ALL-IRELAND finalists Errigal Ciaran have flirted with defeat on so many occasions this season that Darragh McAnenly has lost count.
While acknowledging the resilience of his Errigal team-mates, McAnenly knows that on any given day they could easily have come out on the wrong side and they might not be making history on Sunday by playing in their first-ever All-Ireland final at senior level.
Their domestic face-offs against Pomeroy, Killyclogher, Clonoe (after a replay) and Trillick were all tight, nerve-shredding affairs but on each occasion Enda McGinley’s men passed the stress test.
Ulster was another roller-coaster with perhaps their quarter-final win over Antrim champions Erin’s Own Cargin the only time they felt comfortable, as the entire Errigal community look forward to facing Dublin and Leinster champions Cuala at Croke Park this weekend.
“At the end of every game you’re just glad to get over the line,” said the experienced Errigal Ciaran goalkeeper, holder of three county winner’s medals.
“Do you sit back and really think about it? I suppose the way the Tyrone championship was, you’re playing week on week, so whenever you win, it’s the next game.
“I think maybe come a couple of weeks’ time, you might get a chance to reflect. Some of the games this year I haven’t even watched back. So, you don’t really dwell on it. I used to enjoy watching the matches but it’s something I’ve stopped doing now.
“People are saying that we’ve got over the line by a point but there are many years where we didn’t. Another day you’re beaten by a point and all those close wins are forgotten about. That’s football. When it’s going for you and there’s a bit of luck, you’ve got to take it.”
McAnenly admits he’s probably enjoyed the games outside of the fierce rivalry in Tyrone football, with Errigal nailing their third Ulster crown with wins over St Eunan’s Letterkenny, Cargin, Clann Eireann and Kilcoo before taking the scalp of Dr Crokes of Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-finals last Sunday night.
“It’s the unknown more than anything,” he said. “Within Tyrone you’re playing teams you play every single year, you’re great friends with a lot of boys in other clubs. Then, once you go outside the county you don’t know much about each other and it’s a breath of fresh air.
“To win a Tyrone championship it takes a serious, serious effort and when you get out of it, it’s just a sigh of relief to get over the line, and then you just go and try and enjoy it.”
McAnenly played outfield for most of his underage career before club-mate Stevie Quinn put it into his head that maybe he had the skillset to be a goalkeeper, just like his father Cathal.
“I suppose whenever I did go into nets goalkeeping started changing,” he said.
“I actually started to enjoy it more because you weren’t just staying in goals. Kicking was the biggest change where you weren’t setting the ball down and just kicking it down the field; it was more about trying to pick a pass. It’s very, very enjoyable and I’ve loved it.
“You have to enjoy it. There have been years where we’ve been beaten and the final whistle goes, you’re annoyed and the Monday morning doesn’t be easy when you’ve been beaten in the championship.
“Maybe it’s just the older you get you realise and you do take a step back and think, you don’t know when your last day is playing football, so it’s about trying to enjoy it every day you go out.”