmaglen’s starting line-up. It proved impossible for the mercurial GAA ace to do both.
So, Clarke’s soccer career took a back seat, ‘Cross won their first senior championship since 2019, with the restored 33-year-old playing a pivotal role. Once they exited from the Ulster series, Clarke returned to Newry where he’s played some fine games in midfield for the Premiership new boys.
Most elusive interviewees…
THE Cliftonville Ladies were impossible to nail down the day after their historic first Premier title success after a couple of near-misses. Thanks, Carsy, for returning my call.
A Friday afternoon in Cultúrlann…
THE conversation went something like this.
Brian White: ‘So, what do you want to talk about?’
Me: ‘Whatever you want. You decide the parameters of this interview. You’re the editor-in-chief.’
For the next couple of hours, the former Antrim manager and proud O’Donovan Rossa man took me – and the readers - on an unforgettable, emotionally-charged journey of hardship, the Long Kesh cages, comradeship, love, loss, and a bit of football. Through everything, big ‘Whitey’ is still standing – and is still exhilarated by life.
Remembering a Tyrone legend…
THE full, awesome loss of Tyrone hurler Damian Casey was acutely felt before the Tailteann Cup semi-final between Sligo and Cavan when his name and picture appeared on the big screen at Croke Park.
Walking through a childhood…
MEETING Northern Ireland international and Cliftonville player Marissa Callaghan just a few months before she led the Northern Ireland women's team in the Euro 2022 finals, and walking through the streets of her home place of Divis.
Towards the end of the interview, the reader got an insight into her incredible journey.
“I’m so proud of where I come from and so lucky I had the childhood that I had, and being from the streets of Divis,” Marissa said.
“I never wanted for anything. We didn’t have money but we always had the necessities. We were out on the street playing every day. You had no worries. You were a child and that was it.”
Worst refereeing decision…
PLAYING the second half of the Antrim SFC quarter-final between Creggan Kickhams and O’Donovan Rossa when the St Enda’s pitch was more suited to ducks than football. Another deluge of rain at the half-time interval should have rendered the pitch unplayable. How the game finished is still hard to believe.
A genius at work…
WATCHING Limerick’s Gearoid Hegarty in the first half of the All-Ireland final was an absolute privilege. Just a wonderful display that really was from another planet.
Farewell to a legend…
BRIAN Cody stepped down as Kilkenny manager after 24 seasons having guided the Cats to an astonishing 11 All-Ireland titles. An amazing man whose Kilkenny side left everything on the field in last season’s brilliant All-Ireland final against Limerick.
Best handshake…
WITHOUT doubt, Brian Cody not letting go of Henry Shefflin’s hand after Galway toppled the Cats in the Leinster Championship. The amount of column inches and air-time given over to this icy handshake were well and truly worth it.
Nicest gesture…
NIFL official Neil Coleman sorted out League Cup final accreditation for my daughter and I at desperately short notice in March of this year. It was Rosa’s first trip to Windsor Park where she had a stunning view of Cliftonville’s incredible comeback against Coleraine. In the press room afterwards, Neil handed Rosa the match ball as a keepsake of her day.
The changing face of a serial winner…
IN the ‘Noughties’, Jack O’Connor could sometimes be a cranky manager to interview. Probably understandable when you consider Tyrone always seemed to have Kerry’s number in the All-Ireland series. Fast-forward to July, on the eve of Kerry’s All-Ireland final with Galway, and you immediately sense how much he’s mellowed in the intervening years.
“I think the older you get, the more philosophical you become,” he said. “You see the woods from the trees and you say to yourself: ‘What’s the point in getting all uptight here.’
“If you go into training not appearing to enjoy it, all anxious, worried and being cranky, that infects the atmosphere around the training. A huge thing that I concentrate on is making sure I’m in good shape, that I’m well rested, that I’m fit. I go into training almost as if I’m ready to train myself if you know what I mean and showing enthusiasm.
“I think that’s the best message you can give to players – ‘This is the best time of your lives. Where else would you want to be?’"
A pre-season you wouldn’t want to be within a mile radius of…
ROBERT Emmett’s, Slaughtneil.
The Ulster final: Compelling or a bore-fest…
ABSOLUTELY compelling.
Sean O’Shea or Rian O’Neill’s free…
RIAN O’Neill’s by a country mile given that it was to keep Armagh in their All-Ireland quarter-final with Galway.
Best goal (soccer)…
NEYMAR’S magnificent goal against World Cup quarter-final opponents Croatia. Probably only 50 per cent fit, the Brazilian attacker played two wall passes before firing the ball into the roof of Croatia’s net. When the move started, there didn’t seem to be any holes in Croatia’s defensive set-up. Neymar’s goal had leadership, unbelievable skill, composure and determination.
Best goal (hurling)…
THAT would be Keelan Molloy’s unstoppable run at Croke Park as Dunloy saw off favourites St Thomas’s of Galway in the All-Ireland Club semi-final. A brilliant goal by a brilliant hurler. A nice catch and hand-off by Nigel Elliott too.
Best goal (Gaelic football)…
RORY Grugan’s corker of a strike in the opening seconds of Armagh’s All-Ireland Qualifier joust with Donegal. Rian O’Neill’s ball in was beautiful, Grugan’s catch even better. And the finish was sublime.
Save of the century…
EMILIANO Martinez’s incredible save to deny French striker Randal Kolo Muani right at the end of stoppage time in extra-time of the World Cup final. Pure instinct saw the Argentine keeper advance and spread himself, with Muani’s low drive being stopped by Martinez’s left boot. In that moment, Argentina were destined to lift the World Cup.
Not winning with grace…
EMILIANO Martinez’s goading of Kylian Mbappe in the days after Argentina’s World Cup final win over France.
Best penalty takers…
THE CARGIN men were on the money in their nerve-shredding Ulster Club quarter-final penalty shoot-out win over Glenties at Corrigan Park. Michael McCann, Tomas McCann, Pat Shivers and Cahir Donnelly were nerveless from the spot while Ciaran Thompson and Dermot ‘Brick’ Molloy missed theirs in one of the best games of the year.
Cargin’s unsung hero…
KEVIN McShane popped up in the seventh minute of stoppage-time to palm home a goal to force Cargin’s Ulster Club tie with Glenties to extra-time, and it was the same man who swung over a ridiculous equaliser from a tight angle. Wonderful stuff.
Tipping our hats to the over-30s…
KIERAN Close, Tomas, Mick and Gerard McCann, Kevin O’Boyle, Justy Crozier, James Laverty, Paul Finlay, Ryan Carson, Eoin Bradley, Patsy Bradley, Paul Shiels and indeed any other member of the 30-club who preach to us that there is more to Gaelic Games than GPS stats. Keep preaching, lads.
Best putdown…
IN promoting his autobiography, Martin O’Neill took part in a Q&A evening with Celtic favourite John Hartson. O’Neill said: “I know your lovely family is here but I have to tell them you were the laziest player I ever managed. I shouted at you during one game: ‘John, get warmed up, you’re coming off!’”
Loyalty matters…
ONE of the most insightful interviews of the year was with junior footballer Piaras Donaghy. Not only was he one of the driving forces behind north Belfast club Pearse’s winning an Antrim junior championship, he'd resisted the temptation of leaving the club that made him to join one of the bigger clubs in west Belfast - a prevailing trend in the city.
“I never sought recognition from anybody else other than the people in my area and in my team,” he told The Irish News. “It was representing where we’re from. As I got older I wanted to show people that we are good enough, that we should be taken seriously, we are a Gaelic club and that’s the main thing. It’s not so much about success, we value our club and our club principles and ethos and our community more than we value success.”
Donaghy collected a fully deserved Antrim GAA Allstar in 2022.
Catching up with ‘Grimbo’…
WHERE does time go? I met Armagh’s All-Ireland winning coach Paul Grimley in the Armagh City Hotel to mark the 20th anniversary of his county’s All-Ireland triumph against Kerry. In a couple of heartfelt sentences, Grimley explained exactly how tight that Armagh group was and how he cared for all of them like a father would for his son.
Just before the All-Ireland final with Kerry began, Grimley remembers: “You were thinking: ‘Jesus, let none of them be the cause of a defeat. Let them all play well.’
“You’ve got your arms around each other in those few moments before the final, just before going into battle; everybody had each other’s back. Standing for the national anthem we were one...”
Most honest interview…
RONAN O’Neill and I agreed to meet in Dungannon back in January as soon as he returned from Tyrone’s team holiday to mark their All-Ireland success of 2021. It was on the holiday, O’Neill told his team-mates that he was calling it a day.
On the eve of the All-Ireland final against Mayo, O’Neill didn’t make the squad. In the interview, O’Neill articulated the absolute devastation he felt at missing out.
“I got into the car and burst out crying. I was in a bad way. I got home and went straight to my bed. Next day the school was giving me a send-off and I didn’t want to be there… In the changing room before the game it was hard and I was thinking: ‘I’d just love to be one of those boys togging out. I imagined all week that I would come on and kick a point, do something in the game, and that was taken away.”
The man with the Midas touch…
MALACHY O’Rourke – who else.
Knowing how to lose…
IT was a mark of the Kilcoo players in how they dealt with the Ulster final defeat to Glen. They could have made their way off the field as soon as Conor Carville’s speech was concluded. Instead, they sought out the victors and congratulated them. They were far more generous than they needed to be after suffering defeat.
Moments that stay with you…
MICKEY Moran kissing the Croke Park turf after guiding Kilcoo to the Promised Land. There was also a lovely spiritual symmetry seeing Patrick Morrison involved, son of the late John Morrison who was Moran’s side-kick for so many years.
Best Loachra Gael programme…
Terence McNaughton’s life story. Funny. Emotional. Authentic.
Never forgotten…
THE late Frankie Wilson who passed away in October after a battle with cancer.
I played with Frankie for a brief time at Cliftonville Olympic back in the early 90s. He was a smashing left back, full of fun and generosity.
Frankie would go on to have an impressive Irish League playing career and his boundless charisma and knowledge ensured that he would be a brilliant success in the dugout.
A super Gaelic footballer with Lamh Dhearg and Antrim, Frankie made a difference – a positive difference - wherever life took him. The desperate sadness is that he had so much more to give in life, but he lived in a way that we all can learn from – with ceaseless energy and passion and with a constant smile on his face.
What’s your 'why'…
ON the eve of Antrim’s Joe McDonagh final with Kerry, captain Eoghan Campbell explained how the loss of his father, Tommy, had removed his ‘why’.
In a candid interview in the Dunsilly changing rooms, the Cushendall hurler said: “Darren Gleeson’s thing is: ‘Why do you do it?’ Probably my ‘why’ was my father.
“I’d probably say it’s lessened a bit with my father not being there. Obviously my mother and my father’s two sisters take her absolutely everywhere. They’ve been to Kerry and they’d drive to New York if they could.
“But it is different, it’s different not having him there. The ‘why’ probably isn’t the same but I still take it very seriously, I have an ambition to win but it’s definitely not the same.”
Standing on the steps of Hogan with the Joe McDonagh Cup, Eoghan Campbell held the Joe McDonagh Cup aloft – doing it for others who couldn’t be there.
An inspiration…
I HAD the privilege of interviewing champion swimmer Bethany Firth where she went into detail of her learning disability of short-term memory loss.
“Before coming up to this event, my mum’s been talking to me and giving me wee cues: ‘Remember you did this. This is what happened at the Commonwealths...’
“But, say, tomorrow I won’t know this again. It’s wee things that people don’t see daily. For instance, my husband will leave me little messages around the house just to remind me of certain things, leaving notes, and things I need to do today. People don’t see this because you can come to an event and you chat away, they don’t see what you’ve been through that morning or all those other things.”
Farewell to Glenswilly’s finest…
MICHAEL Murphy dropped the bombshell of his inter-county retirement last month. A truly wonderful Gaelic footballer and peerless leader, his contribution to Donegal for more than a decade was summed up best by Brendan Devenney: “If you cut Michael Murphy in half, he would be number one and number two.”
The heartbreak and ecstasy…
YOU’D go a long way to see a more dramatic finish to a game than last season’s Antrim SFC semi-final between Aghagallon and Portglenone. John McKeever’s Portglenone side held commanding leads in normal time and extra-time and were the better team. But they still left the door ajar for Aghagallon’s Adam Loughran who smashed home the winner with the last kick of the game. Within a matter of feet of each other, you saw the physical manifestation of winning and losing. McKeever was in a crouched position in tears, while Loughran was being lifted by his team-mates in jubilation. Dunsilly saw some unbelievable finishes in 2022.
Fairytale ending…
IT was written in the stars for Lionel Messi to lift the World Cup. After suffering so much heartbreak on the World Cup stage, dating back to 2006, the 35-year-old guided Argentina to football’s biggest prize with a string of outrageous displays in Qatar. The undisputed GOAT.
