- By Niall McCoy
- BRENDAN O’Hagan may study at St Eunan’s, Letterkenny and he may have played for Donegal at underage level, but on Friday night he will be doing everything in his power to ensure that the Tir Chonaill county exit the Ulster Minor Championship at the expense of his Armagh side.
- It’s a complex situation, sure, but one that demonstrates the commitment and dedication of O’Hagan, who also won an Ulster boxing title last March before Covid stopped him advancing to the All-Ireland series.
- For now though, his aim is on helping the Orchard county back into the Ulster Minor final when they meet Donegal at Healy Park, something his father Barry achieved in 1992 with the side eventually losing out dramatically to Meath in the All-Ireland final.
- Barry, who would win a Celtic Cross a decade after that heart-breaking defeat, explained the unique nature of the situation.
- “Brendan played here in Donegal up to u-14 level and was brought into Donegal development squads at that age,” said O’Hagan. “He goes to school in St Eunan’s, Letterkenny obviously too.
- “When Armagh changed their age-group to u-14.5 Brendan transferred to Clan na Gael. He would have been down at my mum and dad’s for basically whole summers. My nephew James Austin, who is also in the Armagh minor squad, would play with him too.
- “Brendan, from u-8 to u-12, had been playing in the Go Games with Clan na Gael anyway. Whenever he was down in Lurgan he played for the Clans.
- “He had that affinity to Clan na Gael and he had me tortured. There was no big grand plan to transfer forever. He was going to transfer for a season and see how it went, but they did well and reached the Ulster U-16 final, the Paul McGirr Tournament.
- “He played u-17 last year and they got to the county final and lost to Cross. Ciaran McKeever brought him into last year’s panel, he was part of the squad that Derry beat in Owenbeg in December. Now he’s in this year’s panel with five other Clan na Gael boys.”
- With u-17 and u-19 club training and matches, along with the commitment needed for Brendan Hughes’s Armagh squad, Brendan spends most of his weeks, when not in school, in Lurgan with his grandparents. He considers Lurgan as his home.
- O’Hagan also said that the travelling up and down to Lurgan to help with Brendan’s football commitments has never once felt like a burden.
- “Brendan will come up against two of his schoolmates, Donal Gallagher and Gary Kelly, who play for Donegal so it’s interesting.
- “He was doing TY, transition year, in school this year so he finished mid-May and he has been living in Lurgan really since then. He comes home once a week to see us!
- “Someone said to me ‘I know it’s a commitment for Brendan but is it not a massive commitment for you with the driving?’ It’s not, the joy I get from it is immense.
- “It’s not about winning and losing, I’d like to see them being successful, but the joy of seeing him putting on a blue jersey and an orange jersey is worth every mile.”
- And O’Hagan said that Brendan will be back in the ring eventually, once the sport restarts competitively at local level.
- “The boxing isn’t back up until September but he has one year left at underage and he is determined to give it a real push and win an Irish u-18 title.”