Dunloy knocking the door again

TO win a senior championship would be unbelievable insists Dunloy’s Kevin McQuillan ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Cargin.

There is an obvious if, considering they are going in against a team vying for a fourth successive title.

Now in this 22nd season, having coached the core of the senior team at underage level, winning the biggest prize has gone from something McQuillan never dreamt would happen to something that’s possible.

“I didn’t think it was possible until two years ago, to be honest,” he told Gaelic Life.

“I knew we had those great players coming through, if we could keep them all together.

“They were obviously the best in the county in that age group. They are coming in now so I knew we could definitely be competitive but it would be absolutely fantastic to win it.”

It wasn’t always this way. McQuillan played his first official game for Dunloy in 2004. Before that, he was called in as an emergency 14-year-old corner forward.

Too young to play to travel with the minors he rocked up with his father Paddy to watch a senior game.

“They had only 14 players,” he recalls of the visit of Gort na Mona, “so I was told to run down home and get my boots. I just did a corner forward, barely touched the ball.”

Alongside his brother, and current senior manager, Anthony, Kevin threw his lot in coaching the club’s youth teams, mixing it with his own football and hurling career.

“We were always competitive at underage,” Kevin said of his own underage group.

“We were always there or thereabouts but we never won a minor championship.”

Then came a golden generation who win two A football titles in three years, 2016 and 2018. Seven of the 2016 team helped down Portglenone to book Sunday’s senior final spot.

Compared to earlier talented Dunloy teams, the more recent groups have embraced both the big and small ball. Dual players are a thing.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s hurling defeat to Loughgiel, McQuillan spoke of the balancing of codes. Every second week, their dozen at training would more than double.

Alongside Karl Fitzpatrick and Adrian Scullion, who played alongside his son Callum this season, McQuillan are the senior trio. Nigel Elliott and James Scally are in their early thirties.

Below that, there is a core of a team that have grown up with success. Add in the factor of playing in crunch hurling games, running out at Croke Park or hurling against Ireland’s finest in Division One.

While it’s a different sized ball on Sunday, Corrigan Park is familiar. Add in the experience of playing Cargin in the 2023 football decider.

Some see Dunloy run to the final as a surprise. It’s probably based on their hurling tradition. To others, a glance at their team and the levels of performance emphasise how they run out at Corrigan on Sunday on merit.

“If you look at odds, teams are maybe and probably rightly so,” McQuillan quietly surmises.

“They’ve maybe been around the block a bit longer than we have. We just want to be competitive and try and win every match we play.”

Dunloy have came a long way from rounding up a 15th man to fulfil a fixture. Their talent speaks volumes. Two finals in three years tells more. Getting their name on the McNamee Cup, now that would top it all.