JAMES Deeny couldn’t resist. The ‘auld lads still doing it for their clubs’ tweet has become a staple for the man behind the Smaller Fish podcast, Colm Parkinson.
Last Monday, it was former Dublin forward Mossy O’Neill (41, St Vincent’s), ex-Cork ace Pearse O’Neill (43, Aghada) and Barry Murphy, All-Ireland winner with Clare in 1997, still lining out for Killavullen seconds at 47.
Reading through the list, Deeny’s trigger finger could no longer be contained.
“Peter Turley (49) still running the show for RGU Downpatrick,” he replied, before the added indignity of tagging the former Down midfielder into the tweet.
Turley chuckles at his friend and former team-mate’s cheek, but let’s get it straight – he is still a sprightly 39. Well, for two more weeks anyway.
“There’s one person older than me still playing in the senior championship,” he says, “Dan Gordon’s a day older than me, so I’ll always have that at least.”
The day before Deeny’s tweet, Turley had helped RGU come out the right side of a rollercoaster round three clash with Castlewellan, his second championship 60 minutes in the space of six days after the previous Monday’s defeat to Clonduff sent Downpatrick into the last chance saloon.
That night in Newry an administrative error saw Turley listed to start with no midfield partner, the number nine spot accidentally left blank on the team sheet before Johnnie Bell lined out with 28 on his back.
“I got a few screenshots of that team sheet sent to me, saying I think you’re a bit old to be in midfield by yourself…”
In the first 20 minutes, though, Turley’s aerial prowess and reading of the game were integral as Downpatrick grabbed the game by the scruff, only for Clonduff to gradually turn the screw down the straight.
Fate has brought the same pair together again for Sunday’s quarter-final in Liatroim.
The irony of facing a famous name in yellow is not lost on Turley, because it doesn’t feel like so long since he was the young buck going toe-to-toe with the grizzled veterans of the Down club scene, many of whom had the medals to back up their reputations.
In those early days he went up against Miceal Magill (Warrenpoint) and Paul Higgins (Ballymartin), while Ross Carr was still lining out for Clonduff.
It was the two-time All-Ireland winner who first called Turley into the Down set-up in 2007. Now in his 24th campaign in the green and white hoops of the RGU, Turley is getting familiar with Ross Carr again – this time the 23-year-old son of the Down legend playing midfield for Clonduff.
“I was actually talking to Ross [senior] after the game last week… it’s funny how things work out.
“When you’re young and ambitious, you’re trying to get stuck into them boys too. But now, I’m probably feeling how they did then - that you don’t really want to go into that hard contact any more, you want to save yourself and concentrate on getting around the pitch more than anything.
“I would be friendly with Aidan Carr, I know Ross, and then Ross junior, I was talking to him, bits and pieces, no slagging or anything. He actually really impressed me last week, I didn’t realise he was as good as he is.
“A real good attitude and a nice fella.”
Having played every minute of the championship so far, Turley is relishing going into battle once more, even if he has to manage his body differently these days. And then there’s the soccer too.
Player-manager with ambitious Amateur League Premier side Dromara Village since Christmas 2021, striking a balance is key. Having retreated from midfield to centre-half, Turley knows he has to take a back seat on the playing front when championship is under way.
Despite the disappointment of watching his Dromara side exit the Steel & Sons Cup to Hollywood on penalties last Saturday, it isn’t long before that energy is diverted into other areas, either through his work as a fireman, or looking ahead to the next challenge with Downpatrick.
Fortunate enough to have steered clear of serious injury throughout his career, the thought of bringing the curtain down has never crossed his mind. When the time comes, however, Turley expects to be the first to know.
“It’s not easy to juggle everything, but I still feel good.
“With Dromara, you need to have people around you who aren’t just yes men. I’m lucky I have Paul Rice and David Stranney, who have more experience than me.
“I’ve told them if my performances drop at all, I’d rather be told, and I know they will… you don’t want to outstay your welcome.
“But it doesn’t get any easier. It’s very hard and preparation is key – making sure, for the week leading up to these big games, that I am eating well, keeping hydrated, sleeping well...
“It’s not like 20 years ago when you could’ve done whatever you wanted, as long as you got a good night’s sleep the night before. It is hard on the body.
“My hip is the main issue, it’s something that has been going on since my Down days, it was something we tried to manage in my last year or two there. Now, it would be throbbing for a day or two after a hard game, I’m starting to limp with it… I don’t really notice it but people keep saying to me.
“And then the last month or two, on the hard ground maybe, my knees have started to give me a bit of bother. Apart from those things and a bit of general stiffness, I’m feeling alright.”
And while he got a laugh at the tweet to Smaller Fish, Turley feels the rush to retire men still looking after themselves, and still playing to a high level, is a growing problem in the modern game – at both club and county level.
“I’ve never put a time-frame on how long I’ll play - you just take each year as it comes.
“I’ve always said I want to keep playing while my body lets me, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to be playing when I’m not good enough to play either.
“It’s difficult too because, when you get to this age, if you have one bad game – even if you’re coming off three or four good ones – straight away it’s ‘he’s too old, time to go’. Like, a bad game can happen when you’re 20 as well as it can when you’re nearly 40.
“It’s frustrating. Two or three years ago I remember reading a thing from one of our supporters in the club saying ‘it’s time to let the old boys go, time to get these new fellas a jersey or they’re never going to learn’.
“That annoyed me… when I was coming through nobody just handed me anything, the jersey had to be earned. You had to come in and show you deserved it.
“I don’t see why it should be any different now.”
