Gerard O’Kane – How the cards fell

I COULD nearly copy and paste a few articles from the last four years about this time of season and my club Glenullin, but that would do an unfair service to those involved in the senior team and set-up. Having just won the Derry Intermediate championship for the third time in four years, a lot of people are questioning why we still play at this level.

In 2022, we were intermediate and not really in the conversation for winning a championship and we pretty much won it out of nowhere. As that season progressed, we maybe thought we had a shot at this and everyone threw ourselves into it and we ended up winning it. There was no planned promotion – if memory serves me right it was the first full year post-Covid and the county board wanted to rejig things and brought two senior teams down, so in 2023 it was going to be tougher to win.

We ended up winning back-to-back Intermediates which is an anomaly but not one of our own doing, and after that we had a fair crack at Ulster, losing at the semi-final stage by a single point. After winning in 2023, there was no promotion again. As a club we actively sought permission to go up and play senior championship, but it was defeated.

Then in 2024, there were four intermediate teams promoted, bringing senior championship numbers back to 16. Trying to do the three-in-a row took its toll on the squad and we ended up getting beaten in a quarter-final by eventual All-Ireland finalists Ballinderry, so we did not make it out of intermediate again. That is how we found ourselves in here in 2025.

It wasn’t an active choice from the club, it’s just how it fell administratively and results wise. The one thing I would say is that over that four years, the team has evolved. Only eight players who started the final in 2022 started the 2025 final. This year alone, we had four starters who won their first medal – all players under 23. That is a good cycle of natural evolution for a club and will help the development of the team. So in terms of winning three intermediates in four years, that’s how the cards have fallen for us.

Now in terms of everything that goes with that, it’s fair to say we fairly enjoyed it. Each year has its own backstory and this year was no different. Our ‘Monday club’ was actually a ‘Sunday club’ given our final was on a Saturday. It was a great day for sport on television so we enjoyed being in each other’s company and having the craic.

We are very lucky to have had the chance to experience this a few times over the last few years, as many players go through a full career without getting that opportunity. I have been reliably informed that some players had a Monday club, joining Newbridge for an afternoon. Sure if that’s the case, so be it.

There is actually a nice symmetry that two clubs who celebrate their centenary this year won their respective championships.

Looking around the country, there were plenty of clubs in the same mode. St John’s breaking their 50-plus year hiatus in Antrim hurling, Athy stopped Naas from doing five in a row, Glenariffe won the Antrim Intermediate Hurling championship after heartache last year, and Ballyboden won what is actually only their fifth Dublin title. I am sure those championships will be well celebrated in their counties and clubhouses and rightly so.

Provincial championships will kick into gear very quickly – the Ulster Junior preliminary round gets going this weekend so some clubs are right back at it.

While it’s not always appealing to be training in the dark and wet, if you are doing it at this stage of the season, there is a good chance it is for a very good reason.

Enjoy it while you can because before you know it you will be on the wrong side of 40 wondering if you could just turn the clock back 10 years and experience them cold and wet nights just for one more season.