By 
A DOZEN underage players with Clogher Eire Ogs put their day off school to good effect this week.
The young lads were up and at it early on Tuesday morning. With the snow still lying on the Eire Ogs pitch, and the senior team preparing for a training session that night, they got out the shovels. By lunchtime the job was done, and the surface was ready for joint-managers Kevin F McConnell and Steven McKenna to put the players through their paces.
It’s all part of the excitement within the community as the countdown continues to Sunday’s All-Ireland Junior Final in Croke Park. For the people of the area, early January in 2026 will live long in the memory no matter what happens against Ballymacelligott.
Club chair, Louise McKenna, is at the heart of all the activity. From helping to organise the logistics associated with reaching a national decider at the GAA headquarters, to ensuring that everything is set for the team coming home win, lose or draw, her phone has been buzzing almost constantly for the past few days.
“There is a lot of organisation, far more than in the week between the recent Ulster Final and All-Ireland quarter-final. It’s all completely new territory,” she said. “We came straight home from Carrick-on-Shannon after the semi-final win and it has been all go since. There’s been meetings every day this week because it takes so many people to make everything happen.
“We just want to make this an unbelievable week for our players, the whole club and community. When the match is over on Sunday, we want everything to run perfectly when the team and supporters arrive home.
“It is hectic at the moment. I have a full-time job, and three children at home. But it will all be worthwhile to see Clogher playing in Croke Park.”
making history
Long-serving official, Eugene McConnell, has been a key public face for Clogher over more than four decades. He has postponed a holiday in Spain to ensure that he’s in Croke Park to witness his club make history.
“There is plenty of time to go on holidays, so it was no big decision to miss out. Missing out on seeing Clogher in Croke Park would be far worse, because this journey is more important,” said Eugene, who took over as secretary in 1981 and remains in the post today.
“I have been involved a long time and I’ve given my life to the club. Over the past number of years a few more fresh faces have been brought into the club. There is a wealth of new talent, with a new outlook and new ways of doing things.
“It has been a great success story in terms of bringing all the parish along with us. Everyone wants to be part of this, which is great.
“I have been very lucky and blessed to savour the occasion when Tyrone won the Sam Maguire in 2021. I was county PRO at that time, and I was very blessed and lucky to walk up the Hogan Stand steps to lift the Sam Maguire.
“That was a unique moment for me personally. If Clogher win on Sunday, a small club like this which I have given my life to, I think it would even surpass the stand-out moment of that day in September 2021.
“Those moments last a lifetime.”
