Creggan’s historic journey

The Antrim club won the Ulster Intermediate crown for the first time ever in 2015, Shaun Casey relives the journey…

IT’S not the destination that counts, but the journey and the roller-coaster ride that Creggan Kickhams experienced during a four-year golden period still evokes plenty of happy memories around the club.

In 2011, they won the Antrim Junior Hurling Championship for the very first time. They returned two years later to repeat the feat only this time, winning Antrim wasn’t enough. They wanted more. Ulster and All-Ireland Junior titles followed that season.

The 2013 season was a historic year for the Kickham’s club. They became the first ever Antrim team to taste All-Ireland Junior success, beating Ballysaggart of Waterford in the decider, before making their mark again at Intermediate level in 2015.

More history followed that year as they captured their first ever county title at the grade. And that kick-started another fantastic voyage where a second Ulster title was earned. Days, years like these don’t come around too often.

“It’s not something that I dwell on to be very honest, how well we did that year, but on reflection it was just a follow on from the year we had in 2013, and it was a matter of trying to get the team to play as well as they possibly could,” recalled manager Tommy McCann.

“To win the Antrim Intermediate, it wasn’t easy. We only beat Carey Faugh’s by a few points, and it was only by the skin of our teeth that we even got over the line in the (Antrim) final, but it was definitely a great journey through Ulster again.

“We beat Carrickmore in the Ulster final, and they weren’t as strong as they are now, they’ve done a lot of work in the ten years since. They beat us there two years ago when we won the Antrim Intermediate again.”

Creggan were much too strong for their Tyrone opponents. Goals from Conor McCann and Conor Small were the key scores as Creggan cruised to the title with eight points to spare in the end.

“We were comfortable in that game,” added McCann. “The intensity wasn’t there because we were in control of the game and Carrickmore weren’t as good as they are now. A comfortable game like the Ulster final is slightly different but you still enjoy it just every bit as much.

“The All-Ireland (Junior) final in 2013, Conor (McCann) hit a free from 70 or 80 metres out to get us a draw and the excitement of that, you’re living on your nerves and you’re on the edge of your seat, it’s hard to put it into words.”

Winning that All-Ireland Junior had put the building blocks in place for bigger and better things. The experience of the big day, the confidence and belief they took from that triumph led to another magical outing in 2015.

“Any time you win anything, it’s always a stepping stone to something else,” McCann continued. “Winning the Junior All-Ireland, we won some of those games by the skin of our teeth but it’s all a building process.

“They talk about muscle memory and muscle memory is the same as game memory where you know that if you put everything into it, you have a chance of doing well and going on to maybe more success if you put enough into it.

“I think everything is a stepping stone from underage right up to senior. It doesn’t always have to be about winning trophies but winning definitely makes things a lot easier.”

Unfortunately for McCann and the Creggan club, they couldn’t repeat their heroics of two years previous with another All-Ireland crown. They fell at the semi-final hurdle in 2015, losing out to Galway’s Abbeyknockmoy.

“We just picked up a few injuries at the wrong time to individuals and that hurt us. Abbeyknockmoy from Galway were strong, and they were very good, they were clever around the field.

“We could have no qualms about getting beat, we were beaten by the better team on the day. We lost a player three or four days before it with a broken thumb and we had injuries in the game but that’s just the way it goes.

“Some runs you’ll go on and everything goes for you and then there are others that everything goes against you, so it is the rub of the green sometimes.

“It would still gnaw at me. I tried to get the video of the game to watch it back to see what we could have done differently, was it a managerial mistake or was it just on the day and I never actually got the video.

“Any time you’re beat in a big game, you always want to know what you could have done differently or what should we have done. Getting beat in any big game hurts; there’s always a sting to it.”

While it didn’t end the way they wanted it to, the Kickham’s club enjoyed a number of memorable years. McCann got to share the special success with his sons, Conor and Thomas, and plenty of their cousins in what was a real family affair.

“You throw a stone, and you’d hit a McCann,” he laughed regarding the number of McCann’s on the team. “It’s like the Maguires around the club as well, if you throw a stone, you’d hit one of them too.

“It was very good. It was a great time around the club, anybody that wins anything, it’s always great around the club but some of the best matches you’d ever see could be an u-8 match or an u-10 match.

“It’s not always about all the wins but it was a great time, and every club needs a good run like that to give them a boost and get people on board and get everybody behind them. We had players that were all trying hard and deserved everything that they got.

“Any club worth its weight will always do as much as possible to let the young ones enjoy it and let them get the taste of it. It was great for the players and the club; it was great for everyone in the community at large.

“The local clubs came and celebrated when we won the All-Ireland and congratulated us when we won the Intermediate. You try to beat them when you’re playing but when somebody gets success because of their endeavours, you have to give them a clap on the back.

“It’s a shame every club doesn’t get to experience it because it’s great for the people that put their time into the sport. It gives everybody a great lift and the success and enjoyment of all that was great.

“But how much you enjoy the next training session; it’s always about the next time you’re on the field. The celebrations were great for everyone around the club, but it was about how we dealt with it and got how you go on after it.”

Creggan returned to win the Antrim IHC title in 2023. They’re back battling it out for another crown this season. If they can get over the line in Antrim once again, who knows where they could end up. But they won’t worry about the destination just yet. It’s the journey that really counts.