YELLOW and green, red and black too – those colours will always be part of John McGovern. Green and white hoops are on the horizon. For now, though, the blue and white of Dungannon Swifts is all he’s thinking about.
Helping the Tyrone team to take the Irish Cup off holders Cliftonville this Saturday would be akin to winning the Down SFC with his club Ballyholland Harps, and right up there alongside the Ulster U20 title and Tailteann Cup triumphs he has already achieved with his county.
Southern giants Shamrock Rovers are showing interest in the lively forward, but any transfer talk or thoughts will be put off until next week at the earliest, he insists:
“100 per cent. Whenever you have something as big as an Irish Cup final, I think that’s one thing you have to pick to focus on for now and worry about anything else after that. I think that’s what myself and the rest of the team have been doing.”
The 22-year-old helped his county seal Gaelic football’s second tier Championship – the Tailteann Cup – last summer, and won the Ulster U20 title in 2023, but he’d place the Irish Cup alongside those trophies in his estimation:
“I think from achievements so far in my career, an Irish Cup would definitely be up there. I’ve won an Ulster for Down under 20s.
“I’ve won a Tailteann Cup with Down seniors as well, but I think an Irish Cup with a team like Dungannon, who’ve only ever previously been in at once, would be unbelievable because I’d be writing myself into the history books of the club too. Yeah, it’d definitely be up there.”
“Obviously in Down you have such dominance from Kilcoo and Burren in previous years, so it would be quite similar to Ballyholland going all the way and winning a championship final.
“But I think for anyone to get to a final, it has to be deserved and this season I think Dungannon have shown that we deserve to be where we are.
“We deserve to be in the top six [they actually finished fourth, that spot sealed by McGovern’s winning goal against Crusaders last Saturday] and we deserve to be in an Irish Cup final and, fingers crossed, we can take the trophy home.”
McGovern was one of a dozen from that Down U20 team of two years ago to graduate to the Mourne county’s senior set-up under Conor Laverty and he could have been playing in the Sam Maguire Cup this summer – but opted for soccer instead.
“It was a tough decision,” admits McGovern. “I’ve played Gaelic all my life and I’ve played soccer all my life too, but it sort of came to the stage where, whenever you’re playing them both at a senior level, the demands of both, they clash too much with each other.
“I think from being recognised, even at underage Northern Ireland levels for soccer, there was more of nearly a career path to go down that way.
“I would never ever close the door on going back with Down because I’ve loved it. I’ve played underage development squads, I’ve won underage titles, so just at this moment in time, I think, for myself, sticking to soccer is my priority.”
Swifts boss Rodney was the decisive factor in switching solely to soccer, confirms McGovern: “Obviously coming out of Newry I was out of contract and I was a free agent.
“Rodney, whenever he was at Glentoran, I was chatting to him and he had real interest in me then. Whenever I got chatting to him, obviously at the start of this season, it was a no-brainer.
“I knew I was going to play and even with such a quick chat, whenever I met him for a coffee, I knew that he was a good people’s person by just talking to him. So, that sort of persuaded me to come and sign for Dungannon.”
The Swifts’ fluid football appealed too, he acknowledges: “I think we’ve done well throughout the season with our style of play. We’ve been credited for having a good style of football and playing good football throughout the league this year, but that’s credit to Rodney. As I said before, he’s got players that fit into that system of playing.”
McGovern points to the blend of youth and experience which has matched the Swifts’ best ever league finish (two consecutive fourth places under the management of McAree’s dad Joe):
“I think it’s the mix of having such a good manager, he’s a people person. He understands all the players very well and you have a mix of young players like myself, Adam Glenny, Stevie Scott, Tomas Galvin.
“You have a young group and then you mix it with the experience like Gael Bigirimana, Leo [Alves], Keelan Dillon, James Knowles, just to name a few. You have such a good group of players that can play together and fit the system.”
“We’ve done really well throughout the league and Rodney said whenever we started our Irish Cup run, ‘You win five games, you win an Irish Cup’ and I think that’s sort of been in our mind every game. We’re four steps on the way and we’ve one more to go.”
His own recovery from a bad injury several years ago could take him on a journey to England or Scotland yet, never mind southern Ireland, but for now his only thoughts are on Belfast this weekend:
“I think I’ve bounced back from my ankle injury and, touch wood, I’ve stayed injury-free the majority of this season. For now the main focus is an Irish Cup final and any external noise or interest is put on hold until that’s over.”
