WHEN St Brigid’s sought to build on the potential of their underage successes they turned to coaches with family pedigree in the form of Edendork brothers Paddy and John McGuckin.
Sons of Mick, nephews of the legendary Adrian (of Ballinderry and St Pat’s Maghera fame), brothers of Brian, the duo led the south Belfast outfit into the Antrim SFC semi-finals last year, before falling to eventual champions Cargin.
This Sunday they aim to reach that stage again by overcoming last season’s beaten finalists, Dunloy at Cargin on Sunday (4pm).
John believes they’ve learned managerial lessons along the way from their older generation: “My father Mick would have coached us all down the years, and obviously my uncle Adrian is a bit of a legend as a manager.”
They’ve also brought in an All-Ireland winner from Derry who nurtured the young talents at Glen, Maghera to become the current dominant force in Ulster club football: “Enda Gormley joined us in a coaching capacity – he’s added a bit of value. Enda needs no introduction.”
So far it has worked out well this year. They’ve already defeated two teams who have been ‘there or thereabouts’ in recent years, in the form of Kickham’s, Creggan (2021 champions and finalists in 2020 and 2018) and Aghagallon (who lost both the 2021 and 2022 deciders). Their first championship outing this year was against former county kingpins St Gall’s, so every game was a challenge.
McGuckin believes the tests they’ve come through in that Group 4 will benefit them, notably how they had to battle back against Aghagallon last time out:
“We’re delighted to progress from a very difficult group. We navigated ourselves out of it fairly well – although at half-time against Aghagallon we were out of the Championship altogether.
“Probably subconsciously the boys knew they could afford to lose by five or six points and still top the group. First half they probably played to avoid losing rather than to win.
“We changed tack in the second half and played some really good football. I think it’s prepared us fairly well for the knockout stages. We weren’t happy to just finish top of the group, we pushed on and won the game.”
As well as being 100 per cent winners of the ‘Group of Death’, St Brigid’s are Antrim League champions, so expectations about them are rising in this year’s Antrim SFC.
Joint-manager John acknowledges there’s confidence about the south Belfast club, but also awareness of the quality of opposition still in the competition:
“Obviously winning the league was brilliant, this club’s first senior success, brought a feel-good factor.
“Unfortunately the semi-final and final came in holiday time so Ballymena and Cargin were without a few regulars. We’re delighted to win it and we did celebrate it, but our feet are firmly on the ground.”
Sunday’s opponents, Dunloy Cuchullain’s, are obviously much better known for their hurling, and were regarded as shock finalists, but McGuckin certainly doesn’t regard them as a flash in the pan:
“Maybe it was a bit of a surprise, but they were there totally on merit. They really lit the championship up last year, played some fantastic football.
“A lot of people talk about their athleticism and pace, the sense of abandonment with which they play, but they’re also very astute tactically and have a fantastic skill-set. They’re very dangerous opposition.”
Still, St Brigid’s, with the likes of Derry’s Shea Down and the Antrim twin brothers of Joseph and Patrick Finnegan in their ranks, are clearly a team to be reckoned with, and one that McGuckin believes is still improving:
“I think we’ve progressed well over past year so as a group. Last season we were quite inconsistent in our performances. I know it’s a cliché, but we really did take each game on its own merits this year, treated every game really importantly, tried to win every game we played – including pre-season friendlies.
“We used 45 players last year, which we used as an excuse for our inconsistency – but, in hindsight, that has helped us this year. The development and opportunity those young lads got to play senior football has really stuck to us this year and helped us.”