I recently finished filming the third series of Scéalta na gCorn with the television production company Imagine Media for TG4.
It is a gorgeous series produced by the brilliant Hannah Ní Dhubhcháin and it looks at the stories behind the GAA silverware as we find out who these characters were and why the cups were named after them.
It is very much a grassroots series as trophies are named after presidents, officials, players and volunteers.
The people who give and do the most are remembered for the great work they have done.
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It means a lot to the families and I really enjoy hearing the stories about them.
My travels this year found me in Derry and I had the pleasure to meet one of the great characters of the GAA, Colm McGuigan, as we spoke about his father Jim and the cup that is named after him.
Jim McGuigan was a massive servant to Watty Graham’s Glen and he was the Derry county treasurer for 32 years.
When he finished that term in 1995, he became the treasurer of the Ulster Council for five years and following that, he continued as a member of the Ulster Council Finance Committee.
He was a fireman and a qualified pilot and was also a referee and the kit man for the Derry senior teams.
He passed away in 2011 and in 2012 the Jim McGuigan cup was presented for the first time to the Ulster Intercounty U17 football champions. Derry received it in its inaugural year.
Jim’s son Colm better known as Colm ‘Banty’ McGuigan took over looking after the jerseys in 1995 and between himself and his father, they have been kitmen for almost 60 years.
“I was originally called Bandy as a nickname when playing football growing up on the green but it changed to Banty and I’ve been called that ever since,” says Colm.
In 1995 Jim went to a county convention in Dungiven and fell on his way out breaking his hip.
“We had to take him to Altnagelvin hospital. He was in the job as a kitman for quite a long time.
“It was after Derry won the All-Ireland so he said to me, would you look after the kits for me.
“I said no problem so I started to go to the games for him you know and pick the jerseys.
“When he got out of the hospital, and I said to him, what about these jerseys? He says, just you go ahead and work away at it. So that’s how I became a kit man. I’ve been in the job now for almost 30 years. I started in 1995″
Colm is the kitman in charge of all Derry’s men’s teams from developmental underage groups to minor, U20s and seniors in both football and hurling.
“I go to all the games and we head away early to set up in the hotel especially if we are travelling down the country with deck boards for table tennis, tables, everything is set up.
“Another boy called Hugh McGrath, a County Down man but who now lives in Derry city helps me and we have the room set up when the boys walk in.
“They come down to eat, play a bit of table tennis, and a few darts to kill a bit of time. They set up a few new tables to play cards and that’s how they relax before games.
“I enjoy the craic of being a kitman. I get on well with the players and have a great relationship with them. They like a bit of fun and banter and it’s back and forth.
“I have a great relationship with the Derry players right through the years, you know. The older players always stop and chat with me.
“I’ve made a hell of a lot of friends through the GAA and to me that’s the GAA and what it’s all about. I’ve made a lot of friends outside of Derry as well.
“The most challenging part of being a kitman is having to be there on time. Make sure your changing room is organised and getting everything right on the day especially before massive games.”
The dressing room is a sanctuary and Colm has seen the highs and the lows of what happens there.
“When you win everyone is going around getting photographs especially when they won the two Ulster football titles. And then sometimes I’m going with a song and the banter and the craic is good.”
Just to note that his song of choice is the Wild Colonial Boy.
“When you lose, it’s the opposite. You don’t get involved as the dressing room can be a fickle place after a loss especially after a big loss.
“I go about lifting the socks and the togs and jerseys and maybe say just keep the heads up. They have to keep going, things like that. But you have to take the good and the bad.
“I try to remember the good days, not the bad ones”
“We had a good year in Derry last year. We won among others, an U20 Ulster Hurling cup, an U17 Ulster minor football cup all sitting in Owenbeg as well as the Allianz National League Division One cup, the Jim McGuigan Cup and an All-Ireland minor football cup. There are a lot of counties in Ireland who haven’t that.”
Stand out memories for Colm are seeing the Derry hurlers win the Ulster Final in 2000 and bringing the cup home to Derry and crossing the Toome bridge for the first time in 90 years.
He was the bus driver when Derry won the All-Ireland football final in 1993 and remembers bringing the team into Maghera.
“It took nearly an hour and 20 minutes to get up the main street that would normally take five minutes. It was a massive memory for me, even before I became a kitman.”
As kitman, Colm is privy to what happens inside the dressing room and as everyone knows they are in the know when it comes to hearing the inside track.
“There must have been at least a dozen managers that I’ve worked with. Brian Mullins was the first. I’ve got on well with all the managers. Each of them gave it everything they had.”
So who will be the next Derry manager?
“I actually can’t answer that” he laughs “as I haven’t got a clue. I’m going to have to end up doing the job myself” he chuckles.
Not many counties have the same person involved as kit people over all their teams but it shows the great respect, admiration and affection the Derry county board and players hold Colm in.
“It’s the way my father did it and I’m following suit. When I go, it might change but at the minute now, thank God, I’m healthy enough to keep going. I’m retired and I’m happy to keep going and to keep at it.”
With all the uncertainty at the moment in the managerial circles of Derry GAA, perhaps what provides the most consistency to players is the friendly face and the banter from the one and only Colm ‘Banty’ McGuigan.
