Club Focus: Milford – two codes for the community

In the past decade, their success in men’s and ladies’ football has increased dramatically but Milford’s real goal is to serve the community

CHAIRMAN

‘A GAA club is more than what happens on the field’

JAMES McGinley, the current Milford chairman, understands the true role of a GAA club.

Playing sports is one of the priorities but the main goal, as he sees it, is serving the community.

That’s why they feel their growing success in men’s and ladies’ football has been a positive thing for the Milford area.

McGinley said: “At the start of the decade we were a yo-yo club. We didn’t have the underage coaching structures that we have now.

“We didn’t get the ladies set up until the late 2000s. So in the last 10 years there has been a massive shift in terms of our overall structure.”

The club has enjoyed a remarkable rise in men’s football during the last decade. They rose from Division Four up to Division One in consecutive seasons.

One of the underage coaches, Aodh McCormack, explained how the success came about.

“If you go back to the early 2000s Shaun Paul Barrett and Nigel Black took a keen interest in the underage. They started at u-8 and u-10 level.

“Shaun Paul took them through to win an u-14 and an u-16 A. Then Nigel Black and Shaun Paul took over the senior team in 2012 and that’s when the fortunes changed.”

They won the Junior Championship in 2013, the U-21B in 2014 and the Division Three league title in 2015.

Shaun Paul went off and managed the county minors in 2016. Danny O’Donnell took over the senior team and they won the Division Two league in 2017, as well as the Intermediate championship.

They were relegated last year, but they were still able to reach the Senior Championship quarter-final.

They have went from a club playing men’s junior football in Division Four, and not having a ladies team at all, to having a men’s team playing senior level and a ladies team that is one of the stronger sides at intermediate level.

It’s a remarkable turnaround.

Their change in quality has also been illustrated by the 10 county players that they provide for men’s and women’s football through the grades.

Chairman McGinley said: “That’s something that we have never had in years gone by.”

But he pointed out that the club is not defined by football.

He says that they see themselves as a servant to the community.

“We are spreading ourselves out there. You can be pigeon-holed as a football club, but a GAA club is more than what happens on the pitch. We have been helping out with the community.”

For example, they had hoped to continue their incredibly successful summer camp for those with special needs.

He says that the Covid-19 pandemic has limited the projects that they had hoped to do this year, but the crisis afforded them an opportunity to help those in need. They have been out there bringing care packages to those who are isolated and requiring help.

They can do that because of the positive attitude of their members.

McGinley said: “There is a great work rate in Milford. It can be hard enough to run a GAA club but it helps when they have such a great work-rate.”

Fundraiser

‘We felt that the elderly were disproportionately affected in the lockdown’

MILFORD have proven their community spirit with their fundraising this year.

At the weekend they held a 20k, 20 in 2020, walk that was attended by 500 people.

The event was run for the St Vincent and De Paul in Rathmullan and Care of the Aged in Milford and Ramelton.

They had been working on the programme for a number of weeks, and managed to organise 50 marshals to help run the event.

Aodh McCormack helped organise it.

“It was a community event. We had the St Vincent and De Paul, Care of the Aged people doing them as well.

“It was something that we wanted to do because we felt that the elderly were disproportionately affected in the lockdown. These people are doing good work with them. We wanted to raise some funds for them because they will be struggling at this time.

“All the money went to the community, it doesn’t go to the club.”

The club is hoping to increase their community fundraising events.

They had a fundraising event for the half marathon in Derry in 2011, when they raised money for a suicide prevention charity.

But the point is, that Milford are eager to support the local community in any way that they can.

“We want to continue to strive for success on the field, but we also want to hold on to our social conscience and help our own community,” McCormack said.

The player: Ladies football

“We want to win the county title, and get into Ulster”

NIAMH Carr has experienced the changing fortunes of Milford in the past seven years.

Carr joined the senior team in its successful period, culminating in their 2013 championship victory.

However, the success was short-lived and the years following that success did not see them win the titles she had hoped for.

But now Carr is optimistic that the club are on course for some success.

“We play in the Intermediate Championship and we want to win the county title, and get into Ulster,” she said.

“Last year we got to the county semi-final.”

The most recent victory was the 2018 Gaeltacht title.

“It was a huge boost. I think going in to that final our team had only four or five who weren’t at secondary school. We were very young. It was a marker that we are an up and coming senior team.”

The journey over the past seven years has been important.

Carr joined the Milford club in 2011 when she joined some friends on the team.

She remembers her first senior game in particular as she was assigned to mark the legend that is Geraldine McLaughlin.

2012 saw them won their junior title. They followed that success up in 2013 season when they won Donegal and reached the Ulster final but lost to Derry champions Glen.

Carr said: “We have been striving to get back there. But we have been chasing our tails a little bit.

“After 2013 a lot of senior players fell away.”

There are only five players left from the 2013 team still in the squad. The majority of the current team are minors, or have just come out of minor football.

“They don’t have the experience,” Carr said.

They may not have experience but they know how to win having won underage titles at county and provincial level.

“When they are winning things at u-14, u-16 and minor level it shows something. It shows that they are getting the right coaching. That has been important, and it has benefitted our senior team.

“We are fortunate that we have such a good underage structure.

“A lot of our girls are confident because of the work that they have done at underage level.”

And the club has been making sure that the structures are in place for those players to blossom.

They have a strength and conditioning coach, which is something that many of them have not been exposed to before. Carr is no stranger to that element of the game though as she has been part of the Donegal county team.

That has been a benefit for Milford, as having a county player inspires younger players to improve.

But at the same time it can be a hindrance as at times in the year, players can’t be part of club training. However, Carr isn’t the sort of person who will allow that to hamper her goals with her club.

And she isn’t allowing coronavirus to get in her way either.

“It is difficult at the moment, but I am feeling positive about a return. I am training away. There are days when it is tough, but you have to think of the end goal.

“We want to get back to playing championship football so you need to keep in shape, and you have to keep to a strict training regime.”

It’s that attitude that suggests Milford are going to be very successful in the future.

The player: men’s football

“The talent is there, that’s for sure”

PADDY Peoples’s favourite memory as a player was winning the 2017 Intermediate Championship.

He said that the win was a great reward for many years of battling for the club.

“At the age of 33, we won the Intermediate Championship in 2017. We had lost the final the year before to Burt.

“Then in 2017 we were written off despite being in the final the year before.

“It made the win in 2017 all the sweeter.

“It meant I was going to get Senior Championship football. So that was the big one for me. For years we were a yo-yo club between Division Four and Division Three.

“A few of us had went through the mill over the years. To get up there was special.”

He’s one of the elder statesmen on the team and he explained the progress that the club has made over the past seven years.

“The adventure, as I call it, started in 2013 when we won the Junior Championship and got promoted out of Division Four. We won a game in Ulster when we beat Michael Davitt’s. Then we got beat by Killeeshil from Tyrone in the next round.

“In 2014 we stayed in Division Three and in the Intermediate Championship. Before we would have gone up and then got relegated.

“Then in 2015 we got promoted to Division Two for the first time in 20 years.”

Peoples said that the arrival of Danny O’Donnell helped them to get promoted to Division One in 2016 and also to the Intermediate final.

They then won that Intermediate title in 2017, much to his delight.

“For us, to play senior football and Division One was a big thing.

“Playing senior football and playing Division One in 2018 from playing junior football and Division Four in 2013. It was unheard of in Donegal. It’s been done in other counties.”

They avoided relegation out of senior football. But they were relegated out of Division One last year.

Yet they qualified for the Senior Championship quarter-finals, though they were well beaten by St Eunan’s.

“It was an achievement to get there. We had bad season in the league. We lost a few players.

“It was a big step up for the younger players. It didn’t go well for us in the league but we had focused on the championship because we wanted to progress.”

Peoples said that their league form had some signs of promise as they were able to compete with some of the stronger teams.

Despite the relegation, there are positives to take.

“I think it gave a lot of boys confidence. There is a very good squad there. If there is a championship this year they should consolidate where they are, and try to reach the quarter-finals. We have to try to stay there to try to improve. They have the players. We have to try to progress to semi-finals and finals. But the talent is there, that’s for sure.”

Ladies Football

Ladies on an even keel

MILDFORD puts both ladies’ football and the men’s game on the same footing.

And in the past decade, it has almost seemed as if the ladies believe anything the men can do, they can do better.

Martin Barrett said: “The club is putting in a great effort to give the ladies as much glory as the men. That’s been the case in recent years.”

Ladies football only really got going properly in 2007 when three girls were playing with the underage boys teams. Barrett started the ladies team with the help of Ray Gallagher, and John McCarron.

Barrett said: “We started off u-14 and u-16 girls, and they were very successful. We started a senior team in 2010. The pinnacle was that they got to the Ulster final in 2013. But we lost by a point in injury time.”

The 2013 team broke up after that and in the intervening years, the club has been building the squad back up again.

Gerard Hardiman got involved in 2010, as they did work to get back to a high level.

Barrett said: “Ladies football can be very frustrating. A lot of the team that started in 2007 were still there in 2013. They were six years older and we had a brilliant team. We went from intermediate football to senior football for three years. But a lot of those players fell away. Some went to college, some went travelling. Within a couple of years of the 2013 panel we only had five or six left (from the 2007). We had to start building up again, right from u-12s.

“That’s where we are at currently.”

In the last few years the signs have been good. They have picked up a few minor wins.

“We are in a very good place at the moment. We have only five or six girls who are over 20 so that’s good.

“But the drop off age is tough from 18-20, when they start college.

“They are all committed at the moment but you never know what is coming.”

They also started Gaelic For Mothers and Others, which has been very successful.

Barrett said: “All the mothers come down and have an hour and a half to themselves. There are ladies there haven’t played But they all enjoy it. They go to the big tournament at Portmarnock. And they always help out. They really love it.”

Last year, Christopher Barrett went into the schools to help out the coaching end of things and that has been a very successful project as they have managed to attract more players, and the coaching has been excellent.

Barrett’s impact has meant that the club has now got an u-10 team.

Martin Marrett said: “I think the club is in a great place. The senior ladies are playing senior league football and intermediate championship, and the men are playing senior football. There are only a handful teams playing both.”

memories

Memorable season

2013

Milford were Gaelic Life’s Ulster Club of the Year in 2013 after a season when they won men’s and women’s championship titles. The ladies won the Intermediate Championship, and reached the Ulster final, and the men won the Junior Championship

Match to remember

2018 All-Ireland Gaeltacht

Milford beat Galway’s Lettermore in the All-Ireland Gaeltacht Intermediate final by 3-9 to 1-7. This was the club’s first ever All-Ireland title.

Martin Barrett said: “It was a massive achievement for the club. No team had ever won an All-Ireland title. It was fantastic. The whole club came down and supported us.

“A lot of people who had not watched us before came down to watch us that weekend. They couldn’t get over how good the team was. They were very impressed with the standard.”