CJ McGourty: That winning feeling

Former Antrim footballer CJ McGourty is proving himself a success on the coaching circuit. He speaks to Shaun Casey.

TYING his right shoelace has become a painful chore for CJ McGourty. The hip on that side has already undergone three operations, but still nags him. He’ll have to get it replaced before his 50th birthday, but you won’t hear him complain. He still thinks he could do a job on the field.

The mind wants to, but the body is unwilling. Now, at 36 years of age, the former St Gall’s sharpshooter is consigned to the sideline and already, in the early stages of his managerial career, he’s been a roaring success.

Winning comes naturally to McGourty, just take a glance at his trophy cabinet for proof. Back in early August, the former Antrim forward won his third All-Ireland title. He has the unique accolade of winning All-Irelands as a footballer, a hurler and now a manager.

He shot the lights out when St Gall’s went all the way in 2010, winning the All-Ireland Club title. He was a member of St Galls’ golden generation that brought the Belfast club to new, unimaginable heights.

McGourty was a key cog of the Tyrone hurling team that claimed the Nickey Rackard Cup in 2022 under Michael McShane and this year, his Fermanagh ladies earned Junior Championship gold at Croke Park.

The hip problems come from years of hard graft, but the medals and trophies offer some consolation. While nothing replaces that pulling-on-the-boots feeling, managing a team has helped to fill the void.

“I don’t have that same drive anymore that I had between 20 and 28 years of age, I’ve actually got a different outlook on sport,” said McGourty, who at 18 years old, played for 11 different teams between football, hurling and soccer while still at school.

“Sport is absolutely brilliant for kids, for adults, for all of us. It brings a sense of community, especially in the GAA but you have to weigh everything up.

“Do I really need to go back playing and drive for another year or two and try to win something at the expense of being able to walk or run or do stuff with my daughter in six or seven years’ time?

“In my mid-20s I would have said absolutely, I’d have done anything to win. Now, I have a different outlook on life where sport means an awful lot but it’s not the be all and end all and I think that’s an important thing I’ve learned.”

That same relentless thirst for glory still lights a fire in his belly though. While McGourty can no longer grace the famed turf at Croke Park himself, he can assist players along their own path and help to create something meaningful.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have good coaches in St Gall’s with Dad (Sean), Lenny (Harbinson, McGourty’s uncle and former manager), Tony Early, Sean Kelly, all good people that I have learned a lot of, but they always gave back.

“Going into Fermanagh every night, you’re appreciated. You’re always trying to give something back and you’re always trying to develop players. At the end of the day, it’s great that Fermanagh won something, but we also don’t want to be a yo-yo team.

“I want to try and build Fermanagh for the future and make sure the young players come through, that the players that we’ve already got are going back to their clubs as better players, no matter what age they are, through our coaching.

“Does it replace playing? It probably does slightly because you’re still in that environment of trying to win stuff but sometimes at training, you weigh up, is this the old me? Am I just driving everything just to win?

“Or am I the new me that’s trying to develop players and if we win something along the way, great. It’s more for the social aspect and I’m a big believer that if you’re making players better and have a good rapport with players, then that’s going to lead to the end result.”

GLORY DAYS…The Fermanagh Ladies were crowned All-Ireland champions back in August

It’s certainly not an easy gig, and McGourty never thought it would be. The management game isn’t necessarily for everyone and McGourty actually sees himself as more of a coach, which is the direction that is of most interest to him.

“It’s challenging, management, trying to manage everything,” he continued. “I would say I’m more of a coach and that’s where I see myself best, but I can’t deny that the last year and a bit with Fermanagh has been so enjoyable with a great group of players.

“It was obviously a great year; we started off as a rookie management team. Kane Connor (team coach) had just quit playing with Fermanagh men and is still playing club, I’d just finished a year or two ago as well.

“We’d Connor McGovern and Sean McCartney, so it was a great experience for everyone. Getting to coach a great set of girls that walked up the steps of the Hogan Stand and fully deserved to, credit must go to the players for their commitments and their efforts.”

There was something fitting about his appointment in Fermanagh. Call it fate or whatever else, but the Erne County already had a special place in the Antrim man’s heart, long before the job became available.

“I had a friend at college, Eimear Martin, who sadly passed away last year. The Fermanagh job came up very soon after the death and we’d always talked about it in college that someday I might be over Fermanagh at some stage.

“I just thought I’d go for it. I’d coached around St Gall’s for a number of years, I took Ardboe underage teams, and we’d won u-15 and u-16 titles and I just thought I’d give it a go and see where it goes really.

“I’d been following that group of girls in Fermanagh for a couple of years and they had a lot of heartache. They were getting towards the finish line in most games and something unlucky would happen them or they just weren’t managing the game properly.

“That experience is probably where I saw myself, understanding how to manage games appropriately and that’s why I went for the job because I thought I could help out in some way and the rest is history and we ended up winning the All-Ireland.”

McGourty was an underage sensation in the Saffron County. Still a minor when he made his Antrim debut, McGourty was pulled from pillar to post with everyone looking a piece of his undoubted magic.

He was in America the summer Antrim reached the 2009 Ulster final under Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley and could have beaten Kerry in the qualifiers. He enjoyed many days in the saffron shirt, but looking back, the clubs’ success hindered his progress at county level.

From 2001 to 2014, St Gall’s won all bar one of the county’s Senior Championship titles. They competed in four Ulster finals during that time, winning two, and earned two shots at All-Ireland glory, claiming one of them on that fateful St Patrick’s Day in 2010.

The 2006 final had left St Gall’s wondering. They came so close to winning the All-Ireland but ultimately came up short against Galway’s Salthill-Knocknacarra. There would be no regrets come 2010 and McGourty, who finished the campaign as top scorer with 2-28 across six matches, knew the time was right.

In the same year, he was leading the line for the St Gall’s hurlers as they embarked on their own All-Ireland journey. Unfortunately, the dream double wasn’t to be and despite hitting 0-7 in the final against St Lachtain’s, McGourty’s team were well beaten.

“We reached the All-Ireland final in ’06 which was my last year at school, and I was nearly doing double sessions every single day but it’s a learning curve for a manager. You’re always trying to put your own spin on things, but I think I can help players because I’ve been there.

“It’s only now that you realise how fortunate you were,” reflected the schoolteacher. “In one of the St Gall’s WhatsApp groups, one of the boys shared a picture of a bus trip down to one of our games and you just see the joy that it brought to people.

“When you’re in the heat of the moment, sometimes it’s a real bad thing and a negative thing in your life because you get so obsessed. After one achievement, you’re on to the next thing and it’s a healthy run sports wise, but all other aspects of your life, you lose control of them.

“You’re just so focused on that one goal, but it was an unbelievable run. To win two Ulsters, an All-Ireland, to be in an All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling final in the same year, to win it in our club’s 100th anniversary, it was something special.”

It was constant though. The St Gall’s journey morphed into the start of the new inter-county season and once Antrim were knocked out of the championship, the St Gall’s crew were straight back into the blue jersey.

“It probably was an endless cycle for a couple of years,” McGourty explained. “You’re going into the winter usually for seven or eight years (with St Gall’s) and then you’re going into Antrim, and I found I wasn’t happy with my performance with Antrim for a good while.

“I think mentally I was drained. Going from a club season, straight into a county season and straight into a club season again, it is difficult, especially when you’re on the road for nine or ten years like that.

“It probably did impact my county career, but I also think that St Gall’s had that mindset that we could beat anyone. The proof is in the pudding, we did beat certain teams like Nemo Rangers and Corofin but when we went to Antrim, I’m not sure the belief was there.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have had that belief. Looking back at that Antrim team at the time, we had a really good team and probably underachieved to be honest, and, in my opinion, the club season probably did impact on Antrim.”

After getting married, McGourty moved to Ardboe and before long, he was out swinging the hurl in the red and white of Tyrone. His last act in a playing capacity was hitting 0-4 in Croke Park against Roscommon as the Red Hands collected the Nickey Rackard Cup in 2022.

Winning another All-Ireland, getting up the steps a second time, was a pleasure. But sharing the field with Damian Casey was another highlight for McGourty. Casey unfortunately lost his life in an accident in Spain just a couple of weeks after scoring 0-14 in that final.

DUAL STAR…CJ McGourty won a Nickey Rackard Cup with Tyrone in 2022

“I was living in Ardboe, and I knew Michael McShane, his wife would have taught me at school,” described McGourty of his switch. “He got wind I was living in Ardboe; I’d be living there three or four years and then he took over the Tyrone job.

“I remember Damian Casey had put out a tweet and I had responded to it in a joking way and then I met up with Damian and Mickey and had a chat, and it all led from there and it was honestly a great experience to not only play with Tyrone but also to play with Damian Casey.

“Just to see the capability of the man. I would have known Damian very briefly, just more because of his name. I never really knew him in person until I started with Tyrone, and I would have gone to training along with him a couple of nights.”

Recalling some of Casey’s brilliance, McGourty added, “He was just an unbelievable talent. You sometimes hear about these players but to see some of the stuff he did at training, I remember Mickey shouting at him one night to come and get the ball.

“There were four men around him, but he just came and got the ball in the air and stuck it in the top corner and it was just stuff of genius. Some of the scores he got, only 60 or 70 people were at the matches but I was there to witness him for two years. He was just incredible.

“Some of my finest memories of playing with Tyrone was just going out with him every day. He could see a pass, he could link up with you, he could play a 50-yard ball over someone’s head, straight into your hand.

“The man was just a genius and for me to witness that for two years, to see what some others might not have seen, was just a brilliant way to end my career too.”

While McGourty can no longer experience that spine tingling emotion of pulling on a jersey and heading out to put on a masterclass, he’s the one delivering the motivational team talk in the dressing room now.

All good things come to an end and time waits for no man. It’s a different CJ McGourty that wears the bainisteoir bib now, but that ruthless winning streak is still there. It’s held him in good stead this long, there’s no point in changing now.