From Doha to the ‘Dork – it was all worth it for Neil Kilpatrick

By Niall Gartland

NEIL Kilpatrick’s flight landed in Dublin Airport at 6.30am last Friday morning. Yep, the same day as the county final.

Yet there wasn’t a hint of jet-lag in his performance 13 hours later under lights at Healy Park. Kilpatrick was superb. As usual, you could say.

For those not in the know, Kilpatrick has actually made a series of flying visits from Doha in recent weeks, starting with Edendork’s quarter-final victory over Clonoe. He’d set a precedent and he couldn’t back out now.

Neil, who is a secondary school in Qatar, is happy to acknowledge that it’s all been worth it. Indeed, he’d do it again ‘in a heartbeat’. Edendork are senior champions for the first time in the club’s history with Neil playing a starring role. It doesn’t get any better.

Kilpatrick said: “I got home for the Friday night game [against Clonoe], and once I got home for the first one, I couldn’t really say no to the next one! It sort of spiralled; as we kept winning, you kept getting confidence that something like this could be achievable, and to see it now, it’s well worth every minute of it.”

Neil was also glad to have the opportunity to soak in the celebrations. It’s been a hectic spell, to put it mildly, but he reminds us that his teammates have to make personal sacrifices as well.

“One of the fellas, Malachy McLernon, has lifted me from the airport every Friday morning. Here, if you want to do something like this, you have to make sacrifices, and it’s not only me, the lads have put in a massive shift over the last few weeks.

“I’m lucky enough I don’t have to deal with the training and team meetings and all that, I just come in and play and then leave!”, he joked.

“But yeah, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, no doubt about it. I’m off for Halloween. I’m supposed to be in Cape Town for the week, but when the replay came on Friday night, plans had to change. I’m here until Thursday, so I’ll be able to enjoy the celebrations for the next few days.”

Edendork is a small, tight-knit community, and Kilpatrick’s own family connections reflect that fact.

Leading light

His brother Conn is a leading light with both Edendork and Tyrone, while their father, Adrian, also a former Tyrone player, married into the Mallon family.

Adrian’s wife, Oonagh, is a cousin of Joe and Mickey Mallon, both members of Tyrone’s trailblazing 1986 team. Joe’s son, Conor, is captain of the current Edendork side. Then there’s Arthur. Edendork’s grounds are named after Neil’s uncle, who tragically lost his life in a car crash at just 17 years of age. He’ll always be remembered.

Neil commented: “You know, we’re very lucky. My dad played for Tyrone, as did an uncle on dad’s side.

“On my mum’s side, the Mallons are so big in terms of the Edendork community. My grandad John pretty much built Edendork football field from scratch with the help of a few lads. The pitch is named after my uncle Arthur.

“There are people who sacrificed everything for Edendork their whole lives that never get to see days like this. We’re lucky that we get to experience this, and nobody will ever get to take it away from us, so it’s perfect for everybody.”

Neil, who was joint-captain of the Tyrone U20s in 2021, said that talent was never the issue in Edendork. Squad depth was a different story, but the stars aligned and now they’ve achieved something that will be remembered decades from now.

“To many people across Tyrone this mightn’t mean anything but to the few that were on the field, this is everything. It’s something we’d never seen and might never see again. So, to be part of something like this is unbelievable.

“I’ve always thought we had the players, maybe just not the depth. We’d a couple of injuries over the last while and that has hindered us at times. To win a championship you need a bit of luck, there’s no doubt about that. You think about the players that we have, and it’s all seemed to come together in a great way.”