Making a breakthrough: Ronan Boyle looks back on making history with St Brigid’s

By Michael McMullan

TWENTY minutes inside Ronan Boyle’s world on Monday spoke a thousand words.

Some 24 hours earlier, at three o’clock, the ball was tossed skywards to signal that start of St Brigid’s greatest footballing hour.

A first ever senior football title peeled the back their 28 years’ worth of emotion. A cocktail of planning, expectation, disappointment and, now, unbridled joy.

As they enjoyed their most magical Monday, Boyle’s voice was oozing with pride. Absolute pride.

He had always thought about lifting the Padraig McNamee Cup. If St Brigid’s could climb the mountain, what would it be like? For years, he pondered. Now, county final weekend was totally different. He knows now.

“It was class, for it actually to happen, to be able to do it, it was unreal,” he said, having had some time to process it all.

“Everyone always remembers the team to go and do something first. To be the first team to be able to do it, that’ll stay with you forever.”

During his acceptance speech, Boyle mentioned the name of his late friend. Fionntán McGarvey was a member of their team as they matured from underage, until he passed away in early 2022.

“Fionntán meant so much to all of us, he was one of my best friends and it still is very tough to take,” he said.

Boyle visited his graveside on Saturday, hoping McGarvey would bring St Brigid’s a sliver of luck as they chased the biggest prize on offer.

When St Brigid’s won the U20 title, a year after Fionntán’s passing, they brought the cup to visit the grave. It was the same on Sunday; the first person they took the McNamee Cup to visit was their late friend.

REMEMBERING FIONNTÁN…The St Brigids Belfast players bring the McNamee Cup to Fionntán McGarvey’s grave after Sunday’s historic day when they won a first ever Antrim senior title

“It was just nice, for just the team to be there, themselves and Fionntán,” Boyle said.

“They’re the things that you remember. In the senior team, there’s so many boys in my year, the year above or the year below.

“We are all very tight and Fionntán was a massive part of it. We were only starting as senior footballers, for it to happen, it was just tough to take.”

When the St Brigid’s squad reached the Botanic Inn later on Sunday night, it was awash with blue and gold. From balloons, to banners to flares, it was all there.

More importantly it was packed with those closest, friends, family, everyone connected with the St Brigid’s journey since the inception.

“You always think about it and wonder how many people will be there and what it’ll be like if we could win it,” Boyle said.

“Then, to actually do it, there were so many people. I just wish I had walked slower (through the car park), just to have taken it in that bit more.

“It was unreal though, all the flares, the colour, all the people who put all the work into that. It was something we had no idea about.”

Seeing St Brigid’s flags up around Belfast is a sign of where the club has come from.

Boyle turned 24 on Saturday. The club was founded in 1998 and was still two years from fielding an adult team in the year he was born. That’s the perspective of their breakthrough.

He can recall the burgeoning years. A photo did the rounds last week of a coaching session on the grounds of the local YMCA. The goalposts were two evasion poles from the coaching equipment stash as giddy kids found their way in the GAA world.

The club would then begin an arrangement which saw them use the grounds of Belfast Harlequins rugby club.

Since then, they have a lease on their base at Musgrave Park, where Stockman’s Way ebbs towards the M1 motorway. It’s as close to home as they have for now.

“You were always playing with your friends,” he points out. “It all brings back the memories and now, we’re senior champions.”

When did it all begin to turn? Boyle points to the efforts of those who went before but points to the numbers that flocked to training when the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.

“We were training at Musgrave, over two pitches with 70 players for training,” he said of that time under manager Anthony McGrath.

“Everyone was there and just wanted to play football and the standards improved, there was a real want and a desire for it.”

WE DID IT…St Brigid’s are champions of Antrim

More recently, they have been building. Goals from Conhuir Johnston and Kevin O’Boyle sunk them in the 2023 semi-finalin the rain in Dunsilly.

Two weeks later, they were back in training with the aim of going one better.

It was Cargin at the semi-final stage. The sides were locked at 0-7 all with five minutes to play before a breakaway Paul McCann goal decided the game.

“Dunloy last year, that was a tough one to take,” Boyle added of last year’s quarter-final

St Brigid’s found themselves six points down before a late charge saw them miss out on another semi-final by the narrowest of margins. For the third successive year, they had been ousted by the eventual champions.

“Dunloy really hurt us last year, I can’t really describe how much it hurt us,” he added. “We had a very good management team with local boys in the club,”

As part of their championship buildup, they played challenge games against Scotstown, Clann Éireann, as well as Dublin do Na Fianna and Castleknock.

“We were very close in those games and that gave us real belief that we were not far away at all,” Boyle said of their mindset.

Matching the best in other counties had to offer was another layer of belief they needed to keep hammering at the door.

Before a ball was kicked this year, there was a collective focus on going all the way.

Cathal Murray came in as manager after a successful spell with Ardee in Louth. He brought in Thomas and Gerard McNulty who had steered Creggan to glory.

While they had a management team of men who had delivered, the St Brigid’s had to wrestle with their tag of nearly getting there.

Other side of the line

“It’s nice to get over the line,” Boyle said, now on the other side of their hard luck stories.

“It’s fair to be called bottlers or whatever. When you haven’t done it, anyone can say whatever they want about you.”

It’s different now. St Brigid’s embark on an Ulster campaign. and were due back in training after a few days talking in a selection Belfast’s various hostelries.

In the bigger picture, they have to look beyond 2026 too. The last decade has saw considerable progress. The work has been put in but it’s not time to stand still.

“There’s a good pathway coming through and we’re putting a lot of work into our youth, to make sure there’s a conveyor belt,” Boyle added.

“Some teams around the country sort of forget about their youth and focus so solely on the senior team.

“Then in 10-15 years they have nothing really coming through here, whereas we have.

“You just have to keep working on the youth, like our motto is ‘praise the youth and they’ll flourish’.

“Yes, it’s great now, but in 10 years I’ll be 34, so it’s a case of looking at what is coming behind.

“You don’t want to be a team that just wins one championship, or two or three. “You want to keep developing and pushing, seeing how far and how good a club you can become.”