Jody Gormley’s 30,000 mile pilgrimage to his spiritual home has rewarded his selfless devotion to a noble cause.
Now domiciled in Belfast, the former Antrim boss grasped the management reins at his hometown club this season, and led Trillick to a Tyrone league and championship double.
Hours spent on the road to rural west Tyrone and back were wearing, eating in to family and leisure time, but the grind and toil of those dark winter nights have turned to gold.
Every second invested in renewing the special bond with the people of his own close-knit community was well spent.
A hero and a proud son of Trillick when he lined out at midfield for Tyrone in the 1995 All-Ireland final against Dublin, Gormley’s star now shines more brightly than ever as the glorious year of 2023 draws to a close.
“I think I’ve done 32,000 miles this year, it’s a lot of travelling but it’s worth every minute of it,” he said.
“When you see what it means to people, I keep saying to the players, not every team is like this, not every club is like this.”
He commended the players for their honesty and dedication in bouncing back from a narrow Ulster Club semi-final defeat to Scotstown to win a league title back in Tyrone.
“I mean the energy in the group and the commitment of the players is 100 per cent 100 per cent of the time and that’s not just words, it’s just what it is and it’s a very special time and you can see how important it was at the end of the season, players weren’t happy just to bank their championship win, they just love playing football and it’s a privilege for me to be involved with a group like this.”
Gormley returned to Trillick last year, joining Nigel Seaney’s backroom team, and took over the main role when the manager stepped down at the end of the 2022 season.
The positive energy within the group captivated him like an addictive substance, and there was no way he could turn his back on the unique brotherhood of his homeland.
“It’s been brilliant coming back to Trillick, the energy in training and the energy in the group, working with the management team, Peter, Declan, Dermot, Eunan, Peter and Sean, everyone has been absolutely first class.
“You wouldn’t actually believe how positive the energy is.”
The loss of key players Mattie Donnelly and Michael Gallagher to injury dealt a double blow to Trillick’s chances of winning one of the toughest championships in the country.
But the setback was processed internally, the competitive landscape assessed and a fearless band of warriors, reinforced and refashioned, took on all challengers.
The depth of the squad had excited Gormley, who sees a positive future for one of Tyrone’s most famous clubs.
“Absolutely, there’s a great platform, we’d a lot of players come in this year establishing themselves as senior footballers in Trillick.
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“We also have young boys coming through and boys coming back from injury, we’ll be looking to build upon this season and the effort and performances we’ve put in.”
With Peter McGinnity constantly by his side, the wise counsel of the former Fermanagh star has been influential and inspirational as the chemistry of a newly formed management team found expression.
The pair are set to return in 2024 to attempt a seemingly impossible feat in the Red Hand county – the retention of the O’Neill Cup.
It’s almost 20 years since any club has managed to win back-to-back senior championships, when Carrickmore successfully defended the title in 2005.
“There’s no doubt it’s a big challenge and when the dust settles, we’ll enjoy the next couple of weeks and then we’ll sit down and see where the areas for improvement are, you could see in that game today, there are a lot of areas which we feel we can improve on.
“Standards are high and expectations will be high again next year so we’ll not be looking upon it as any big hoodoo or anything, we’ll be going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch and hopefully will give a good account of ourselves next year.”