Club Focus: A ‘Lough’ to be excited about

Loughmacrory put community before everything else, and that has benefitted them both on and off the field

COMMUNITY

Humble but ambitious

LOUGHMACRORY’S 2019 season will have been regarded as a job well done by other clubs in Tyrone.

The season saw them earn promotion to senior football, secure success on the handball court, improve their facilities and grow numbers at underage level.

All of these are achievements to be proud of. They are all markers of a club going places. But for the people of Loughmacrory, they take pride at being at the heart of their community. They see that as greater than any trophy or accolade. That’s what their chairman Shane McCullagh believes.

“Last year was a good year for us on the football field and on the handball courts. We are very proud of what we have achieved.

“We see the club as sitting at the heart of the community. It provides a sense of identity for our members and our young people.

“We are fortunate in that we don’t have loads of other competing sports. It is a very GAA-centric community. We are blessed everyone buys into that and are able to offer their support to club life in so many different ways .”

McCullagh admitted that when they considered taking part in a feature, was hesitancy amongst the club ranks. They are not the sort of people who want to signal their virtues.

“There was reluctance because the last thing we want to do is to put our hands up and say that we have achieved something and that everyone should look at us. That’s not what we are about.

“We were fortunate to develop facilities over the last 10-12 years. We have been recognised through the President’s Awards for the standard of our facilities. We want to use those facilities to maximise opportunities for our kids.”

What makes McCullagh and the Loughmacrory people proud is the sense of community that they have in their corner of Tyrone.

The village consists of the handball club, the football club and the primary school. The community is built around those structures conjunction with Loughmacrory Community & Development Association they work seamlessly together.

“It is the people, and the volunteers and sense of community that we have, that is so important.

“We value all the contributions no matter how small. That’s what we are so proud of.

“We have very genuine people. We are not driven by trophies. It is great when they come but what we want is to provide for our people. We have to be there to support them through the tough times. I think we have demonstrated that we can do that.”

One of the points of pride for McCullagh and the club is how they are admired by other clubs who visit their grounds.

“Many visiting clubs and communities would use the lough walk or come on match days and comment on our facilities or our marshaling.”

It helps that they are situated in an area of outstanding beauty, with the lough as a focal point of their club. It also provides a site for the Omagh triathlon that they help stage every year. Their track also ties-in with the ‘Lough 5’ 5 mile race every new year’s eve. These events afford Loughmacrory the chance to do what they do best, namely help others.

“They have that ethos of wanting to help and whilst that sits as a key pillar of the GAA our members back it up in abundance by their actions. We have very motivated people who want to play whatever part they can.”

And McCullagh emphasised that their attitude has been earned through time.

“We have faced plenty of challenges and adversity over the years including throughout the conflict, during the last financial crash and with emigration due to lack of employment, but as a people our community has been very resilient throughout that and have allowed the club to thrive.

“Where we are at reflects founding members, all previous committees and volunteers that have went before. Without their determination and unfaltering work, especially through the early years, the club wouldn’t be what it is today.

UNDERAGE

School link paying dividends

THE Loughmacrory u-14s achieved greatness within the club last season. They became the first juvenile group in the club’s history to win a Grade One title.

It is a mark of pride for the club, and one that illustrates the quality of coaching that they possess.

Chairman Shane McCullagh said: “We have a nucleus of really quality coaches there and when you boil the thing down, that is probably our greatest strength. We are keen to focus on that. We want to build on our underage coaching structures and ultimately bring players through who can then compete at the highest level at senior.

“We are blessed with coaches who have worked at a high level within county structures but have not left the club behind.”

Among those coaches are Ryan Keenan, who was instrumental in getting the club to the point where they are at now. Ten years ago he took over a strong group of players and guided them through the ranks.

They reached an u-16 final Grade 1 championship final and an u-21 championship final where they agonisingly missed out in very tight affairs. Now many of those player are senior footballers, and they led the club to promotion to senior football last year.

The club also boasts the likes of intercounty calibre coaches of Ciaran Meenagh and John McElholm who are supported through the various underage teams by Stephen Conway, Martin McCrystal and Mark McCullagh who is the local primary school teacher.

Indeed, it is the link with the primary school that has made the club so successful.

“We are lucky that as a small rural community we only have the one feeder primary school. People who go to St Teresa’s primary school have a strong sense of identity of where they come from.

“Mark McCullagh is a teacher in the school and he has put a lot of effort into promoting participation during his time there. The addition of Michael Gallagher and Elaine Donnelly to the teaching staff in recent years has also added to the promotion of football within the school.

“There is gaelic football played in the primary school every day in a structured manner ”

The children at the school sometimes don’t realise where school starts and the club ends. That creates a seamless transition, and a bond that is hard to break.

And one that has been massively beneficial to the Loughmacrory Club.

OUR GROUNDS

A focal point for the community

FACILITIES are important to any club, and in Loughmacrory they are the focal point for the club’s success.

However they are hard to acquire, particularly as funding can be a challenge.

Chairman Shane McCullagh explained that thanks to the skills and expertise of their club membership, Loughmacrory have been able to build state of the art facilities.

“We are lucky in that we have some great people, people who are skilled in regards development and the fund-raising that comes with that. We have the natural resource we have been able to integrate, namely the lough and the lough walk, into the club grounds.”

They have developed their grounds at three points, in 2006, 2014 and 2018, when they have built a 500-person stand, a one-wall handball stadium and integrated the walkway into their grounds.

“Anyone who does come will comment on the unique setting that we have.

“We have plans to redevelop our training facility and integrate that into the main club grounds that we have.”

What sits at the core of their building is their community approach.

McCullagh said: “It’s not just about the football. We want everyone to feel involved.

“We want elderly members and past members to be involved.

“It’s a community hub that offers more than just sport. There is the pastoral element for the kids

“We are there to try our best. We want to invite a broad church as possible.”

FUNDRAISING

Prioritising people before money

HOW Loughmacrory have chosen to run their finances highlights how much they care about their members.

They have chosen not to run any major draws for over a decade. The reason being that they don’t want to put pressure on the most generous in the community.

There are a significant number who continue support the club financially. So rather than risk annoying them by repeatedly arriving at their door with their hand out, the club have been more calculated about their fund-raising. It has been successful as they have managed to reduce a debt over £700,000 to almost nothing.

Chairperson Shane McCullagh said: “That’s through a consistent effort from a multitude of smaller events, and a well organised and disciplined management of our finances each year by our treasurer Barry Mc Elduff and those treasurers who have went before him. We have a loyal base playing into our Loughmacrory Cairde as well as our club Lotto. We also have our social club which sits at the heart of our community too – selflessly managed on a voluntary basis by Marty and Sean Donaghy.”

Those three main forms of income have helped the club get on an even keel, while at the same time they have avoided any labour intensive draws which can be a human and financial drain on the local community.

“To put energy into a draw it is the same people getting hit. The club felt that we would do a series of events that would offer something back, unlike a draw when they would have to travel the country.”

They anticipate that within the next few years they will be debt free.

When it comes to developments, the club have used grants in order to make improvements to their club. McCullagh said they hope to keep it that way, though they weren’t ruling out any draws in the future.

“If we are able to carry out developments without burdening our community then we will do it. However, If we are going to go big again with regards development then it is something that we will have to consider.”

A SEASON

TO REMEMBER

A return

to senior football

2019 – Loughmacrory almost made it to senior level by automatic promotion, but defeat to Beragh halted their chances. They then had to go to play-off route. They played Gortin, and then beat Eglish in the final. That returned them to senior football for the first time in 12 years.

SENIOR TEAM

Putting faith in youth

SHANE Dobbs is a man who understands how Loughmacrory have come to earn promotion to senior football last year.

At 23 he had been appointed captain of the club, which is a remarkable achievement for one so young.

“I was delighted when they named it. It is just unreal.”

Yet at 23, Dobbs is one of the more experienced players on the team. There are only a couple of lads who are older than him on the current Loughmacrory senior team.

“Most of the team is very young. The oldest man in the defence is 25.

“When I started there were Ronan and Enda Ward, Karl Logan, Mark McCullagh, John Gallagher and Sean Paul Slane.

“We never had the youth like we have now.”

Dobbs has played for Loughmacrory since underage level, at every age age-group. He’s also seen the club move up the grades, from Grade Three right through to Grade One.

He has seen how the youth structures work.

“When I was underage we had great guidance.”

The numbers have always been a challenge. Dobbs said that at u-16 and minor level there was a drop off of players.

“It’s hard to keep a bunch of lads together. But the men who were over us did well to keep us together on track. You have to work with what you have got.”

Dobbs said that the numbers have grown.

“The young boys have a serious interest in it. That’s down to the coaches. They are doing great work.”

And the work paid off when they got to top level of football.

“When I broke into senior football we played in Division Three and I saw how tough it was. They weren’t easy games to win, but we finally got out of it.”

LADIES FOOTBALL

Ladies Football

reaches silver milestone

LADIES Football in Loughmacrory was formed back in 1995 and has enjoyed a healthy presence within the community.

From reaching a Tyrone U-14 league final in 2019 to providing an excellent programme for Gaelic for Mothers, there has been ladies football for all ages in recent years.

Club secretary Mark Grimes is also the senior ladies manager, and had hoped the club would have been celebrating a significant milestone in 2020.

“This year marks the 25th anniversary of the foundation of our ladies team and we are extremely proud of how we have developed the ladies code in the club over those years. Unfortunately, due to the current climate we’ll not be celebrating this milestone the way we intended.

“However, like all clubs around the country we realise that safety of our members must come first – even if that means we cant get a big night out!”

Mark has also seen impressive growth in the popularity of ladies football and is hopeful that the game within the community in Loughmacrory can continue to make an indelible mark on life there, with so many volunteeriing their time.

“The ladies game is growing across Ireland and we are very lucky to be a part of this. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to build a club and in Loughmacrory we are blessed with passionate volunteers whose enduring support and hard work has allowed our ladies teams to flourish.

“It’s inspiring to look back at the beginnings of our team and see how far we’ve come, but there’s always more work to be done and we can’t wait to see where the next 25 years take us.

“We’re encouraged by seeing more of our young girls taking up football and enjoying the sport like many before them. Our older players are bringing their children into the fold and hopefully they’ll pass on some of their skills to their daughters.

“We’re a small club with a limited members, but I’m sure that – as always before – when we need the community they’ll be there to help us all the way.”

HANDBALL

GAA Handball celebrates 60 years with record-breaking Feile double

HISTORY….In 1969 the GAA Handball Club launched a book entitled “A Hundred Years of Handballing”, produced to mark the opening of the new 60×30 handball alley and Community Hall, thus highlighting some 150 years of the sport in the area. The building of the 60×30 in 1969 was followed by a 40*20 handball court in 1981 and a unique outdoor, fully covered, One Wall International Handball Arena encompassing THREE full-sized courts in 2014, thus providing facilities for all codes of the sport.

At a special event in the Loughmacrory GAA clubrooms just before Covid-19 dominated our lives, GAA Handball Ireland President Dessie Keegan said “Loughmacrory has always been a club which epitomises commitment, community and a very real sense of working together. This exhibition and the plans for your book and website, in addition to the impressive recent successes, are indicative of a club which has garnered an outstanding reputation throughout Ireland”.

In 2019 the club had unrivalled success on the courts of play too with a historic All-Ireland Division One Feile na nGael double through Gary McAleer, Eoin McElholm, Ruairi McCullagh, Tomas Duff and Dearbhail Fox.

Current Tyrone u-21 football captain Antoin Fox, Dara Curran, Chris Curran, Kenny Curran, Finbarr Fullen, Clare Conway and Caitlin Conway all secured national titles in that period while Mairead Fox was an unprecedented triple gold medal winner at the last World Championships in USA, with her sister Dearbhail.

The Feile All Ireland 60×30 and 40×20 Division One gold secured by the club was a first ever achieved by any club since the event began back in 1972. A sequence of impressive victories in Cork and Wexford secured the honours with team captain, Gary McAleer, also claiming the Skills Gold Medal in a year which saw him win an outstanding five All-Ireland gold medals.

Indeed that 60×30 team of Gary, Eoin McElhom, Ruairi McCullagh and Toms Duff were not only claiming their second All Ireland Division One gold medals, but were adding to the three Tyrone GAA League and Championship medals they won in the space of a month with the club u-14 and u-16 footballers. An impressive feat which saw the team, which also included Dearbhail Fox, go on to claim the Ulster Herald Youth Team of the Year Award for 2019.

July 2020 was due to see the seventh annual Lough Handball Showdown, which has become the biggest club tournament in Europe and has seen high octane and quality handball with over 250 of the top players from all over Ireland and internationally travelling to the mid-Tyrone venue to bid for major titles.

The event is obviously on hold for now in 2020 but will see a welcome return again in 2021.

GAA Handball in Loughmacrory will launch a book and new website later this year to mark the various milestones.