Spirt of Eden – The Edendork story

By Niall Gartland

Punch the word Edendork into the sat nav and there it is. A splash of urban land between Dungannon and Coalisland. Blink and you could easily miss it.

Darren McCurry’s family home is quite literally a kick of the ball away from Arthur Mallon Park, Edendork’s club grounds.

Or as Adrian Kilpatrick, father of Conn and Neil, puts it, it’s a one-mile stretch of road populated by little more than a collection of cul de sacs.

Last month their minor footballers won the Grade Three League Final with victory over Owen Roes. A big day in their young lives, but let’s not completely sugarcoat it – it’s still two rungs down from the top tier.

Just a couple of weeks prior to that, their flagship senior team fluffed their lines on the final day of the league, losing to bottom-placed Omagh St Enda’s. A relegation play-off surely beckoned.

Yet here they are. On the cusp of the biggest day in the club’s history – a first ever Senior Championship final. As David Byrne of Talking Heads once sang, well, how did we get here?

Adrian Kilpatrick, a former Tyrone footballer and a self-confessed ‘blow-in’ from Dungannon, takes up the story. So does Paul Maxwell, whose involvement with Edendork stretches back a full half-century. He’s witnessed the club win four Intermediate Championships, but nothing even remotely compares to this.

“This is a mammoth task for a wee place like Edendork,” says Kilpatrick. “We’re literally one mile of the four-mile straight between Dungannon and Coalisland. A bit of countryside, a couple of small wee cul-de-sacs – you wouldn’t even call it estates. We’re definitely punching above our weight.

“Look at our league form. It just shows you how small and fragile our wee club is. Between injuries and lack of numbers, we found ourselves in a relegation play-off.”

Kilpatrick cites a graphic circulating online, contrasting the clubs’ respective records in the Tyrone Senior Championship.

“It showed the number of finals Errigal had reached, how many they’d won and how many they’d lost compared to Edendork. They have so many, and Edendork, it was zero, zero and zero! If you needed anything visually to tell you the massive task we have, that was it in a nutshell.”

A select group of surnames will invariably come to the surface in any discussion about Edendork.

For starters, Kilpatrick is married into the Mallon family. He’s been married to Oonagh for 31 years. She’s a cousin of Joe and Mickey Mallon – both of whom played in Tyrone’s trailblazing 1986 team. Joe’s son Conor is captain of the present Edendork team. Then there’s Arthur Mallon Park, which leads us to Des Fox. As a club, Edendork certainly haven’t been immune from tragedy.

“Our grounds are called the Arthur Mallon Park. It’s named after Conn and Neil’s uncle who died in a car crash when he was 17. Arthur was my wife’s brother and he was a great youth player with great potential.

“Mickey Harte was going to bring him into the Tyrone minors and he played a match the day of his death. Later on he headed to Cookstown for the night with a few lads. They were hit by a drunk-driver and the taxi driver and Arthur died.

“The family didn’t really want to be seen to push his name forward, and the club very graciously decided to name the pitch in honour of Arthur, which was very much appreciated.

“I should also add that the pavilion was always dedicated to Des Fox because he was such a brilliant clubman and a great source of funding as well.”

Paul Maxwell was particularly close to Des Fox, who was murdered on September 30, 1990, on his way to the Curragh Races. A bookmaker by profession, Fox was chairman of Edendork at the time of his death.

“It was Dessie’s 36th anniversary a fortnight ago. I used to work for him,” said Paul. “He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he just lived for football. He was very, very popular, and such a character.

“He was a big driving force behind our new pitch, which was redeveloped in 1990. Both the old and new pavilion have been named after Dessie. It was burned down in 2008 and a lot of effort was put into fundraising and getting that back together again.”

Fast forward to the present day and Edendork’s unprecedented run to the senior final showpiece also has a poignant backdrop. Cousins Martin ‘Rusty’ Currie and Declan Cullen, who were dedicated club stalwarts and close friends, recently passed away within weeks of each other.

Kilpatrick said: “God rest them both. Declan was a teacher. Martin, a local engineering businessman. They were great club men.

“As you know yourself, in a small community, anybody who is anybody, puts their shoulder to the wheel and tries to contribute in some shape or form.

“Declan was heavily involved in the teams over the years as a statsman and what have you. Martin would’ve kicked ball years ago. They were always there to lend their support.

“They were only told last year that things weren’t good for them. They died within a month of each other so it’s been very tough, particularly given their association with the club.”

Declan was also a nephew of the late Austin Currie, a civil rights veteran, founding SDLP member and former TD.

Maxwell, who knows the history of Edendork inside out and back to front, says that Currie never lost connection with his local club.

“Declan Cullen’s mother was a Currie. He’s a nephew of Austin Currie, the former politician. The Currie family would’ve been very much involved in Edendork for generations and still are.

“Austin used to come up every year and chair our AGM. Stephen Corr, who came on as sub in the semi-final, is a great-nephew of Austin’s.

“The current club chairman Darragh Cullen is a nephew of Austin. Austin’s brother Aidan is a former chairman, and another brother, Brendan, a former secretary, so it’s fair to say they’ve been very much to the fore of our club.”

We could go on. Take the Nelis cousins – Fiachra and Rian are grandchildren of former Tyrone chairperson Liam Nelis. It’s all about the bloodlines.

This is the most significant week in the history of Edendork St Malachy’s. From our vantage point, their run to Sunday’s O’Neill Cup showdown has come as a bolt from the blue. Maxwell doesn’t entirely disagree with that assessment.

“Well, to a certain extent, yes, it is a surprise. We always believed that we had the talent but were hitting the post, so to speak. We got so far and maybe didn’t have the belief to contest with some of the more established, bigger clubs. Again we don’t have a big panel. I’d say, we’ve a panel of about 18 or 19 senior players who are regularly playing.

“But this year in the championship we just seemed to have clicked. Having said that, if you’re looking at this from a neutral point of view, Errigal have come through the much tougher end of the draw.

“My prediction for the last two or three years was Killyclogher but Errigal beat them comfortably. Then they beat Trillick and last year’s champions, Loughmacrory.

“To be honest with you I was very fearful of Donaghmore in the semi-final but I think it’s very difficult to guard against complacency and I think that’s what happened them. But still, from start to finish I thought Edendork were in complete control and got the match ups right which is very, very important.”

Donning the banisteoir bib is former Edendork footballer Brian McGuckin, assisted by Malachy McGlinchey and Conleith Gilligan. Gilligan played for Ballinderry back in the day, a club also strongly associated with the McGuckin family.

Maxwell said: “Brian’s father Mick was a Ballinderry man and a big name in Derry football. He then married and settled in Edendork. Mick was very much front and centre with a lot of Edendork teams up until the late 1990s and he’s held in very high esteem.

“Brian was a fantastic footballer in his own right. There’s a backstory but it is quite disappointing that he was not on the 2003 All-Ireland squad because take it from me, he was good enough. His brothers all played for the club as well.

“The hardest job any manager has is getting the best out of their players and Brian McGuckin, Malachy McGlinchey, and Conleith Gilligan seem to have done that.

“Gilligan hasn’t been involved all season, but he was there before and he seems to have freshened things up and maybe instilled a wee bit of belief in the players. He’s very passionate with the lads, he lives and breathes every kick along the sideline.”

Maxwell was also keen to emphasise the integrated nature of the club.

“The other thing is that we are an integrated club and very much proud to be so. We’ve had a very successful season. Our camogs won the Tyrone Intermediate Championship and our ladies footballers got promoted to the senior league for the first time this year. And the thing about it as well, a lot of our ladies are dual players who play both football and camogie.

“We’ve two lads who play hurling for Eoghan Ruadh as well – there’s Correy Bell, who has played really well for the footballers and is getting better and better. He was a member of the Tyrone U20 squad this year. Fionn Devlin has played both as well. The Devlins are well-known as hurlers, but Fionn’s grandfather John, a great hurler, also played football for Edendork.”

Operating with small numbers brings it challenges. In an ideal world, for example, they’d operate at a higher level at underage level.

Maxwell said: “Ladies Football at underage would be somewhat stronger than the boys. Unfortunately most are playing at Grade Three which isn’t necessarily where you want to be.

“You could contrast it with the minor team that Darren McCurry played on in 2011. They won the Grade One League and Championships. They had four members of our current starting team (McCurry, Conor Mallon, Daire Conway and Donal Maneely) and a few subs as well. We were expecting big things at the time but there was emigration and a few other issues and they didn’t really kick on like we’d have liked.”

Yet still, here they are, on the final ascent towards the holy grail. It helps having three vastly experienced Tyrone footballers in their ranks. Recall Darren McCurry’s goal in the 2021 All-Ireland final. Morgan’s booming kick-out, Kilpatrick’s fetch and McCurry’s finish. A goal virtually – but not quite entirely! – made in Edendork (we’ll not conveniently forget Conor McKenna’s role).

Maxwell said: “Those three lads are super role models for the younger members of the club. They are very good clubmen as well. There’s Ben Cullen as well – his contribution sometimes gets overlooked.”

Conn Kilpatrick had arguably his best ever season with Tyrone and has been nominated for an All-Star. He’s not the only member of the Kilpatrick family making waves though: Neil has been flying back and forth from Doha to play a full role in their championship campaign.

“The younger brother, Neil, has been a revelation for our team this year,” said Maxwell. “No words can describe the importance for us, of him coming home from Doha for our championship games. He was Tyrone U20 vice-captain in 2021 and I can’t understand how he wasn’t called up to the seniors.

“Conn has had a tremendous year for Tyrone, and he’s been exceptional for ourselves as well. He’s always been incredibly talented, but I think the big thing this year is that he’s been driving forward and driving forward again. He’s really put opposition players on the back foot – just look at the goal he scored against Clonoe in the championship – when he goes on a run, he’s so hard to stop.”

And we’ll leave the last word to their father Adrian. He’s proud of his two cubs – that goes without saying – but he’s also quick to stress the importance of the group.

“I’m proud of the two boys, surely, but I genuinely mean this – I’m proud of the entire squad. It’s a whole-squad thing, a whole-group thing, from top to bottom. My philosophy, honestly, is that no one is more important than the whole unit.

“So yes, the county boys are important and, yes, there’s my own sons, Neil and Conn, but the whole unit is having a moment in time. We’re very lucky. But I keep coming back to it: we also have a league relegation play-off, don’t forget, and that shows you how fragile things are as well.”

And that’s what it takes. The players on the pitch, the management, the supporters, and the legions of dedicated club people who have made Edendork what it is today: a small club that has placed itself front and centre in the story of the 2026 Tyrone Senior Championship.