2019 season review – Derry club players’ vox pop

Peter Cassidy

Bellaghy

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

It would have been the break for the county football, the break was that long it felt as if it was another preseason!

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

Definitely Banagher’s championship run this year whenever they hadn’t won a game all year. They were only a kick of a ball away from a championship final.

What would you like to see changed in Derry next year?

For the county board to try implement a more meaningful way of making the break between the two halves of the league more beneficial to the clubs.

What was the best club game you watched in Derry this year, excluding your own?

I thought the Magherafelt and Banagher in the semi final of the championship was a very good game for it nearly had everything packed into one game.

Conor

Canning

Magilligan

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

Biggest frustration was the break in the middle of the league to play the cup games. We have a very small squad and we were narrowly beaten in the semi final of the Neil Carlin cup. We hadn’t another league game coming up for four weeks and we found it hard to keep the numbers up at training when there was no competitive game to look forward to at the end of the week. So numbers at training dipped and along with that so did our form when the league kicked off again.

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

The story that caught my eye was Magherafelt winning the SFC. They hadn’t won it in a long time and were underdogs in every game they played yet still had the belief in themselves to go out and win and fully deserved it.

What would you like to see changed in Derry next year?

What I would like to see change this year is that the cup competitions be brought back to the start of the season the way it used to be. It gives teams competitive games to build match fitness for the upcoming league. It also allows the league to be played straight through with maybe a couple of weeks break halfway through for rest period or lads to go on holidays etc.

What was the best club game you watched in Derry this year, excluding your own?

Best club game I watched was the SFC semi final between Slaughtneil and Glen Maghera. It had a bit of everything from big hits, good defending and great scores. It was edge of the seat stuff for the full hour. Glen just sneaked it in the end but it could have went either way. As good a game of club football I’ve seen in a long time.

Neil Forester

steelstown

What was your biggest frustration playing club football this year?

The biggest issue for Derry was the long break in fixtures. Credit where due to the fixtures group in Derry, everyone had their county players available for all club games and leagues were wrapped up before championship which is impressive. The issue was that there was a huge gap in the summer months where there was little football played. We had four league games then an 11 week gap (Although district competitions were played) for the county scene and holiday break before rattling off the remaining league games pre championship.

For us, a lot of lads left for holidays for long periods like travel to America and inter-rail. By the time the league was starting again we still had lads away and had lost all momentum which we only regained towards the end of the league leading into championship. If there is nothing to stay for, young lads won’t stay around and you can’t blame them. There are too many other distractions. The 11 (near 12) week break was just too much.

What club story in your county caught your eye this year?

There is plenty of great stories. Glen overturning Slaughtneil after the League final, Glack finally winning the junior, or Magherafelt cleaning up at underage, as well as their seniors winning the big one.

For me though it was the work being done by Sean Dolan’s in Creggan in Derry. Brian O’Donnell their club games promotion officer in particular. Dolan’s was a club on its knees just three years ago will little to no underage structure after a fire destroyed their clubhouse. This year was the year they took major steps forward though. Brian has recruited so many players through schools that they can now field at nursery, U8, U10 and U12 boys and girls as well as be competitive. Such has been the progression that he had to create a girls team at U12 level because of the demand and they even have two girls who made the u14 Derry development team.

To see where Sean Dolan’s are this year compared to where they were is incredible. They are doing things the right way and regularly host teams before big matches at Celtic park (Magherafelt this year). They have unveiled new plans for a 3G indoor hall as well which look incredible and will be the envy of the city. Most of that is down to Brian O’Donnell but the whole club deserves credit for their hard work and determination to keep the GAA spirit alive in Creggan.

What would you like to see changed in Derry next year?

I would love to see more games being played on Friday and Saturdays. Local derbies on a Friday night would be a popular attraction for a lot of people and most players. Saturday matches are the next best thing if lights aren’t available. Despite being amateur sportsmen a lot of club players live like monks and the social aspect of clubs is certainly being lost. A Sunday game basically rules out young people enjoying anything mid season. Friday will generally mean training and Saturday night ruled out to look after yourself and be fresh for a Sunday match. The Sunday match dominates the weekend and takes time away from families and socialising. It’s time to change.

I’d also like the see the scrapping of the advanced mark which will completely changes the game as we know it. Moving towards a more Australian rules based game just to encourage kicking. What it will do (particularly at underage) is encourage coaches to use the big man and just ‘kick the thing in’ as you would hear in the stands. Someone on the rules committee must have a real desire to bring back the old school kick-and-catch style of football. But the game has moved on. Let it evolve. If you are going to make changes then define the tackle, tweak and make clear the rules we have. Don’t fundamentally change the game because some teams like to defend in numbers.

What was the best club game you watched in Derry this year, excluding your own?

Unfortunately, because I’m away coaching with teams I miss a lot of club action during the year. The standout game for me however was Glen versus Slaughtneil in the championship semi-final. After the League final where Slaughtneil looked so strong and won comfortably, they looked on course for another title. The amount of talent in both teams is frightening, added with the parish rivalry and bumper crowd the game had everything, goals, blocks and the upset at the end.