Clonduff’s generation game

Eugene O’Hagan and Paudie Matthews were part of the Clonduff winning team in 2000 and have their fingers crossed ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Burren. They spoke with Michael McMullan…

Eugene O’Hagan looked at the back of Paudie Matthews’ number four jersey as Clonduff paraded around Páirc Esler on county final day 2000.

They were red-hot favourites but focus was the magic word. It simply had to be their year. The last four teams to end their season went on to lift the Frank O’Hare Cup.

It began with Burren in 1996 on their way to the title. Two goals from John ‘Shorty’ Trainor turned the final in Burren’s favour 12 months later, as he picked up his 10th senior medal.

Clonduff emptied the bench in 1998, thinking they had Rostrevor beaten only to be sunk by Martin Sherry’s goal.

They succumbed to a Mayobridge team the following year, as they stepped towards the first of their eight titles in a decade.

What about 2000? Shane Ward’s free earned a first-round draw with Burren when the championship white heat began to rise.

Seamus ‘Shoes’ Morgan would later setup a footwear business. His two late points, along with a score from minor and senior All-Ireland winner Cathal Murray pushed them clear in the replay.

Damien Fearon hit the net in a quarter-final win over Downpatrick, before repeating the feat in the next two games.

His first penalty hit the net in a semi-final win over reigning champions Mayobridge with Sean Featherstone saving his second. It didn’t matter. They were through, thanks also to four points from captain Ross Carr.

The Down talisman landed a handful of points in the final but it took a third Fearon goal of the championship to break the early resolve of underdogs Liatroim.

Clonduff kept hammering. Coming up short was not an option.

They can join Mayobridge and Castlewellan, who are joint-fourth the on the roll of honour if they can overcome Burren on Sunday. If is such a small word, but it’s massive in reality.

“It’s absolute madness at the minute,” Paudie Matthews outlines of the current temperature within the club.

Hundreds are flocking to their grounds every night. The club’s hurlers and camogs are also preparing for their upcoming county finals.

Clonduff tick every box, all the codes, including handball and a heavy involvement in Scór.

With Anita Brannigan as the engine, they were among one of the first clubs to have a website, just before the turn of the millennium.

The level of detail is forensic. No matter what anyone from the parish achieved, whether in club colours or otherwise, it’s all there.

“There are people sending out messages here for the Christmas gear orders. They’ve had to put it back a week because there’s just too much going on,” Matthew adds.

He had a stint as club Chairman and is now heavily involved in coaching. Having won every medal possible, it’s his time to give back.

His four sons are among the fanatical Clonduff fanbase, all living their best lives. “Barry O’Hagan is in a (underage) management group with me, he was saying how the wee lads behind the goals were unreal,” Matthews added.

Across the Atlantic, Eugene O’Hagan has lived in New York for 25 years. A nephew of two-time All-Ireland winner Patsy, football was part of his fabric. It still is.

He coaches underage with the Shannon Gaels club in Queens where his young sons will find their Gaelic Games path. The O’Hagan legacy continues far away from Clonduff.

“Whenever I go home, whenever I pull in down the road through Hilltown, turning the corner towards Cabra, the football field is on the left-hand side,” he points out.

“Even now, thinking about it, I get a shiver going down me because that’s where I learned everything.”

In the beginning, O’Hagan would feed a handful of coins into a payphone down the street for a weekly update from home.

The internet has narrowed the Atlantic. The news from home is now instant. As Clonduff saw off Carryduff in last month’s semi-final, he was tuned in from his living room.

“You would have sworn it was the end of the world for me, the way I was jumping up and down, going mad,” he added.

Chatting on a transatlantic web call last Friday, O’Hagan and Matthews recite their memories. There is no shortage of laughter. Sport matters. There is a deep awareness of history and how the various family connections dovetail.

The one link between the 2000 and 1980 successes is goalkeeper John McAleavey.

Brothers James and Arty Noel McConville were part of the 1980 squad that has multiple links with the current team.

The latter’s sons Arthur and Stephen are playing now. Another son, Finbarr, is part of the management team.

A nephew Ben, son of Paddy, is there too. Eamon and Charlie Brown’s father Aidan played in 1980, the same for John Brown’s father Harry. Clubs all pass on the love of the game. Clonduff are no different.

PJ McGreevy was part of the 1980 team and coached almost every member of the current team at underage. His three Clubperson of the Year awards span 25 years.

There are links from the 2000 success to today. Ross Carr’s sons Charlie and Ross. His nephew Senan.

Shane Ward was top scorer in 2000. His teenage son Conor is cutting his teeth in the world of senior football.

Current players Ben Rafferty, Tom and Shane Close are nephews of Aidan and Harry Brown.

Tony Wilson was full back in 2000; he has sons Cian and Oran running out on Sunday. Liam McGreevy’s son Liam is another link with the last title.

“A lot of work has been done the last 10 years,” Matthews said of the coaching structures.

“These things come in generations and it’s fed through the parents and coaches within the club.”

There is now a hope that days like Sunday become more regular.

They’ve been close a few times in recent years, most notably coming up short in a dramatic penalty shootout that could’ve dethroned then All-Ireland champions Kilcoo.

“We got to the 2010 final,” Matthews added.

“We beat Kilcoo in the semi-final. It was like a final beating them but then Burren beat us convincingly. The 2016 final against Kilcoo, to be honest, that match was over after 10 minutes.”

Matthews and O’Hagan are both realists, having watched Clonduff come up short in recent years, joining a list of teams who have nearly beaten Kilcoo but haven’t.

There is also a consideration that the bounce of the ball Clonduff have benefited from at stages this season suggests it might be their year.

It’s time to dream, but with Kilcoo now gone, Burren will be thinking the same.

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After winning at every age on the way up, Clonduff won three successive minor titles in the mid-nineties, taking their tally to five within in a decade.

It provided a core to the team who got promoted back to senior football but came up short four years in a row, 1996-99, losing to the eventual senior champions.

“People think we came out of nowhere in 2000 but it was a bit different,” Matthews recalls.

Frank Dawson had a spell as Clonduff manager in 1991 and was back to help find the winning formula.

Martin Farnon played with Clonduff in the 1980 success and was part of the Down All-Ireland minor winning management in 1999.

He came on board with Dawson in Clonduff. They worked the squad hard on the sand dunes at Murlough Beach. There were gruelling running sessions around Castlewellan Lough.

“The training was a real step up because I think the pressure was on really on,” Matthew recalls.

“Nobody went away to America, everybody stayed on board and we had competition for places that year. We had boys from the county team coming back, fighting to get playing for the club.”

After the victory over Downpatrick in the quarter-final, a preplanned holiday took over a dozen young players to Gran Canaria. Hardly ideal preparation, but there was a twist.

“We happened to be walking down the street the first night we were there and there was Matt Bradley, sitting on the street playing the guitar,” O’Hagan recalls.

Bradley managed Clonduff to the 1997 final after having spent time as UUJ’ Freshers’ manager.

Bradley was from Belfast and had trekked O’Hagan up and down the road to training during his student days, as manager of Clonduff.

“He knew we were in the semi-final two weeks later. He got us on the beach in the mornings, at six o’clock to train us and he wasn’t even our manager that year.”

Bradley was training a handballer for an All-Ireland campaign and invited his former charges to come along and blow out the dirty diesel from a week of partying in the sun.

“I will always remember that about Matt, what he did that time,” O’Hagan said.

“We weren’t in great shape to be coming home to play a semi-final, but he kept us in a bit of shape.”

O’Hagan had been inspired by watching his cousin Cathal Murray bring the Tom Markham Cup up the lane after winning the All-Ireland minor title in 1987.

“I was 10 years of age,” he recalls. “I remember putting Down flags up on our farm shed at home.

“That was something that motivated me, kept pushing me on. Then whenever I started to play football with Cathal, he was always giving out to me.”

It was tough love but it worked and the 2000 team was full of leaders. Ross Carr was the captain but they also had seasoned players like Martin McEvoy.

Paul McShane and John Morgan were midfield when St Colman’s won the Hogan Cup in 1993. Clonduff also had Plunkett McConville in the middle third.

“John Fegan was the first Clonduff man to get his hair bleached for a final,” Matthews joked about his teammate coming back from Gran Canaria, complete with a new hairstyle.

“We had a lot of boys like Seamus Morgan and Damien Fearon, boys who never made county minor or U21 squads, but they were lethal footballers. When you look back at 2000, we had a great team.”

He may live in New York, but O’Hagan’s passion for Clonduff drips off every word. He is looking forward to being back, fusing with his friends. With a mention of his uncle Patsy, the emotion is there.

“I was brought up in the O’Hagan family home house,” he added.

“My granny, grandad and my dad, they all worshipped the ground he walked on.

“It’s even bringing tears to my eyes now. Whenever Uncle Patsy was getting buried,

“Daddy stood over the grave. Whenever the coffin was getting lowered, he says, ‘good luck our fella’.”

Patsy was the first Irishman to score a hat-trick at Wembley, for Down in the Grounds Tournament, an invitation competition for the top teams that was in vogue at the time.

“I ask that question to boys out here and nobody can get it,” O’Hagan says with a smile.

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O’Hagan was home last year when Clonduff held their 25-year anniversary for the men of 2000.

There was an array of photos and clippings around the room.
Like most successful teams, the medals are just one ingredient. It’s the memories that last longer than anything.

“We had a lot of good times with all the boys,” O’Hagan said of the spirit in the group.

“We went to Donegal for a weekend one time. I don’t know what year that was but we had a mad craic, it’s a good job there was no camera phones.

“Everybody goes away on bonding weekends but we never really done anything like that, we had all grown up together.”

Aside from the chemistry, there was the quality within the club. Clonduff also won the league that year. The reserve team were successful in that era too.

“I remember hearing Mickey Moran saying the most important team in the club is the seconds team,” Matthews recalls.

“They’re putting the pressure on the seniors. I remember having to mark my brother in training and him cutting the shit out of you.”

After beating Burren, Downpatrick and Mayobridge to get to the final, much of the talk in the county was about how Clonduff just had to show up in the final.

Liatroim were new to the top flight and many predicted a procession.

“We were celebrating winning the semi-final,” Matthews said of an era when players would have tippled over a few pints in the middle of the championship season.

“I can remember us guys going training and literally boking up the side of the pitch because there was so much running.”

It burned off more dirty diesel. The collective had the inner focus that 2000 was going to be different. The hurt of looking on at someone else lifting the cup kept that edge.

After Damien Fearon’s third goal in as many games, Clonduff strode their way to the title with a bit to spare.

At the other end of the field, Paul McConville had another stormer at full-back with Paul Shields sitting at centre back.

“Yeah, ’Shieldsy’ would have been a big character and always would’ve been having the craic,” Matthews pointed out.

“He was a brilliant reader of the game, there before the ball even got to where it was going.”

The job was done. They were champions of Down. The tough days in Murlough and Castlewellan had paid off.

“We hadn’t won the championship in 20 years, so the celebrations were mental,” Matthews recalls.

“On the Sunday, I was just absolutely shattered because of the whole buildup.

“You did feel the pressure that we just had to win the game.”

This was the release and it sparked a week of celebrations.

“On the Monday, the celebrations really got going,” he adds.

“We spent a couple of days in the VI (Village Inn).”

They moved around the various hostelries until training was called for the Wednesday night with an Ulster clash against Errigal Ciaran on the horizon.

“We dragged ourselves out and went to it,” Matthew added,

“A few of us then went to Belfast on the Wednesday and nights, so you can imagine what shape we were in.”

Another one of the reasons for the success was the enjoyment of going to training. While it was always tough, nobody ever wanted to miss.

“It would have been (Frank) Dawson, Martin Farnon, ‘Bisto’ (Brian) McGreevy, the rest of the management driving it all the time,” O’Hagan added.

“Ross (Carr) probably would have been influencing it too. Marty (Farnon) played in 1980.

“He’s still involved in the club. He’s still pushing things on, with the likes of Tommy Kelly and Brendan Murray.

“We were home for our 25-year anniversary of 2000. Tommy Kelly lives down the road from me. From no age, I remember him always going up past our house.

“He’d be going to the football field, whether it was to cut the grass, to line the pitch, to clean out the club rooms.

“I said to him that night, if he got a pound for every time that he went past our house going to the football field, he’d be a rich man.”

Kelly won the Hall of Fame award last year and is still involved. He is part of the senior football backroom team as they get the final details in place for Sunday.

Looking back on his playing days, Matthews fully recognises the club’s support.

“In 2001, I started working in Dublin for five or six years and never transferred out of the club,” he said.

“The boys would have come or have someone lift me from the train and left me to training.”

Gerry McGreevy is another cog in the engine as a financial backer of the club.

The labour from his construction company is also a helping hand when needed.

One look at Clonduff’s impressive base tells of the collective efforts. With three teams preparing for county finals, this is the end product.

All they need now is the silverware. Matthews remembers the homecoming in the club after 2000.

His late mother Kathleen was there enjoying those proud moments, just two years before she was taken far too soon. The smiles in the photographs now mean more than ever.

There was also the special moment when they paraded the cup around the parish on the back of a lorry.

O’Hagan can also remember the times when they were also paraded home as minor champions.

He can still vividly remember the few words his late father John uttered in the hours before the 2000 senior final.

“I was a wee bit hot headed,” Eugene admits with a smile.

“I remember that morning, my old boy, before I was leaving to go up and get the bus to go to Newry.

“He was telling me to ‘play cute’ and that stuck with me that day. Instead of swinging my fist or kicking, I had it in my head.”

Later that night, the winning squad clamoured onto the back of a lorry for the final leg of the victory parade.

“Whenever we came back up (towards home), Daddy had the bales of straw lit, it was a thing he did for celebrations.

“Whenever we passed our house, I remember Daddy standing there and he said ‘you played cute, you played cute’. I can still see it.”

Matthews also speaks of the importance of victory for those beyond the playing group. Clubs are about everybody.

“The biggest memory I have of it, it’s not even playing the match,” he said. “I can remember us wearing the grey tops with the green collars.

“You nearly felt like an imposter because it was like an out-of-body experience. You’re just going, ‘Jesus, there’s no better feeling than this’.

“We were the players, just going out to play a game of football. It was the happiness in the other people’s faces.

“Brendan Murray, he was ecstatic. He was the club chairman at the time, one of the youngest ever.

“He had probably lived his whole life for this. He set the wheels in motion 10 years or so before that, to get coaches in to coach these young lads.

“He got the development going, got the club rooms up and then there was a championship sitting.”

Matthews can see the similarities to now. Back then, it was a 20-year gap. Now it’s 26.

“The whole club is hungry for this,” he added.

“Everybody will go the extra mile to try and get this over the line.”

“All the behind the scenes work that goes on is what makes the club, the club,” O’Hagan added.

“I’m longer in New York now than I was at home, but Clonduff is my club, Clonduff is my home, Clonduff is who I want to see win.

“Paudie has heard me saying this too,” he added.

“I made a decision to come out here (New York) 20 odd years ago. This is where my life is now.

“My two wee lads, whenever I bring them home, one of the first visits is to the football field.

“I want them to know Clonduff means more than anything in the world to me.

“For them to win the championship now, you think of all the older boys that have been about longer than us and what it would mean to them.

“I can’t explain what it’s like as an outsider for Clonduff to win.”

Frank Dawson will be forever the man who steered Clonduff to their ninth title.

Ironically, he is part of Burren’s management team hoping Sunday isn’t the day Clonduff move into double figures.

“I remember back whenever we got to the final in 97, thinking we’re going to win five or six of these,” Matthews concludes.

“Here we are, 26 years later, we’ve only won one in 45 years. If we can get over the line this year, this is going to be massive for our club and I would say it will lead to more.”

When the band leads the teams around Páirc Esler on Sunday, O’Hagan and Matthews’ thoughts will think back to final day in 2000. They have their fingers cross for the same result.