Hamill: The making of a dogged defender

ANTRIM defender Ciaran Hamill has a succinct description of his playing career with the Saffron footballers.

“I think I was a decent footballer, but I will often tell my sons that I might not have been a great footballer but I stopped a lot of good footballers playing.

“As a defender that was your job. There was not the same emphasis on attacking as there is nowadays.

“It was straightforward, if you were right half-back, you had to stop the left half-forward.”

He looks back on his senior county career, which began in 1985 and ended in 1993, and takes great pride in recalling the men that he was able to curb.

“I marked Mickey Linden a few times in the late ‘80s early ‘90s. Antrim would have played them in challenge matches or the league.

“There was one time that he was interviewed and he was asked about who his most difficult opponent was and he put my name down. I took that as a compliment. I am sure he marked a lot of players since. That meant something to me.

“As a corner-back your job was to stop the forward.

“If anybody ever said that as a corner-back you were a nice guy then you weren’t doing your job right.

“Someone said to me once that ‘you are a very different player off the field as you are on the field.’”

On the field, Hamill was not nice at all. He went out of his way to make life miserable for the very best county players.

One memorable game which illustrates his combative nature was playing against Dublin in 1992.

“One of the best battles I had was with Vinny Murphy when we played Dublin, a couple of months after they had played Donegal in the All-Ireland final. They were playing us in the National League.

“My brother and his mates were at it, they watched Vinny Murphy and I wrestle for most of the match.

“Jim Gavin was on that team, and Tommy Carr. They had come from just losing an All-Ireland final. We played them in Casement, perhaps the first time they had played in Casement.

“Myself and himself (Murphy) wrestled the whole game. I stood in front of him. Every time he went to move I stepped across him. I pulled his arm. I don’t think I got any fouls given against me. I niggled him so much that he wouldn’t shake my hand after the match.

“I haven’t met him since, but I am sure if we did meet he’d laugh about it. That or he might give me a smack in the ear.”

He can also remember a similar story when he marked Down’s James McCartan.

“I often say this to him when I meet him. I was marking him and at the end of the match he took off his jersey and handed to me. He said, ‘you can keep that. You held onto it the whole match you may as well have it. I thought you wanted it so you can keep it.’”

Hamill’s attitude to defending is simple. The best defenders are those who are rarely seen.

“The era I played in you were only recognised if you made a howling mistake.

“I got the nickname of ‘Hands Hamill’ for a year from the Maynooth Sigerson team because I called for a high ball but I missed it and it fell straight to Leo Turley. He turned and smacked it to the net. It wasn’t just that goal. We missed a 14-metre free in that game.

“My memory was calling for that ball, and it got caught in the wind.

“I was only sent off once, for hitting Plunkett Donaghy, and he deserved it that day.

“You were only remembered if you got sent off or made a mistake.”

The lesson of not making mistakes was a tough one to learn. He had already experienced how cruel county football could be when he started playing for Antrim in 1985.

“The first year I played for Antrim I was playing centre half-back. I marked Brian McGilligan and he put an end to that (being centre half-back). He was the most physically strong player I have ever played against.

“We played Derry in Corrigan Park in the National League in that season around the 1985-86 season. It wasn’t that I didn’t play well. It was more that Brian McGilligan played exceptionally well. I moved from centre half to corner-back. I felt lucky to keep my place after that.

“Perhaps there was no one else putting their hand up to play there. I didn’t say, if I can’t play where I want to play I won’t play. I just wanted to play.”

The story of how Ciaran Hamill the footballer was created has its roots in Newry.

Hamill’s home club is St Joseph’s Glenavy, and he fondly remembers being coached by men like James Heatley.

However, his family have a connection to St Colman’s, Newry. His uncles had attended the school and he would follow.

“St Colman’s were the kingpins of college football.

“Myself and a friend, Barry Mulholland, went as boarders. I went specifically because my uncles went there.

“When I went I had played football, but I wasn’t a very good player.

“At that stage I certainly wouldn’t have been on the schoolyard teams. I would have been middle of the pick. But I was always fairly determined.”

Hamill realised soon that he was in a competitive environment, and the quality of the footballer in the school was notable.

There were boys like Con Mulholland from Tyrone, Liam Heaney played for Down, and Ross Carr was his year. There was Jim McConville from Armagh, John Walsh from Newcastle and Nial Smyth who would play for Armagh.

Even his own pal Barry Mulholland would go on to play minor and u-21 for Antrim.

Yet Hamill was ready for the challenge.

“I made up in determination what I lacked in skill.

“I have memories of training under Ray Morgan and him pushing you. He was relentless in testing people’s character, absolutely relentless. He didn’t tolerate weakness in players.

“I can remember that at the side of the old football pitch at St Colman’s there was a hill. You used to have to do laps of the hill. You used to go up one side of the hill and down the other, then along the bottom. I wasn’t feeling particularly well, I was the last person.

“This was the start of the training season. I can remember going round and round, and I can remember passing him and him saying ‘I don’t think you are going to make this, you may quit and go in.’

“I went round again and he would say something else like ‘looks like you are going to be too slow for this team. You would be better giving up and going in.’

“I went round again. As a fifth year you didn’t talk back. But after about the seventh or eigth time when he said something smart to me I told him to eff off. He said he knew then that I would probably make it.

“He was testing all the time to see what my reaction would be. He was seeing whether I would meet him, or whether I would cow. He was a super manager and a great man. I had a lot of time for him.”

Hamill’s memories of playing football at St Colman’s were of playing against and with the very best players.

He also felt that during those years he matured and got stronger as a player.

“As all boys do, you mature physical. I was always strong, but I grew into a stronger type of person physically. I worked hard to get onto teams. From 14 to 15 I grew about five inches in 18 months, and got a wee bit faster.

“At school we won the Dalton and Corn na nÓg and got beat in the Rannafast final by a late goal. At MacRory I have a lot of different memories. I played as a fifth year in 1981 when we won the MacRory cup.

“Greg Blaney was captain. He was playing in his fourth year.

“There was a guy Marty Rogers played centre half-back, a superb player from Ballymartin. Paul Skelton was a well known underage player at that time.

“Mickey Doyle is the vice principal of St Coman’s, he was on that team.

“Donnard King was on that team.

“Eamon O’Hare from Belfast played corner-forward.”

Hamill remembers that year that the games were low scoring and dogged.

“We must have averaged seven points per game but won all the games. Greg was probably the star, while Paul Skelton was one of the main scorers.”

The run to the final had many high points.

“I remember different games. I remember a tough game in Ballymacnab against St Pat’s, Armagh. I remember Eamon O’Hare scoring a late goal to beat them by a couple of points. There was a scuffle along the sideline. They should have beat us but we dug in.

“I remember the final because I marked Dermot McNicholl. He was a fourth year.

“The year before I played in the Corn na Nog final. After that game Dermot McNicholl – who was third year – had played for Maghera in the MacRory final. I was a fourth year and me and my mates watched this star third year playing in the MacRory. They beat the Abbey that day. Then I marked him in the final the following year. I can’t really remember the final other than it was low-scoring. We scored a goal and they didn’t.”

However, the following years Hamill and St Colman’s suffered semi-final losses against the Abbey.

“The Abbey and St Colman’s derby was a big game. There was always a decent crowd.

“The atmosphere was no different then than it is now. But the playing surfaces in the Marshes was a lot different. Those games were played in February, and that pitch was always heavy.

“My final year we had a superb team. Nial Smyth from Armagh was midfield. It went to a replay, the second replay finished in a draw. Then the Abbey over ran us in extra time. One of the corner-backs slipped and they got a jammy goal.

“That was a difficult defeat to take. We had a good team and I was captain. We thought we could have gone on a bit further.”

Hamill gives a lot of credit to Pete McGrath and Ray Morgan for the guidance they gave him during those years.

“I had them for those three years. I got on well with them.
“We were boarders. And Pete McGrath would have trained after school on the pitch for an hour or so. If you weren’t in MacRory training we would have went out and trained with Pete.

“When I was on the Antrim minor team that won Ulster. That year I would have went out and trained with Pete. He would have been great to myself and some of the other guys.

“Barry Mulholland’s father

was an agricultural merchant. For four or five years Pete would have left us home for the Easter Holidays. He collected the fertiliser from Barry’s dad for the Rostrevor pitch. I still keep in touch with Pete. He actually did a session with the coaches in Glenavy.

“He taught me dedication.

“I can remember that they taught us never to stop. And to be totally ruthless. If you were ahead you could never let up. If you were behind you had to think that you would get a score. You never put the head down. You had to keep at it. They did a lot of the basic skills. It was the same with Sean O’Neill (at Queen’s). I could still remember every exercise that they did. It was all focused on basic skills and repetition. You got the basic skills right.

“As a defender they taught where to position yourself, how to tackle properly, and how to block. And also to be brave enough to do all that.

“They focused on the basic skills. My memory would be of all those managers going through the repetition of the basic skills.”

At the same time as he was in his final years at St Colman’s, the opportunity to play for Antrim came about.

But he had an odd start.

“I was at boarding school in Newry it was difficult getting to training. We only got home every third weekend. I would get a bus from Newry to Belfast. This was in 1982, Sean Higgins was the manager then lifted me in the centre of Belfast the odd time. I remember the first time he lifted me. The bus station was supposed to be Great Victoria Street. So I told him to meet me at Great Victoria Street. But what I didn’t realise, as it was my first time in that part of Belfast before, was that the Great Victoria Street bus station’s exit doesn’t lead you to Great Victoria Street, it is at Glengall Street. So he waited for me for half an hour on Great Victoria Street and I waited for him for half an hour on Glengall Street.

“I walked up the street to ask someone, but I had no money. So I went to someone in the bus station and asked how I could get to Casement Park. I didn’t know the way to get to Casement Park. They directed me to go to Castle Street to get a black taxi. I went to Castle Street, and asked a taxi man that if he took me to Casement Park I would run in and get some money to pay for the taxi. So the guy just took me up the Falls Road and Andersonstown Road, and dropped me at Casement at the same time that Sean Higgins was arriving. He wasn’t best pleased when he saw me.

“But Sean was a really good manager. He was really steady and kept that team together.”

Hamill would go on to play an important role in Antrim’s run of victories in the 1982 Minor Championship. A historic victory for the county, as it is their last ever minor title.

In 1982 they were not fancied to do anything. Yet they went on a great run.

“We beat Cavan in the quarter-final. We would have been underdogs in all our games. When we beat Cavan in 1982, on the same day the seniors won.

“That was the last game that Antrim seniors won till 2000. We (the minors) beat a fancied Donegal team in the semi-final. Then we played a really fancied Down team in the final.

“I played right half-back in all those matches. I played well.

“I was never the stand-out player but I was a good solid right half-back. I marked Tony McArdle who was from Burren. He was a good player. Ross Carr, DJ Kane, Neil Collins were on that Down minor team.
“Antrim had a good minor team. There were a lot of guys from St Mary’s, Belfast.”

While he doesn’t remember much from the actual game, Hamill does remember that he almost had a disastrous effect upon the day.

“My family laugh at me. I broke the crossbar in Clones on the day of the Ulster final. We arrived early and we were messing about on the pitch with the ball. It would have been a couple of hours before the match. I went to do a pull-up on the crossbar and it broke in the middle. There was a scramble to go to the pitch, I heard later it was a club pitch out the road, and take the crossbar off it.

“I did the pull-up right in the middle and broke it in the middle. When it broke, the fastest sprint I ever did was the sprint away after I broke it.

“I think the final score was 2-10 to 3-5. Down had a good team. They went five or six up but we just stuck at it and came back at them. Eamon Prenter was the free taker and he did really well. I remember one of the managers , Frankie Quinn, saying before the match that we needed to convert half of our chances. They did the stats afterwards and we had hit 12 scores and hit 12 wides.”

The win set up an All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry.

“We got beat by Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. It was a match we could have won.

“Playing in that game at Croke Park for your county was a big deal. I had played in Croke Park as a 15-year-old with the school. But playing for the county as a minor was a big deal.

“Armagh were still going well that year. They played Kerry in the senior semi-final.”

Unfortunately they did not win that game. 1983 brought no success either at minor level.

But it was time for Hamill’s next chapter, which was universities football.

He went to Queen’s to study Agriculture and it was there that he was coached by another legendary manager in Sean O’Neill.
“I always remember something that Sean O’Neill did in all his pre-match meetings, that was to name the team.

“After he did that, before the game, all the first 15 were expected to say a few words. That included who you were marking, what foot he kicked with, what you thought your role was.

“I did it with our own u-16s. He did that so every player was expected to have an idea who their opponent would be.”

Hamill spent five years at Queen’s and he began his career there on a high.

“I captained the freshers in the first year and we won the All-Ireland Freshers that year.

“As a fresher we had a good team. Of that year, the Sigerson team had 10 freshers.”

While he admits he didn’t know a lot about universities football, he soon learned about the rivalry.

“The derby matches are the ones I remember. Playing the Ranch or Jordanstown. They would have been the big matches. There was always a big crowd at those matches and plenty of banter.

“Jordandstown had a super freshers team. The beat us in the Freshers League. But we beat them in the semi-final. Jordanstown had more stars than we had. As freshers all of their six forwards were playing county senior football.

“They had Stevie Rice, Jim McConville, Eamon Prenter, Eunan Rafferty, they were part of their forward line. They had properly good forwards at that time.”

Queen’s met Galway in the final.

“That was a big deal for me, captaining an All-Ireland winning team.

“There were four or five guys on that team who went to St Colman’s with me.”

Unfortunately they couldn’t follow that win up with Sigerson success.

“We got beat in the semi-final the year the Sigerson was in Galway. Aidan Short, from Armagh who went on to play for Antrim, was captain. There were a lot of Antrim players on that team like Donal Armstrong, Stephen Mulvenna, Stephen Muldoon. Greg Blaney was on that team that year as well. Marty Tully from St Pat’s, Maghera. John Mackle was goalkeeper. Paddy Mahon and Paul Mahon. It was an all round good team. We had players from all over. We were disappointed that we got beat in the semi-final that year. We could have won it that year.”

They did win the Ryan Cup though. But there was another high point that Hamill remembers in 1984.

“I got selected for the Combined Universities. Micheal O Muircheartaigh was the manager. Having played in the Sigerson and getting selected for the Combined Universities that was a great year. We played the Guards as part of the Combined Universities. Brian McErlain from Derry was on the team, as was Greg Blaney. We were the three from Queen’s on that team.

“I marked John Egan in Croke Park, he was a Guard. He would still have been playing for Kerry at that time. I can remember being in awe. My earliest memories were of watching those guys. Matt Connor was the full -forward from Offaly. He was a guard.

“Muircheartaigh came over to me before the game and told me that I would be marking John Egan. He said, ‘don’t be worrying, he’s nearly an old man now and you are a young gasur. You’ll be fine’.

“Even to have someone saying that to you helped. It was fine. I think he only scored two points. I reckon I did okay on him.

“I can remember that he (John Egan) wasn’t a tall man. But when you are up close you can see the strength that he had.

“I can remember that he was physically strong, but I was young enough and arrogant enough to believe that I was quite strong as well. I was never intimidated by strength.”

Here was an example of how Hamill was learning his trade, learning how to compete with the best, and not to be overawed. It was a lesson that would help him in years to come.

But at that point in time he was just focused on playing.

“That led to a weekend in Galway when the Combined Universities played the Irish Army. I marked Dermot Earley senior in the final. That was Easter Monday. I damaged my hand and only got 10 minutes. But that was a good year getting to mark John Egan and Dermot Earley.

“In the following year in 1985 it was a difficult year. We got beat in the Sigerson final. We played Cork in the semi-final. Very early in the second half we had had two players sent off. Phelim Lennon and Stevie Mulvenna were sent off. We were two points down and down to 13 men but ended up beating them by two or three points. That semi-final was a real dogged performance.”

They met UCD in the final at Croke Park.

“In the final, the person to replace Stevie Mulvenna was Brian Conlan. He was a fresher that year.

“I remember the final I was marking Dermot Flanagan, He played as a sweeper playmaker. That was quite unusual in those days. Everyone played their positions in

those days. There weren’t a lot of tactics. But that year, Dermot played behind the midfield. He played out of position. That took a bit of getting used to. I noticed small incidents. We were through for a goal, the teams were just about level. One of our men was through one-on-one with the ’keeper. He hit it half an inch wide of the post. That was a small incident that could have made a big difference.

“We played the Sigerson on the Sunday then we played them in the Ryan Cup final on the Wednesday of that week. Most of them would have still been hung over. That set up a game against Jordanstown in the final. We played them in Casement. We were lucky enough to win that match.

“I might have been marking Dominic Corrigan. I know he was playing, Eamon Prenter and Ger Houlahan were playing.

“Pat Donnan was the Jordanstown ’keeper. The goal that won it was a chip. Eamon O’Hare chipped the ball over Pat’s head. Eamon O’Hare was quite small. Whatever he said to ‘Slim’, Pat Donnan – that name was a misnomer – whatever he said to ‘Slim’ if ‘Slim’ had been able to catch him there wouldn’t have been much left of him.”

It seems like it should have been high times for Hamill but he said he was taking it all in his stride.

In 1985 he also made his first start for Antrim. He remembers it as a time when all he wanted to do was play football.

“Training didn’t ever seem to be as intense as it is now. You were young and all you wanted to do was play football. There was no issue of balance. You could play for Queen’s on Saturday and Antrim on Sunday.”

He took the lessons that he learned at university and adapted them to the county game.

“You were always expected to know your opponent. Sean O’Neill did that right throughout when he was manager of Queen’s. He read out the team at a meeting a couple of days before the match. then you had to get your head right for the match.

“Most of the time you knew the players.

“Mickey Linden was not a talker. I wasn’t a talker. I didn’t do any of the sledging stuff. I always thought that quiet and menacing was more effective than being mouthy. Don’t yield to a forward. Some players think you should stand off and then try to get in. But I would always have been jockeying for position to make sure you were in front, and to make sure you were physical without being dirty.

“You would have been so close that you were touching them for the whole match. Sometimes that got you a smack or an elbow. But you were always trying to be close. You were trying to rely on your anticipation being faster than his anticipation.

“You were trying to be between him and the goals. I was relatively strong and relatively physical.”

Hamill said that playing county football was about learning how to deal with different characters.

“You had different battles. Marking Mickey Linden was different to marking Ambrose Rogers. They were so different in style. Peter Canavan or Ger Houlahan, or Dermot McNicholl or Iggy Gallagher. They all had different styles.

“It didn’t matter how much you niggled Mickey Linden he concentrated on football. You couldn’t use any dark arts on him. A player like Dominic Corrigan was a bit more fiery.”

Playing against the very best in Ulster was important yet it says a lot that Hamill’s favourite memories is of playing with his club.

“The highlights for the club were winning the Intermediate Championship in 1986 and 1992.

“We were never a massively successful club, but winning those Intermediate Championships were a big deal. Particularly the second one because both of my brothers were playing. I was only 19 for the first one. I wasn’t mates with the team. When 1992 came I was 28, that was all my generation playing on that team.

“In 1992 we were the best team. We had a couple of guys who transferred in to the club, Francie Doonan and Paul Loney. They transferred from Aldergrove. They had played for Antrim, but didn’t stick Antrim because of work commitments. They were county level players, and they added to the team. My brother Ronan was scoring like a goal and five points per game. So we had someone who could score and a real solid defence and midfield. That team, had we stuck together, we could have knocked on the door of a Senior Championship.”

1992 was the highlight, but disaster would strike in 1993.

“I broke my leg pretty badly. I broke it playing against Cargin.

“I played Donegal in the championship on the Sunday. I was county captain at the time. We played Cargin in the league the following week and, I got a tib-fib fracture. I was in hospital for nine days. That pin was in for a year and a half.

“The next game I played was in February 1995. I went back to train for the county at the end of 1996. We had three children. My wife is a psychiatrist. She was doing exams and was really busy. I didn’t have time to go back.

“At the time John Morrison was manager. I trained through to 1997. John left, resigned after the National League. But after that I didn’t have the time. There was a bit of management turmoil. I just couldn’t commit. I was 32 at that time and I didn’t get back to that level. I played another six years for the club.

“I was only 28 when I broke my leg and was in decent shape.”

And now, looking back on his career, Hamill will think fondly about the games he played in, and the men he marked. Yet there is a great sadness in his heart.

“I missed football immediately afterwards and I still miss it. I don’t enjoy going to watch matches though I do go to watch my boys play.

“But going to watch Antrim seniors or watch the Glenavy seniors, I still find it difficult. I would love to still be playing. From the moment I decided I couldn’t play. the last games I played were at the Castlewellan Sevens.”

Yet Hamill regards himself as being fortunate for the career that he has had.

“I have played and won with my club and county. I played university football and won an All-Ireland Freshers title, played Sigerson, and played for Ulster.

“There is no greater experience for an Antrim player than running out on Casement Park.

“I can also say that I have played all over the world. I played for summers in New York. I played in Sydney when my wife and I were travelling. A highlight for me was a trip to New York, Philadelphia and Boston with Queen’s club.”

He could have played for Ireland but Peter Canavan put paid to that.

“I was asked to go to trials for the Ireland tam but I tore cartilage marking Peter Canavan.

“I remember how cute Peter Canavan was for someone who was so young. I can remember the incident that he tore his cartilage that he got a free.

“He grabbed my arm, pulled it over my shoulder, and fell and I fell on top of him. So he got a free and I got torn cartilage in my knee. He was cute. He is unlikely to remember that. But I was on crutches for six weeks that’s why I remember it. I marked him again in 1993 in Ardboe in a challenge match. he was at a different level with regards his movement off the ball, and his movement on the ball was obvious.”

So even though the story is a sad one, Hamill recognises that his achievement was being able to mix it with the very best.

“That was the thrill. As a corner-back in that era I watched John Lynch, or Sean Donnelly, Nudie Hughes when he was corner-back, Niall Cahalane and Kieran McKeever. I liked to think that I was doing what they were doing.

“The fact that Brian McEniff picked me over some of those players to play on an Ulster team, that was a thrill. Or Sean O’Neill to pick me on a Queen’s team.”

Yet it is with Antrim that he will be remembered.

Perhaps it’s important to understand why he worked so hard playing for the Saffron county when there didn’t seem to be much hope of success.

He says that he was inspired.

“Mickey Darragh and Alec McQuillan toiled for years, but loved to play football despite that there is not a major amount of success. They are two guys as a young player from Antrim would have been a big influence. The people that they were, on and off the pitch. They would have been a big influence on me in terms of understanding that you had to work at it. They helped everyone around them.

“We didn’t have much success but we were playing the best teams in the country.”

Playing against the best, marking the best, and doing his best to frustrate them. That’s the story of Ciaran Hamill’s playing career.

By Ronan Scott