Kevin Cassidy – The perfect example of a GAA club

The BBC documentary which followed the fortunes of Oisin McConville and John McEntee’s Crossmaglen team reveald an incredible club

Like the rest of the Gaels on this Island, I was glued to the documentary about the Crossmaglen club on Monday evening.

Like most GAA people, I have a fascination about this club so when given the opportunity to look deep inside it I wasn’t going to miss it.

We are all passionate about our clubs so naturally we look upon a highly successful team like Cross with a hint of envy and we wonder what makes them tick.

After last Monday’s show we are left in no doubt that there are no magical methods other than sheer will, determination and passion for their club that sets them apart.

The Cross club must be congratulated for taking part in such a programme, it would have been easy for them to refuse and I’m sure there were a few within the club who felt it may be wrong to give such an insight.

That argument may carry some weight but that documentary will do unimaginable things for the game of Gaelic Football and in particular club football throughout the land.

Any player who would have watched that show will return to their clubs with a spring in their step, determined to do all they can to make their own club great.

Adversity was something these Cross boys learnt to deal with from an early age, so when a few issues cropped up on the football field it is of no wonder that more often than not they usually had the answers.

Oisin and John spoke about how this generation of players had developed a “siege mentality” and it was this mentality that helped create the greatest club team we are ever likely to witness.

You could take many things from the documentary but the one thing for me was the fact that all players said at one stage or another that what they were doing was creating a legacy to pass down to the next generation and as big Paul Hearty put it in one of the team talks “we are Crossmaglen and this is how we do things”.

It was important for the rest of the clubs on this island to see that these superpowers of club football are not born that way. They are not born with the God given right to succeed. They are not born with the talent to succeed but they have the will and the want to succeed and that is a very power thing.

Seeing a small rural parish like Cross do the magical things that they have done must give every club a glimmer of hope.

Over the last number of years clubs have almost come second for players in that they give all they have to the county cause and their club suffers as a result.

It was evident that all Cross players, county players or not put their club first and this was refreshing to see.

I wrote a number of weeks back that for Armagh to be doing well they need the Cross lads fully onboard and it is no coincidence that when the Orchard county’s finest hour came that there was a Cross man at the helm.

The Cross club is the perfect example of what a club should be, they are loyal, passionate, united and driven and they are a credit to our association.

Maith sibh!!