‘Jib’ looks forward to meeting Ulster football royalty

Niall Donnelly will fulfil a long held ambition this Saturday night when he takes to the field at Healy Park to meet Ulster footballing royalty.

The evergreen Trillick attacker (forty years young) has three County senior Championship medals now tucked away in his back pocket but this weekend will be his first foray onto the provincial stage to rub shoulders with one of the country’s true bluebloods.

He can’t wait to savour the occasion against opposition he holds in the highest regard.

“ I remember saying to (team-mate) Eunan McAnespie many years ago that before I retire I would love to play Crossmaglen in the Ulster Club. Now I have got my wish. They were the team when I was growing up you would watch in the Championship every year, winning Ulsters and All-Irelands.

“ For me they were the best team in Ireland for a long time, setting the benchmark, and they still have some of the top footballers in the country playing for them. Their tradition and history is second to none with what their people have been through. It’s a great town and a great club and it will be an honour for Trillick to go up against them.”

‘Jib’, as he is affectionately known, continues to defy father time and his experience and industry shone through once more in the Reds march to O’Neill Cup glory this past few months. In a side stacked with talented youngsters, his saviness and ability to read a game were vital components in Trillick’s success story.

Even with Tyrone star Mattie Donnelly ruled out of the equation because of injury, Jib insists that the St Macartan’s remained steadfast in their belief that they could challenge for Championship honours.

“ It’s never good having one of your main men injured and especially someone of Mattie’s quality and leadership. The one plus, if you can take any plus from that, is that it happened early enough in the season. We had four months to prepare for the Championship without Mattie so it wasn’t sprung on us. We also hadn’t Mickey Gallagher or Simon Garrity so it was up to the rest to knuckle down.

“ As soon as Mattie’s injury happened we didn’t rest on our laurels. We knew we had to work hard and get on with it.”

Trillick had to do it the hard way against reigning champions Errigal Ciaran a fortnight ago in the Tyrone final, relinquishing a six point lead in the second half which meant extra-time was required. Donnelly stressed that there was no sense of panic in the Reds fold that they couldn’t regroup and go again.

“ We won it twice I suppose but we were probably lucky in a way. We had extra-time already in the Loughmacrory game so we knew we had the stamina to last. Jody (Gormley, manager) had reiterated all along that we had the fitness.

“ Some of the Errigal boys only came off a plane six or seven weeks ago so in our heads we knew we had done a lot of hard work. We were just praying that it would pay off and it did. You can’t rely on it but you just hope you can last and thankfully we did.

“ We have buckled in big games before but you live and learn from your defeats and I’d like to think those losses stood to us. You can never right off the champions and Errigal Ciaran were champions for a reason so we fully expected them to get their purple patch and come into it.”

In Trillick’s most recent two assaults on Ulster Senior Club honours they have suffered the same frustrations as numerous Tyrone representatives down through the years in their quest for the Seamus McFerran Cup.

In 2015 they lost to Scotstown in the semi-final after beating Naomh Connail in the first round, while in 2019 they suffered an agonising penalty shoot-out loss to Derrygonnelly in their opener at Brewster Park.

Jib is hoping that it’s a case of third time lucky for the Reds.

“ We have a couple of weeks to rest up and get the celebrations out of the way. We will prepare the best we can and be ready for it but it goes without saying that Crossmaglen with their tradition and success down the years will be a tough ask.”