Breaking the glass ceiling

By Niall Gartland

IT can be done. In 2012, Loughmacrory St Teresa’s found themselves relegated to Division Three of the Tyrone All-County Leagues. Not where they wanted to be, but it’s like anything in life – it’s how you respond in the face of adversity that matters.

Their downturn in fortunes coincided with a renewed vigour to get things right. It would be a community-driven effort but you need really good people manning the decks and there were no issues in that regard.

And it worked. Thirteen years on, Loughmacrory are in the midst of their preparations for a first ever senior championship semi-final, it’s hardly a coincidence that a number of the same men who spearheaded the club’s rejuvenation are integral figures on the senior management set-up.

Ciarán Meenagh, who needs little in the way of introduction. Former club chairman Stephen McCullagh. Ryan Keenan and Mark McCullagh – two men who lined out in their 2013 Junior Championship final defeat to Killeeshil who likewise have played a massive role down the years in a coaching capacity. Indeed McCullagh was at the helm of their recent Minor Grade Two League and Championship double.

Then there’s the players themselves – Eoin McElholm and Ruairi McCullagh, to cite the most prominent examples, are two of the best young footballers in Tyrone. Yet we’ve known about them for many years at this stage – their list of achievements already as long as your arm.

Taking up the story is club stalwart Chris Curran, whose son Dara is an important part of the Loughmacrory rearguard. His nephew is the aforementioned McElholm. His sister Catriona, Eoin’s mother, is principal of the local primary school St Teresa’s. Mark McCullagh, who we’ve just mentioned, also teaches at that school. A tight-knit rural area solidified by the GAA.

“There was a lot of strategic work done in the club around the time we had gone down to Division Three.

“A number of key men, led largely by the likes of Shane McCullagh and Ciarán Meenagh, instigated a massive drive within the community where all the various groups came together and talked about how we could do things better collectively as a community.

“That strategy was built around improving the infrastructure and having everyone singing off the same hymn sheet. There’s been over three million pounds’ worth of projects in roughly that 12-year period, between the GAA club, the community development association, the youth club, angling club, triathlon. The GAA club has ultimately been the focal point for all of that.”

If there’s been a philosophy underpinning the whole endeavour, it’s consistency and renewal. One batch of talented youngsters is fine and dandy, but even better is a conveyor belt feeding into the senior team for years to come.

“The primary school has been very important to us. Ironically enough a big Carrickmore man – Michael Gallagher – worked closely with Mark (McCullagh) in terms of developing our school teams.

“Eight years ago we won our first county Cumann na mBunscol at the top level, led by lads like Eoin McElholm, Ronan Fox, Ruairi McCullagh and Eoin Donaghy. They won back-to-back Ulster titles as well, beating clubs like Burren and Crossmaglen.

“That group has come through and won MacRory and Hogan Cup titles with Omagh CBS, schools’ titles with Dean Maguirc, they got to an All-Ireland Minor final and won All-Ireland Under-20 titles.

“Those lads followed in the footsteps of a significant group that emerged earlier that decade, from Cathal Donaghy right down to our Dara, and thankfully it’s still happening – we had three lads on the Tyrone team that won this year’s All-Ireland Minor title and we have players on the Tyrone under-15 and under-16 teams as well.

“That sense of continuity has been important to us – for example we got to the Minor Grade One final in 1997, and won our only ever Grade One Under-21 title in 2000, and those lads brought us through to Division One for the first time. We stayed there a while, but it didn’t last, so we learnt that we can’t rest on our laurels, and that we need good players coming through every year.”

As a community, Loughmacrory is thriving. The big group photograph in the wake of their various successes on the field of play has already become a tradition.

Curran said: “All the various groups in the club work closely together, ensuring there’s a very unified approach. So for instance, if our ladies team is playing an important championship match, we’ll all come out and support them. When the men are playing, it’s the same approach. Everyone puts their shoulders to the wheel and people have probably seen the big group photographs on social media.

“My sister is the principal of the primary school and it’s significantly grown in numbers over the last decade, from around 160 to 210 pupils. The population of Loughmacrory as a whole has grown in the last 10 years, and we would feel that this has come back of all the the various projects and infrastructure work.”

It’s a case of steady, incremental progress. In October 2021, Loughmacrory won their first senior championship match in 17 years with a gritty victory over Derrylaughan. There have been other milestone moments – a first-ever victory over parish rivals Carrickmore in senior football in 2023 – though there have been some near misses in the bearpit of the Tyrone Senior Championship. This time around though, they’ve embarked on an unprecedented run, and wouldn’t you know it – they’ve been pitted against Carmen in their first ever foray into the last four of the senior championship. Curran says that it wouldn’t have happened without an iinflux of promising young players.

Curran said: “Two years ago we lost to Trillick in the first round of the senior championship on penalties. They went on to win the title that year. Our half-back line was Pearse Grimes, Eoin Mullan and Conall Grimes – three really good players who are all in Australia at the moment. We’ve lost Antoin Fox, another defender, to injury as well, but good young players have come in and are doing very well.

“The whole drive is making sure that young players are coming through every year and that’s where I have to say Ciarán Meenagh has been a massive influence on our club, he’s always looking at the funnel of young players coming through. There’s so many others – John McElholm, Ryan Keenan, Stevie McCullagh, my brother Conall and so on.”

He also wishes to press home the importance of keeping the faith. There’s been various setbacks down the years – from relegation to the Junior ranks, to agonising defeats against some of the big hitters in the Senior Championship. But the wheel keeps on turning and they’re one big performance away from taking their place in the biggest day in Tyrone Club football.

“We’d got to the point where we were competing well, losing to Trillick on penalties, losing with the last kick of the game to Carrickmore, being pipped by Dungannon.

“In every single one of those games, we had opportunities to push on and win. Perhaps there was a wee bit of panic, but I think the experience of those matches is really standing to us. In this year’s championship, Killyclogher and Donaghmore threw everything at us, particularly in the third quarter, but we didn’t make mistakes, we didn’t surrender a lead that we’d worked hard to get.

“Any team can look at what Loughmacrory have done – Fintona this year won a Minor League title at Grade One but their seniors were relegated. They shouldn’t be dejected by that – we were in Division Three playing Junior football 13 years ago, but the whole focus became ensuring a flow of players coming through at underage level. They all got used to competing at Grade One level playing the likes of Errigal Ciaran, Carrickmore and Ardboe, so there’s no fear of competing against those teams.

“I don’t think it’s insignificant either that this year we finished fourth in the league, two points from the top. We’re now in the last four of the championship. I think that shows that we certainly deserve to be in the semi-finals, and hopefully we’re not done yet!”