LENNY Harbinson delves deep into the memory bank and laughs and winces at the same time about a rainy day in Irvinestown 23 years ago.
It was Sunday May 31 1992. It was the day the Ulster Championship swung into action for Fermanagh and Antrim.
The previous year Fermanagh had ended their eight-year winless streak in the Ulster Championship by hammering hapless Antrim 3-12 to 1-8.
Fate paired the counties together again in ’92.
Back then, PJ O’Hare’s Antrim side was brimming with good footballers, but they couldn’t buy a Championship win since beating Cavan 10 years earlier on a 1-7 to 0-8 score-line.
Over 3,000 supporters ignored the heavy downpours to turn up and watch Fermanagh and Antrim go at it again in St Molaise Park, the spiritual home of Fermanagh football.
The Ernemen, managed by Hugh McCabe, had some fine footballers at the turn of the 90s.
There was a definite autumnal feel to the playing careers of Dominic Corrigan and John Reihill - both of whom joined the senior set-up in 1981 - but there was still one last rage against the dying light in their ageing limbs.
At centre-back, there was none finer than Collie Curran and few ever got the better of Paul Brewster in midfield.
Malachy O’Rourke, now managing Monaghan, was as smart as they come along the three-quarters and a vital cog in the Erne wheel.
Cormac McAdam, arguably Fermanagh’s finest-ever goalkeeper, was in his pomp - and Michael and Bart O’Brien were two hugely under-rated defenders.
Antrim had their fair share of quality players too.
Harbinson, a St Gall's man, was a stylish footballer.
Paul McErlean captained the team and led by example.
Full-back Ciaran Hamill played for Ulster. Ciaran O’Neill was a bull of a man in midfield and Charlie McStravick was as good a centre-back Antrim produced for a long time.
In attack, Frank Fitzsimons, Antrim’s current senior manager, and Joe Kennedy were resourceful footballers.
Of Fitzsimons, Harbinson jokes: “Frank would have been deadly over two metres!
“We would have floated Frank to the edge of the square. He had good hands and when the ball was coming in he was quite robust.”
Fermanagh might have trampled all over Antrim in ’91 but the following year was an entirely different affair.
Midway through the second half Antrim substitute Stephen Mulvenna was only on the field a matter of seconds when his 30-yard pile-driver nestled in the top corner of the Fermanagh net.
The Irish News report hailed Mulvenna’s strike as “a definite contender for goal of the year”.
“He probably mis-hit it, knowing Stevie,” laughs Harbinson.
“He’d feet on him like Frankenstein! I remember his goal and I remember thinking to myself: ‘That was one of the best mis-hit goals I’ve seen in a long time’.”
The following year Mulvenna moved to north Derry and found himself playing in an Ulster final with Derry.
In fairness, Harbinson didn’t escape his own jovial wrath.
The St Gall’s half-forward squandered a glorious goal chance against Fermanagh after just 10 minutes.
“I remember getting the ball in a great position and I should have scored,” he says.
“It was poor finishing on my behalf. It went wide actually, which was even worse.”
The game itself was a feisty affair. Antrim defender Niall Lynn was dismissed after 19 minutes for “rashly throwing a punch off the ball”.
Antrim rejigged and moved Harbinson back into the half-back line.
“It was a game where we more than held our own,” adds Harbinson, who debuted for his county under Brother Ennis in 1981.
“The big problem with Antrim over the years was converting possession into scores.
“There were some years where we deserved a tanking and there were other years we were very unlucky. I remember in 1987 we played Tyrone in Casement Park in the first round of the Championship after they had played in the All-Ireland final the previous year. They got a last-minute point to level and then they beat us by a couple of points up in Omagh in the replay... Overall, it was a mixed bag over that 12-year period I was playing for Antrim.”
While Antrim were suffering a dose of the yips in front of the posts in Irvinestown 23 years ago, Fermanagh were more economical.
The game swung in the home side’s favour when 30-year-old forward Dominic Corrigan fisted to Antrim’s net in the 48th minute and although Mulvenna hauled the visitors back into the game a minute later with his pile-driver, Corrigan was beginning to fashion more space.
“After his goal Corrigan hit a superb point,” read the match report, “to put Fermanagh back in the driving seat – but it was big John Reihill’s superb point seven minutes from time that pulled the home side through.”
Corrigan has no recollection of his goal against Antrim that day.
“Even though I was nearing the end of my career I felt fresh,” remembers Corrigan, who enjoyed a successful spell in charge of his native county in the early ‘Noughties’.
“The experience carried you through and maybe made up for the loss of pace from the early years.”
Amid the constant deluge of rain, Corrigan’s 1-2 was crucial in winning the game.
They carved some daylight between themselves and Antrim before Joe Kennedy landed a few points in the closing stages to make it a one-point game. But it was midfielder Reihill’s point seven minutes from time that ultimately separated the sides.
“That was the last home Championship I played,” says Corrigan.
“My first home Championship was against Derry in ’82. I’ve good memories of St Molaise Park. I enjoyed playing there. It was an excellent pitch – one of the best in the country at the time. It’ just a pity it hasn’t been developed the way other grounds have been but it will always have a special place.”
The Kinawley clubman adds: “We beat Antrim in 1991 and that was our first Championship win since beating Down in 1983.”
“From ’83 to ’91 Fermanagh went out of the Ulster Championship after one game.
“Hugh McCabe deserves credit for turning things around and breaking the losing sequence. Paul Brewster and Collie Curran were the big, powerful leaders in Fermanagh in the 90s – outstanding players that would make Fermanagh teams in any generation.
“Collie was an outstanding centre half-back - one of the stand-out players ever to play for the county, the best in Ulster at that time.”
Fermanagh might have edged out Antrim in Irvinestown 23 years ago – but they were promptly dismissed by a rampant Donegal side in the Ulster semi-finals (2-17 to 0-7) a few weeks later.
Corrigan adds: “When you go through that team now, every one of them would have been capable of holding their own in any company.
“You look at the likes of John Reihill and Malachy O’Rourke both of whom won Sigerson medals at the ‘Ranch [St Mary’s College, Belfast].
“Michael and Bart O’Brien were really strong defenders, Cormac McAdam was one of Fermanagh’s best-ever goalkeepers.
“Paul Coyle was a very smart footballer, so too was Brian Carty, and Mark Gallagher was the goal ace. He burst onto the scene in ’91.
“But you'd have to say we underachieved. I suppose the sad thing about it was players like that tasted so little of Championship success.”
Harbinson, who went on to guide St Gall’s to an All-Ireland title in 2010, reflects: “We probably didn’t have any marquee forwards. Probably the majority of us were grafters.
“We were a typical Antrim team: we were very mobile and played a short passing game that was the traditional style in Antrim through the years, dating back to the 40s and 50s.
“We trained on a Tuesday and a Thursday and with maybe a training session on a Saturday morning, and that was the height it,” he says.
“Tactically, it wasn’t at the same level as it is today. It was very much 15 against 15 and every man winning their own battle.
“It was ‘drive the ball into the big man at full-forward’. The ‘keeper would bury the ball into the middle of the park and everybody would fight for it.
“Teams had a number of quality individuals and you won games largely on their efforts.”
Antrim’s wretched Ulster Championship losing streak lasted until 2000 when Brian White masterminded victory over Down at Casement Park.
While many observers cited the ‘Troubles’ as holding back Antrim GAA, Harbinson disagrees.
“Looking back, I think there was too much made of that. Geographically, a lot of our players were based in Belfast and the rest were around south Antrim. So getting to training was relatively straightforward, unlike other counties. I wouldn’t say the Troubles played a role.
“Whenever I sit back and reflect on it, the way we trained, the tactics – and I know it’s being wise in hindsight – I thought we could have been better prepared throughout those years I played for the county; we could have done more.
“We could have been among the top three or four teams in Ulster because we had some very good footballers.”
Corrigan, now a teacher in St Michael’s Enniskillen who guided Clontibret to the Monaghan county title last season, says: “Antrim were a bit like ourselves – they never got to play on the big stage all that often. That game in ’92 could have gone either way.
“Overall, Fermanagh probably under-achieved but I don’t look back in anger. I treasure the time as a player and managing is very enjoyable. But nothing beats playing.”
May 31 1992: Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final (St Molaise Park, Irvinestown): Fermanagh 1-9 Antrim 1-8)
HOW THEY LINED OUT…
Fermanagh: Cormac McAdam; Tommy Callaghan, Michael O’Brien, Bart O’Brien; John Smyth, Collie Curran (capt) (0-1), Malachy O’Rourke (0-2); John Reihill (0-1), Fergal McCann; Colm McCreesh, Paul Brewster, Brian Carty, Mark Gallagher, Dominic Corrigan (1-2), Paul Coyle Subs: Simon Bradley for McCreesh (27)
Antrim: Brendan Devlin; Niall Lynn, Ciaran Hamill, Locky McCurdy; Charlie McStravick, Paul McErlean (capt), Stephen Lynn; John McAleese, Paul Murphy; Enda McAtamney, Ciaran O’Neill, Aiden Donnelly, Lenny Harbinson, Frank Fitzsimons, Joe Kennedy Subs: Stephen Mulvenna for Murphy (46), Andy Healy for McStravick (57), Donagh Finnegan for Fitzsimons (62)
Referee: Mick McGrath (Donegal)
Attendance: 3,000
