A FORTNIGHT ago, Ruairi McCann and his new wife Niamh were enjoying a hastily-arranged honeymoon when the text came through to their phones.
It was around half 10 on the Monday night when they were told of a huge wildfire that had broken out in the old Canadian mountain town of Jasper where they were staying.
The government issued an evacuation alert through phones. By 3am, there were 25,000 people on Highway 16 headed towards British Columbia.
Two full weeks later the fight with the blaze is still not done. It has destroyed the town and over the weekend claimed the life of a 24-year-old firefighter, killed by a falling tree in Jasper National Park.
For the McCanns it was an unnerving experience but for the town’s residents they shared a bus to safety with, it was an entirely different thing.
“We got a government alert through at half 10 at night saying everybody had to be out of the town by 3am.
“40 per cent of the place is destroyed. It took us about two days to get to Bamff [300km away]. It was mad. Probably the most mental thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
“We were lucky we were tourists. We were on a bus full of people leaving and we never had to go back.
“It was a bus full of people from Jasper who had no home to go back to, no work to go to. We’re very fortunate.
“Don’t get me wrong, holiday or no holiday, you want to be on the field playing football. That’s your main recreation, your main source of enjoyment.
“Something like that maybe puts it into perspective but it maybe makes you appreciate what you’re doing it for.”
McCann had gotten married in the break between the end of the National League and their Ulster Championship defeat by Down.
Six days after their Tailteann Cup semi-final loss to Laois, he played for Creggan’s hurlers.
“I think I played a hurling match six days later because I knew I wouldn’t get to lift a hurl the rest of the year.”
The life of a dual player in Antrim is insanely busy.
Unlike in most places, county players are regularly given permission to play for their clubs throughout the inter-county season. It might be a half here, a full game there, but it differs vastly from the norm.
Across the two codes, Creggan played 26 league games between March 10 and July 10. It’s not unique to them but when it came to organising a wedding and a honeymoon, gaps in the calendar were in short supply.
“It doesn’t really leave any real time for a break,” says McCann.
“We got married between the National League finishing and playing Down in the Ulster Championship. Whenever the league fixtures finally came to a close here, we booked a honeymoon over the Twelfth thinking we’d be alright and then there’s more fixtures here.
“Bar a short break to freshen the head more than anything, straight back at it.”
Jasper was a world away from the pouring rain in Aghagallon on Sunday where his second half performance that included three long-range points off the deck helped guide Creggan to a six-point win over their hosts.
It was a repeat of the 2021 final won by the Kickham’s, who have also lost two finals and continually knocked on the door during the dominance of their neighbours Cargin.
Former Derry forward Joe Cassidy, who took Glenravel to the intermediate title last year, is in charge alongside Antoin Moran and former Kickham’s player Odhran McLarnon.
McCann felt that “bar a couple of hairy moments” – a reference to Padraig Gowdy’s 40-yard goal attempt hitting the post on an empty net in the first half – that they had “controlled 95 per cent of the game”.
Aghagallon were severely weakened by the absence of their own Ruairi McCann, Pat Brannigan, Oisin Lenahan and only having Adam Loughran fit for the dying moments of the game.
Creggan had their own absentees, with Conor and Kevin Small and Marty Johnston injured, Eunan McAteer and Kevin Quinn in Australia and Kevin Rice in Canada.
“You’re never gonna play a championship match where both teams have everybody at the ready,” said the Randalstown-based physiotherapist.
“We can only play what’s put in front of us and we can only play with what we have. We’re very confident with what we have.
“I’m sure they weren’t happy to be playing in a game without Ruairi and without Locky, just as we’d love to be playing with the boys I mentioned.
“Up top we’ve loads of pace and boys who are comfortable enough kicking off both feet from tricky enough positions but a day like that, you don’t really get much of a chance to take shots.
“Everybody would like to play champagne football with the sun out, and you’d think in August you’d probably get that.
“But we can adapt our play to whatever the conditions are, we’re around the block long enough now to know you can’t play every game the same.”
They still have games with St Brigid’s and St Gall’s ahead to get out of the Group of Death, but McCann firmly believes that if they get things right, the potential for success is there.
“When you look at a group you can’t really go much further than the first fixture when it goes out. We played Aghagallon in a county final a couple of years ago and we know what they bring to the table, even minus big Ruairi who would have made it an even more difficult scenario.
“We weren’t looking any further than today and we’ll now look no further than St Brigid’s.
“I don’t see anything that when we’re at our best that we can’t match. The only thing is that in championship, you don’t win anything unless you’re at your best.”