Bridging the generations – the Meenan family

By Niall Gartland

ON Sunday afternoon at the historic Breffni Park in Cavan, the Tyrone minor footballers will go in search of a place in the All-Ireland final. Roscommon stand in their way. There’s no guarantees but it’s a big, big opportunity.

Among their ranks are two talented young brothers from Killyclogher – Thomas and Charlie Meenan.

And it’s fair to say it’s in their DNA. Their father Brian Meenan captained the Killyclogher team that landed their first ever Tyrone Senior Championship title with victory over a vaunted Errigal Ciaran side back in 2003. Their day of days. Another integral member of that side was their uncle Leo Meenan, a sharp-shooter in attack. The youngest brother Conor was new to the scene, while their relatives Damien and Rory Meenan were also mainstays in a memorable era for the club (Rory missed out in 2003 due to a cruciate injury).

The Ulster Herald report at the time read “Few among the 8,000 plus crowd left feeling short-changed and in this year of extraordinary firsts for the county, it was perhaps appropriate that a new name emerged as Tyrone’s top dogs.

“Despite surrendering a six-point second-half advantage and being reduced to 14 men for the dying stages, St Mary’s displayed wonderful fortitude and courage to summon up that late scoring sport, which saw them squeeze home by two points and therefore make up for their disappointing final losses in ‘99 and 2002. They were just not going to be denied.”

Brian and Leo also enjoyed a wealth of success at intercounty level. Both were part of the 2005 Tyrone team that claimed a second All-Ireland title in three years (Brian started that famous All-Ireland semi-final encounter against Armagh), while Leo was the star performer as Tyrone minors claimed a replay victory over Dublin in the 2001 All-Ireland final.

And it’s not just Thomas and Charlie leading the way for the new generations of Meenans. Their sister Lucy is a star in the making and was a leading member Tyrone u-14 team that won an Ulster final against Derry in April. She also captained her school – the Loreto – to a recent Ulster U-14 A Championship title, a superb achievement.

Keeping a watchful eye on it all is their grandfather Aidan. He soldiered for Killyclogher for many years, and still recalls their Juvenile Championship success of 1969, four years after the St Mary’s club re-formed under parish lines. The Tyrone Junior Championship title of 1977 was another momentous achievement, and it wasn’t long before they firmly established themselves as a Division One team.

Aidan said: “I remember winning the Juvenile Championship in 1969 – we beat Augher, and they talk about defensive football now, but we beat them by four points to no score in the championship final. I was right half-forward on that team.

“It was an awful day – wind and rain. Augher had some team to be fair, they’d have been favourites.

“I captained Killyclogher to the Division Two title in 1979, so that was another big deal for us, but it took us another 20 years to get to a senior championship final, and we eventually won it in 2003. There were a lot of Meenans on that team – it was a very proud day. I myself played until I was 43 and I actually played for Tyrone Masters for three years.”

We will soon find out whether there will be two more members of the Meenan clan with All-Ireland medals in their back pockets. Thomas and Charlie are two steps away from the Holy Grail.

“I was down in Portaloise for their quarter-final win over Cork. Thomas is a great athlete, hHe’s versatile, they had him in the back-line marking one of Cork’s dangermen.

“Charlie is new to the panel, he’s a good player. There’s a good youth structure in Killyclogher – I think it helps that you’ve had the likes of Mark Bradley and the two McCanns playing for Tyrone, it gives the young boys something to look up to.

“Their sister Lucy is a great footballer too. She captained the Convent to the Ulster title last month. I haven’t seen too much of her – I’ve 21 grandchildren so it’s hard to keep track of them all!”