Cracking both codes: Dunloy’s latest All-Ireland Féile story

The u-15 boys from Dunloy will compete at both the All-Ireland Féile football and hurling weekends later this month. Michael McMullan took a look into their success story.

GREGORY O’Kane knows a thing or two about winning titles with Dunloy. Of their 16 senior hurling titles, he has been involved in them all either as a player or manager.

And he knows about the foundations too, dipping into the history. Underage. The Féile winning teams of the early eighties proved the injection for their 1990 senior breakthrough.

They’ve been knocking about since. They hope the current crop can grow up and follow in the footsteps of what went before.

“We had absolutely no senior championships,” O’Kane said of their era at underage. The questions lingered. Would they ever do it?

“Those underage groups are where the senior success was born out of. As a club, in terms of Féile, it has always been a breeding ground.”

Dunloy lost to Dungiven in the 1982 All-Ireland Féile final. Three years later, O’Kane and Alistair Elliott were on a team that lost to Birr.

O’Kane, Elliott and Conor Cunning are now part of the club’s underage coaching structures, looking after this latest Féile success.

While he has stepped away as senior manager this season, O’Kane has swapped places with the head of the hurling development committee who has gone the other way to lead the seniors.

“We’ve been with these boys since they were knee height, at the fundamentals,” O’Kane said of the current u-15 batch.

“We had the Go Games and then you develop through that there. Then, obviously that Féile was a target for us.”

Like all of Dunloy’s teams, they’ve been helped with the foresight of the club to build indoor training area, gym and a floodlit outdoor 3G pitch.

“We can hurl as many months of the year as we want,” he said.

“Having that luxury to play nine or 10 months of the year, that is an advantage. Over the years, you’re building up whereas other clubs have to maybe finish up in August or September.”

There is no blueprint. The kids are there. They have a facility and the rest of it is about commitment. And people.

“We have over 40-odd hurling coaches throughout the age groups who are working with their teams,” O’Kane added.

“To have that volunteerism, coaches putting in their time, that’s what success is.”

The hand-eye coordination helps the lads tap into their football. Side by side, the club have been able to hone their skills at both codes.

Coaching, Games. Football. Hurling. Letting players express themselves is important. The dual element brings players closer together, having battled to get results.

The players will have school teams that help keep them tipping away with the challenge what the rest of Ulster brings.

Then it’s back to Dunloy and so the cycle continues.

There is no need to cram into multiple nights in the week. The 10 months of coaching has ingrained the skills.

“I keep saying it,” O’Kane adds, “we’re blessed with a lot of the coaches throughout the club who are just passionate about hurling.

“That’s a big ethos in the club, the volunteers, past players. It’s all of that, the manpower to run your teams.”

BIG BALL…Dunloy u-15s won the football Féile to complete the double at grade A for the first time in the club’s history

Dunloy’s hurling and football story went hand in hand with this current group. An u-13 title was backed up at u-14 level before the hurlers continued the trend in the Féile and the recently revamped u-15.

There had not been a Féile A football title since 2006 and they’ve never managed the Féile double.

When Malachy McAleese got involved with coaching the footballers, he could tell right away there was a group with potential.

“Sometimes, when there is a group of players like this, they have it in both codes. There’s a good gene pool there,” McAleese said, referring to connections with teams from the club’s illustrious history.

There was an expectation it would be St Brigid’s of Belfast they’d meet in the final if the footballers emerged from their section but St Gall’s pipped them.

“We didn’t really know anything about St Gall’s and I don’t think they knew a lot about us,” McAleese said.

“It was a bit of an open book so we kind of felt reasonably good about that.”

Dunloy started well and ended up winning by six points but the score didn’t do justice to the battle.

“They had their chances towards the end,” McAleese added. “Our ‘keeper pulled off two worldly saves in a row and they had a one-on-one that went wide.”

It could’ve been a different game but Dunloy were able to see the finish line and history was made. A first Féile double.

“The hurlers were full of swing as they’re going to Wexford, so they had hotels booked,” McAleese said.

“There are only six boys from the football group that don’t play hurling, so it was a race then to get them the same gear ordered.

“If you’re looking at the two starting teams, there’s probably only one or two players of a difference.”

For now, it’s all about balance. Between codes and factoring in u-16 fixtures. A headache but a good headache.

“It’s a great position to be in,” McAleese sums up. “There’s certainly a bit of a buzz with the young lads.

“All week, leading up to the football final, they realised they had a chance to become the first Dunloy team to do the double. Young boys feed off stuff like that.”