WHEN the Warrior’s Code first won that big Derry News/ County Derry Post contract, the suits in charge freely admitted that while the wages wouldn’t been great, I’d get to see the world.
And they were true to their word. As a journalist covering all varieties and flavours of sports – football, GAA, rugby, basketball and more - every week brings a new adventure. From Dungiven to Bellaghy, from Judges Road to the Brandywell. And from Brolly Park in Glack to the Piggery Ridge in the Creggan – I really have seen the world.
Last weekend was a point in case. Sunday was one of the biggest days in the GAA calendar – the county final, and the latest triumph on a now storied club’s conveyor belt of success – the mighty Robert Emmet’s of Slaughtneil.
They came, they saw, they conquered. Again.
Sooner or later the trophy cabinet at Emmet Park is going to need an extension. At Celtic Park on Sunday the club’s senior footballers added the John McLaughlin Cup to the Father Collins Cup that their hurlers won a fortnight ago. That’s the ‘double double’, if you don’t mind. And for good measure the camogs won the Senior Camogie Championship on Sunday morning, with the Martin Mullholland Memorial Cup now squeezing snuggling between John McLaughlin and Father Collins – the ultimate GAA ménage à trois.
Slaughtneil are fast becoming the Brazil of the 1970s, the Chicago Bulls of the 1980s, the Manchester United of the 1990s. They are starting to create a dynasty of domination. Celtic Park on Sunday was just the latest stop over on a journey that has only just begun.
TG4 wanted a piece of the action too; they know a good thing when they see it. But the television cameras, the big Premier League games and the international rugby all conspired to curtail the Celtic Park attendance to just 2,500 for the county final. The magnificence of the blood red and white stand, the sun-kissed pitch, the blue skies and the smell of economy burgers thick in the air – sure where on God’s green earth would you rather be? Miss it and you miss out. Many did.
What motivates a winner?
With the beads of sweat still softly trickling down the winners’ foreheads shortly after their latest triumph, a one point win over an initially conservative but eventually valiant Coleraine side, the focus immediately turned to Ulster and the next mountain to climb. Having gorged on success what keeps these players going? Hunger can take you to that first title. Hunger turns a contender into a champion. But after that?
Several of the Emmet footballers spoke to the assorted press pack after Sunday’s win and it soon became clear that this side was out to prove something. The 2014 Derry Senior Championship final was a classic. Then underdogs, Slaughtneil defeated the stellar Ballinderry to lift their first title in ten years. The contender became the champion. But such was the nature of the game, the late drama, the controversy – nothing was clear cut and much was debated. Was the ball over the line?
When the dust finally settled, few outside of the Shamrock’s camp would have denied that Slaughtneil had deserved to win. But it was that slither of doubt in the back of their minds that motivated many of the players this year. ‘We’ll show them’ would have been that particular train of thought. It’s a classic sports psychologist’s ploy.
‘Sammy’ Bradley summed it up in two short sentences when he said “A lot of boys said last year was a fluke, that we were a one hit wonder. But we proved we are the best team in Derry here today again.”
Across the great wide world of sport there is an old mantra – a good team wins a championship, but it takes a great team to retain it. Once again you can’t help but feel that the Emmet’s fall into that camp. Slaughtneil are ambitious. Slaughtneil want to be great.
Goalkeeper Antoin McMullan, wide-eyed in wonderment, spoke about the club’s recent stratospheric achievements which culminated in running out in Croke Park in March – every footballers dream, as Ulster champions. And yet, the Emmet’s goalkeeper quickly added that achieving back to back county titles probably topped even that. Barry McGuigan and captain Francis McEldowney, veterans of the 2004 winning team, echoed those same sentiments.
The great Patsy kept his council, as always. If I had have taken one step closer to him he probably would have crushed me with his bare hands and not batted an eyelid. "If he dies, he dies" I would have expected the great warrior to mutter as I lay broken on the ground at his feet.
Unlike 2014, the Chambers’ coach carrying the Slaughtneil bus into Celtic park was ferrying the favourites. Reigning county and provincial champions tends to tag you with that label.
The 2015 final was never going to be a classic, however. Fighters make fights in the boxing game, and the same can be true in football. Two defensively-minded teams are never going to produce a score-fest, and with Slaughtneil 0-4 to 0-3 up at the break the narrative of the day was unfolding exactly as many predicted.
McGuigan’s 40th minute goal gave the match the jolt of urgency it needed. Coleraine cast aside their conservative coat and went for broke. The preceding twenty minutes was a treat to watch with the champions showing enough ‘know how’ to hold on for the narrowest of victories. Captain Francis McEldowney was soon reaching for the microphone to make his victory speech. Again.
Winners always find a way to win.
Sport – the great rollercoaster of emotion
Rarely does the Warrior’s Code feels more completely at home than when he is supping watery tea, and chomping on over-buttered egg and onion pieces at a GAA match. Still fairly new to the journalistic game, and surrounded by the great and the good of the profession, I’m still waiting on that tap on the shoulder to tell me I’ve over-stayed my welcome, that I’ve been found out.
And sometimes it’s hard to switch off from the match itself, even long after the referee has blown the final whistle.
Even though I had no emotional attachment to either team last weekend I found myself unable to sleep when I got home, reliving various aspects of a very close game. The ‘what ifs’ and the ‘if onlys’ ran through my mind to the early hours. No matter how I tried to think of other things, such as Kirsty Gallagher on Strictly Come Dancing, I kept returning to the game. That’s the power of sport for me. It grabs you and never let’s goes. A game can worm its way into your brain and refuse to leave, and nearly always leaves you an indelible emotional footprint.
The cold, cruel fingers of autumn tap us on the shoulder to remind us that the summer’s gone and the dark nights are drawing in. It’s nearly time for the Warrior’s Code to hang up the camouflaged shorts for their annual winter hibernation and fumigation.
But sport never sleeps. It rarely gives you time to catch your breath. The GAA season came to an end with the county final but while one door closes, another opens its welcoming doors.
The mighty North Star basketball team began their season on Saturday at their plush new home of the Foyle Arena.
Time to saddle up and see a little bit more of the world...sport never sleeps.
READ THE WARRIOR'S CODE EVERY MONDAY MORNING in the DERRY NEWS.