FINAL COUNTDOWN: Charting the rise of Errigal

BERAGH’S ALAN RODGERS ON HIS CLUB’S RIVALRY WITH THEIR NEIGHBOURS DOWN THE YEARS….

IN 1950, my father, Frank Rodgers, was staying with his grandmother in the townland of Brackagh in the parish of Errigal Ciaran in the days leading up to that year’s West Tyrone Juvenile final between Ballygawley St Ciaran’s and Dromore.

As a 10-year-old boy, he was already developing what was to become a lifelong interest and involvement in the GAA. So, he was only too happy to travel on the bus from Kelly’s of Garvaghey with his uncle to the big game in St Patrick’s Park in Omagh. Ballygawley were beaten, though, by a Dromore side which included future Tyrone players, Anthony Connolly and Paddy Corey.

On the way home, my father remembered the Ballygawley supporters on the bus remarking how the year would still be a good one ‘as long as they defeated Beragh.’ In the subsequent years, the tally of victories for both in their derby matches was often fairly even.

In his book, Mickey Harte, recalls being at a Ballygawley training session ahead of the 1963 County semi-final and seeing a man at the head of the dressing-room with a blackboard. That man was Paddy Joe McClean and many young players in Beragh during the eighties were fortunate to be guided by his football coaching.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that this was Beragh’s best ever period at underage level when we reached three Grade One county finals, winning the Juvenile title in 1985 when Paddy Joe McClean was manager of the team alongside Brian Donnelly and former Tyrone Ulster-title winner, Mick Kerr.

Many memories stand out. In 1984, we played Ballygawley at U-14 level at the opening of the new dressing-rooms in Cardinal McRory Park. We also played them in an U-14 league game a few years later, when my abiding recall is of Beragh winning reasonably easily. We weren’t old enough at that time to realise that the Ballygawley teams at underage and adult level were then missing their Glencull contingent, including the Canavan brothers.

Over the past three decades, the now Errigal Ciaran club has excelled. But we still remember the first round of the 1994 Tyrone Championship when the then Ulster champions came within seconds of losing their county and provincial titles to their near neighbours. Unfortunately, for us, the traffic has been all one-way during the intervening decades.

Now, Errigal are in the All-Ireland Club Final and what a really remarkable and deserved achievement it is. It has been a brilliant season for them, and the manner in which they captured the Ulster title against Kilcoo and then overcame Dr Crokes in the semi-final mean that they can enter this Croke Park decider with real belief in their ability to capture the Andy Merrigan Cup.

As they head to Croke Park, supporters from throughout Tyrone will be urging them on. For too long now, our clubs have under-achieved at provincial and national senior level. A victory for Errigal over Cuala has the potential to pave the way for others to make a similar mark in the years to come.

Where they go now, surely the likes of Trillick, Carrickmore, Dromore, Omagh and a few others have the ability to follow when their time, as it must surely will, comes around again.

For the moment, though, we wish Errigal and all their supporters the very best and it will indeed be an emotional achievement if Darragh Canavan does lift the Andy Merrigan Cup.

Frank Rodgers won’t be around to travel on the bus to Croke Park from Kelly’s or Canavan’s of Garvaghey this Sunday. But, as that well-known successful Beragh butcher, Michael McGarvey, remarked to me on the Newbridge pitch on Saturday evening – he’d have loved all the chat, the banter and the expectation of another very significant success for our neighbours just across the parish boundary.