WHEN he walked into the press conference room at Windsor Park last Sunday, it was hard to tell if Chris Curran’s soaking wet Cliftonville jersey was in the condition that it was through the massive effort he’d put in out on the field or if he’d been doused in celebratory champagne.
It was probably a combination of the two.
A minute later, Joe Gormley breezed through the doors and sat at the top table, both men flanking their manager Paddy McLaughlin.
Club legend is a term that should be used sparingly – but no-one would dispute that Curran and Gormley graduated to that lofty status at Solitude some time ago.
Careers really do fly by. Between them, the pair have created a million archive moments that will glow in the hearts and minds of those who frequented the old ground over the last number of years.
And here they were last Sunday evening, being handed a tin of beer by club official David Begley, to celebrate yet another triumph in the famous blood-red jersey, seeds of success that can be traced back to the planters, Eddie Patterson and the late Tommy Breslin.
When Joe Gormley scored over 60 goals for Crumlin Star and was the talk of the Amateur League, it was no surprise he ended up signing for Cliftonville.
Who would have known back then that this bashful kid from the streets of Ardoyne would perform with scandalous consistency and grow to become the club’s all-time leading scorer - and be an absolute scourge of Irish League defences for over a decade?
A day after winning the League Cup at Windsor, he was filmed walking through the corridors of Holy Cross Boys Primary School, where he works as a teaching assistant, and being applauded by the awe-struck pupils, many of whom want to be just like him.
He is their dream peddler, the inspiration of their youth. That is Joe Gormley's footballing epitaph. And what an epitaph.
Chris Curran mightn't have scored as many goals as Joe Gormley but his contribution since joining the club from Ballinamallard United in 2014 is on a par with the striker's.
Curran is one of those rare footballing breeds that never has a bad game. He never dips below a seven-out-of-10.
After spending two years of his youth at Manchester United, the Cavan native came home and had fallen out of love for the game.
His career could easily have fizzled out, but thanks to 'Whitey' Anderson, the winger got his career back on track at Ballinamallard and was signed by Breslin after Cliftonville's league title triumph in 2013.
Coming into a hugely talented league-winning side, Curran added value and was absolutely integral to retaining the Gibson Cup the following year.
Curran is 31 now and Gormley 32. Because of their warrior hearts, you hesitate to say their best days are behind them.
What is definitely true is that they’re no longer guaranteed starters in the Cliftonville team.
For a while Paddy McLaughlin experimented with playing both Ryan Curran and Gormley, but when he did the team lost natural width.
So the manager has bitten the bullet, with Ryan Curran being preferred as the team’s central striker.
Despite Chris Curran’s renowned versatility, a starting berth has been blocked by the brilliant form of Kris Lowe, Rory Hale, Jamie McDonagh and Chris Gallagher.
It must be exceptionally tough for serial winners such as Curran and Gormley to transition from being a certain starter to a substitute.
The pair could have looked at their medal collection, kept picking up a wage and taken the foot off the gas. But neither did.
Asked about having to change his mind-set from being a starter to a sub after last week's final, Curran’s answer illustrated why he remains one of the leaders of the team.
“I was watching the Manchester United game [against Spurs] and they were talking about players’ roles and players not being happy with their roles.”
“They made a good point that it was very disrespectful about players who come into a role like that – myself or Joe [Gormley] – to players who have done that previously and have carried themselves so professionally.
“I thought about that, I thought about people like Daniel Kearns who in the earlier part of the season had probably the same role that I’ve had now over the past couple of months.
“Never once did he throw his head up, never once did he sulk. He trained, unbelievably well – in matches too, and did what was needed when he was asked to come on. And that’s the way I think of it now.
“If I was to sulk around the changing room now it would be so disrespectful to him or to somebody who’s not getting on the bench as a substitute.”
During last Sunday’s epic League Cup final against Coleraine, McLaughlin’s three substitutes turned the game.
Upon his 53rd minute introduction, Curran quickly became the team’s midfield metronome, cleverly setting up the third goal. Gormley came on and scored two goals, as did young Paul O’Neill.
Had the likes of Curran and Gormley sulked at their perceived demotion to the bench over the past number of months, they could have become energy-sappers instead of energy-givers.
Had they been energy-sappers, the team culture would most definitely have been negatively impacted and everything could have become disunited.
In many ways, seasoned performers like Curran and Gormley still narrate and lead the culture of the Cliftonville dressing room, probably more so than when they were starting earlier in the season.
Who knows, after last Sunday’s game-defining contributions, the two men could easily earn starts against Glenavon tomorrow.
Sitting on the bench - or even in the stand - will always test a player’s professionalism. Indeed, it is how those players conduct themselves and react that can decide so much.
The kind of leadership that Curran and Gormley are currently offering is why Cliftonville won the cup last week and are chasing the treble.
They are still worth their weight in gold.
