Boys to men: Tiarnán Rocks and the new blood in Ballinderry

By Michael McMullan

IT might be six days until Christmas but you’d never know in Ballinderry. The lights are on in their hub. There are kids to be coached and fun to be had.

The last time Ballinderry won Ulster, Michael McIver scored their only goal against Glenswilly. Niall McCusker was a defensive rock in their 2002 All-Ireland winning team.

Both are in the community hall, surrounded by mini-Shamrocks. Balls are zipping around. A future generation is in the mould.

Tiarnán Rocks is in his second year of senior football. The action is downstairs, but he is perched in the committee room.

For a young lad, he chats freely. The five days since beating Arva haven’t been enough for an Ulster title to properly register and their Austin Stacks semi-final distant enough to be a real focus.

He keeps his cards close and is versed in the Stacks’ history enough to know this is another tough examination.

Not born when Ballinderry won the All-Ireland, Rocks was just eight when McIver kicked his 2013 Ulster final goal.

“When I was younger, I remember Ballinderry winning everything,” Rocks said of his earliest memories of the side.

A handful of points in arrears didn’t matter, Rocks would always remember the Shamrocks pulling themselves back.

The three-in-a-row, including Ballinderry’s last senior title in 2013, are the memories.

He now shares a dressing room with Ryan Bell and Gareth McKinless. Back then, they were among his heroes.

Championship Sunday was about flags and airhorns and going to watch Ballinderry.

“It’s just football,” Rocks said of a fanaticism in the parish. “That’s all everyone ever talks about or thinks about.”

A slightly built teenager, Rocks has a serious engine. In a game-plan with defenders and finishers prominent, his input will often go under the radar.

But not to his teammates. Goalkeeper Ben McKinless commented after their win over Derrylaughan how valuable he is.

In his younger days, he dipped into soccer with Magherafelt Sky Blues, Ballymena United and Dungannon Swifts.

With Ballinderry, many of the early years were spent in the B grades where a successful Féile season was their taste of silver.

Ruairí Forbes played at centre back, Niall O’Donnell was at midfield, Rocks and Shea McCann were part of the attack.

All four are senior regulars, with Michael Cullen, Adam Gilligan, Eoin McCracken, Jack and Luke Bell also part of the squad.

After u-14, they dipped their toes into the A grade and were four points off toppling a Dungiven minor team who went on to win the Ulster title.

Conleith Gilligan had coached the group all the way through.

Conleith Gilligan coached many of the the young players on the Ballinderry senior team

With a growing emphasis on competing and Rocks developing more of a grá for football, soccer fizzled out.

“Whenever I was really young, I always thought when I’d get to seniors in Ballinderry you’re just going to win something,” Rocks said.

It hasn’t been the way until now. At underage, the clubs with bigger populations were at the top end.

“There were a couple of boys in my class at school from Magherafelt, they had four or five championship medals,” Rocks points out.

“There was one time they had won more championship medals than I had won championship matches. It was just madness.”

The Ballinderry lads kept at it with Gilligan bringing intensity to every session.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but he just makes you obsessed with football,” Rocks said.

It got to the point where the players were beginning to drive the training sessions. They’d demand more and would insist in repeating a set of runs if the levels weren’t what they needed to be.

Forbes played virtually all of last season until he missed the last two games, including the play-off defeat that pushed them through the relegation trap door.

“I just put the head down over winter in the gym,” he said of preparing for 2024. “A few of us would be going to the pitch nearly every evening when we had nothing on, just trying to get a head start over everyone else.”

In his Ulster final acceptance speech, Gareth McKinless spoke of boys becoming men. In interviews on these pages, Ryan O’Neill and Oisín Duffin commented on younger players not needing to be led.

Rocks hails the impact of manager Jarlath Bell and Davy Harte. The target was to get back to the senior championship.

With the Derry restructure, that would take a semi-final appearance. After that, there was no talk of titles or an Ulster run.

They’d note the next opponent, map out the preparation and attack the game. Work hard. Repeat. The next game was all that mattered.

For Rocks and the lads who played under Gilligan at underage, they had the perfect grounding.

“We all had a winning mentality and we just brought it with us to the seniors,” Rocks said. It was a desire and a culture more than any jingle of medals.

“We always thought we could win something more at underage. We never did, but we competed well at training. Everyone just got stuck in.”

They came into a senior group with enough leaders to tell them how the real world of adult sport worked.

No big speeches, just a steer or a pointer towards fixing any mistakes. Before games, there would be a quiet word of advice.

It has worked. There was the buzz of big championship games. Getting off the bus and seeing the young fans jangled the nerves.

“You run out for the warm up and hear the horns and it’s just nothing you’ve ever experienced,” he said of the excitement.

“There’s some support for us. I can’t even describe what it feels like. It’s just amazing.”

It has turned full circle. From the days as a fan, Rocks is now on the inside looking out.

“Just seeing the younger ones, like the ones that me and Adam (Gilligan) coach, they’re coming to you after the match, asking you to sign their jersey. It’s hard to describe,” Rocks said.

The Shamrocks are 60 minutes away from Croke Park. Rocks thinks but chooses not to even dream.

“I’m not going to look too far ahead,” he sums up, before a mention of Austin Stacks.

“They won the senior championship three years ago. They will obviously be very, very good.”

Beyond Saturday and a potential final, Ballinderry are a senior club again. Tiarnán Rocks is well below their starting team’s average age of 24.6.

The Shamrocks have played their transition card well.

As for the young boys under the watch of men like Niall McCusker and Michael McIver, they’ll aim to follow.

This week’s Gaelic Lives looks ahead to the All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend and we have Ulster minor winning reaction.