Barry’s balancing act

By Shaun Casey

THE 2024 season has been a year to remember for Barry Dillon, but it’s not over yet. In February, he led Ulster University to Sigerson Cup success for the first time since 2008 and has two more finals to look forward to in the coming weeks.

The Derry native took over Monaghan side Truagh at the start of the season, with the task of bringing them back to senior football. They now have two opportunities to do just that in the form of a championship final and a league final.

Truagh, who reached the Senior Championship decider in the Farney County as recently as 2021, have the chance to claim a historic double. But as Dillon has learned through his time in the management game, looking too far ahead can be detrimental.

Their first focus is on capturing championship success and that will be determined this Saturday evening when they lock horns with Magheracloone, who have the exact same target as their opponents, that being trying to get back to the top grade.

The pair were relegated from senior football together at the end of 2023 and could join each other on the path back up, but only one will be going there as championship winners. And at this stage of the season, it’s all about the championship.

“We came in and we wanted to set out our stall,” said Dillon, who takes the team alongside Paul Rouse. “We’re trying to get them back up to senior football because they’re good players and you don’t win anything unless the players are there.

“We have a good playing pool, and we have a good balance. There’s a lot of older boys that we gave time off at the start of the year and we got through the league campaign with a few younger boys and all clubs have to do that.

“We did that, and we were still winning which was good. There’s a serious panel of players and I have to say, the standard, because there’s only 10 teams in the league, it’s a competitive environment.

“We beat Carrickmacross in the championship semi-final, we play them in the league final next week, and Magheracloone were ahead of us in the league. Even teams like Emyvale, they got relegated this year and they have serious talent.

“They have Karl Gallagher, Michael Hamill, Ryan McAnespie, those boys are all playing junior football next year, that’s how competitive the thing is. Every game was cutthroat the whole way through it.”

That 2021 Senior decider must seem like a lifetime ago now for the Truagh club. They battled bravely against the kingpins of Monaghan football Scotstown for the guts of an hour, but ultimately came up short in the end.

Three years on, the team has changed a lot, and the spine has been ripped out of the squad. It’s a different bunch of players that are trying to get their hands on the club’s first Intermediate title since 2007, when they went all the way to win the All-Ireland.

“The senior final in 2021, they were pushing Scotstown hard until the last 10 minutes and had a goal chance that went wide,” added Dillon. “Conor McCarthy got a goal at the end then and beat them by six points.

“From that team, there’s eight fellas off it and it’s a big turnover. They’re going through a transition period but we’ve kind of stalled that now and things are going well. I think there’s plenty for these boys to offer yet.”

It’s a fine balancing act for Dillon, who is juggling Truagh’s ambitions alongside Ulster University’s hopes of retaining the Sigerson Cup. College football is in the early stages, with the Ryan Cup currently the main attraction.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Dillon’s devotes his attention to UU, while Truagh takes up most of his thoughts for the rest of the week. The split season is nothing new to Dillon and his right-hand man Rouse.

“The whole rage in the GAA now is the split season but we’ve been doing split seasons for a while,” he laughed. “The Sigerson Cup is over the winter months whenever there’s no club, so it always worked out well and I always had a good affiliation with Jordanstown.

“I enjoy it, it gives you a good insight into a high level of football too with the county players and it’s a high level of training and coaches as well. It’s a good environment to be in and you’re pitting your wits against county managers in different games too.

“But at the same time as that’s finishing, the club’s preseason is kicking off, so you just go from one to the other and it’s just a matter of putting on a different hat and going for it again. You don’t spend too long in the past; you just keep going.”

Dillon has Adrian McGuckin to thank for getting involved at Sigerson level and representing Ulster University is something he really enjoys.

“I played for Jordanstown in the past and I used to go there,” explained the former Derry selector.

“Big Adrian McGuckin, he was taking the team at the time, and he asked me to come in, I was just finishing up with Derry, he asked me to give him a hand with the training.

“I did that role for a number of years and enjoyed the craic and the social aspect and the camaraderie and the buzz of coaching good players. But then two years ago I was asked to take on the manager’s job and I was happy to do that to put my own stamp on things.”

Setting his stall out at the start of his term, Dillon envisioned lifting the Sigerson Cup in the third year of the process. But as things turned out, that triumph came 12 months earlier as the Ulster men defeated UCD 3-12 to 0-15.

“The first year, we won the Intermediate, the seconds competition, which gave us a platform to push on,” Dillon recalled. “Eight or nine of those boys actually stepped up to the Sigerson team the following year, which was brilliant.

“There’s a close bond there and the boys bought into everything, and we won the Sigerson probably a year ahead of schedule.

“Now this year, we’re back at it again and hopefully we can deliver on the promise we made ourselves three years ago.

“But anything can happen, we could be put out in the first round this year. We don’t even know the draw yet; we’ll hopefully build on it now and start the process again. Management and playing and everything, it’s all about the next game and full focus is always on that.

“This is the early part of the season; we’re still carrying big panels and there’s boys that are still involved with clubs so we’re just seeing who’s capable of offering us something this year and who’s putting their hands up for positions.

“There’s a good buy in from the boys and everyone is rolling in behind it. The success last year means it’s easier this year to make demands on boys and last year, I never saw a team enjoy a success like it.

“The Sigerson Cup success lasted for about two months I’d say, so there’s a tight bond there and that was the most pleasing thing. People have maybe accused Jordanstown of having superstars doing their own thing but it’s far from that.

“It’s as good a bond as any team I’ve ever seen, they were just class. Boys saw that last year and now everyone is coming back in this year and trying to get on the team and the panel to experience that.”

“It was a deadly year for us, it was class. But it’s like everything else in football, you just move on to the next thing and you don’t really take that much time to think about things, you just go on to the next thing.

“We’ve had a good year with Truagh so far but then again if we don’t win this weekend it won’t count for much to be honest. It’s a good year, you’d rather be playing in these finals and there’s a lot of finals to be played in this year, thank God.”

While the world soon moves on and it’s all about the next trophy, the next final, Dillon can still take time to reflect on the achievements of eight months ago. That team created memories that will be worth remembering.

“It gives everyone a lift,” Dillon said on winning the Sigerson Cup. “We were the first team to get the ball rolling for all of Ulster’s success this year. The boys go back into the clubs as All-Ireland champions, they’ve beat the best in Dublin, in Galway and Kerry.

“It gives them real belief. There’s Jack Cunningham who was the captain of Carrickcruppen last weekend that won the Intermediate in Armagh, I was delighted for the big man. The Sigerson Cup brings the likes of him on.

“He’s goes out and becomes a leader in his own club and gives him that bit more that he can maybe speak up in the changing room now and lead by example and the younger fellas in Carrickcruppen will look up to him because of it.

“One thing rolls into the other and just becomes better. It’s all about personal improvement and management is no different, you go there and give it your all and I suppose it gives you a bit of satisfaction that all your work is worth it.

“That inspires you to go again and try to bring success to the next place you go but success means different things to different people, so all you can do is your best and that’s all I try to do.”

Dillon will patrol the Inniskeen sideline on Saturday, kicking every ball, celebrating every score, feeling every hit. He’s got his hands on one trophy already this season, and he doesn’t want to stop there. But he knows that win, lose or draw, there’s always another day.