By Niall Gartland

IT goes without saying GAA is the bedrock of small rural areas like Clogher. And invariably contained within those tight-knit communities are families who have been steeped in their respective clubs for generations.

A 20-year-old Paul McElroy was right half-back on the Clogher team that won their second-ever Junior Championship title in the millennial year. His father Patsy occupied that very same position when Clogher landed their maiden title all the way back in 1972.

Among McElroy’s teammates in that 2000 triumph were four members of the present management set-up: Steven McKenna, Kevin McConnell, Frankie Lowry and Colla McMahon. Lowry’s son Vincent is only a cub but is already starring at senior level for a Clogher team bidding for their third ever Junior Championship title this Saturday. These days don’t come around too often so there’s no overstating its significance – it could turn out to be a defining moment in the playing lives of this current generation of Clogher players.

McElroy himself doesn’t exactly have the feet up. Last year he finished up a six-year stint as chairman and he presently serves as the club’s youth officer. Now in his mid-40s, he still plays a bit of reserve football when “the knees let him away with it”, and memories of their 2000 success remain vivid in his mind.

On county final day they overcame Dregish on a scoreline of 0-16 to 0-8, though in hindsight their semi-final replay win over their near neighbours Augher was the big one.

McElroy said: “I remember in 1999 Stewartstown beat us up in Carrickmore. Feargal Logan was playing midfield and beat us on his own that day.

“We were a very young group, I was 20 and nine or ten of us were in that bracket. We were probably a bit of a party team, and in 2000 we brought in an outside manager for the first time in seven or eight years – a Fermanagh man called Ciaran Carey.

“He completely changed our mindset. We beat Dregish in the final fairly well, they were a bit of an ageing team at that time. Our real final I suppose was against Augher in the semi-final. It went to a draw on the first day out and we beat them by a couple of points in the replay.”

Clogher celebrated their championship success with gusto having bridged a gap of 28 years. Health and safety wouldn’t have got a look in.

“We got home on the Sunday evening from Carrickmore and there was plenty of partying, and then on the Monday evening we got up on a lorry supplied by the local haulier Eugene Meenan. Clogher main street was closed and we were paraded standing up on top of the lorry. Health and safety officers would’ve taken a fairly dim view of it! There’s still a video of it going around. It was a special time for us.”

McElroy first got involved on Clogher’s club committee at the age of 15 and he’s barely been away from it since. He was on the sidelines for their Grade Four Minor Championship final against Fintona during the summer, and the club is pushing forward with ambitious development plans.

“I bowed out as chairperson at last year’s AGM and I’m youth officer now. I’d six years done and needed a change and Louise (McKenna) put her hand up. She has fresh ideas which is great, and as a club we have big plans – we’re going to start a new development with new changing rooms and things like that over a couple of phases, which will ultimately come down to money and funding.”

For now though, all roads lead to O’Neill’s Healy Park and Saturday’s Junior Championship showdown against Drumragh. There’s so much at stake – both teams are searching for their third-ever title success and victory would mean the world to either camp.

“We played Drumragh twice in the league – in the first there was an 18-point swing with us coming out on top, that’s how kamikaze it was.

“I was doing umpire – Drumragh hit maybe 3-1 early on and we only had a point or two on the board, and then we blitzed them in the final 10 or 12 minutes. Ciaran Bogue scored 4-4 that day, he was absolutely brilliant.

“Drumragh probably didn’t have the league campaign they’d have wanted but they’d a couple of lads away who are back now. They’re a really strong team, and didn’t beat Cookstown for nothing. It should be a great occasion. I just hope our boys come through it.”

The pieces are in place. Twenty five years on from their last Junior Championship success – the symmetry is obvious, but Drumragh are hardly lacking in motivation either. Let’s hope it lives up to its billing.