This club season is fast becoming like one of those mythical nights out.
The ones where, as the event approached, we were unsure of: 1) could we be bothered and 2) if it would be worth it.
As the occasion came round, the undertaking only seemed to grow bigger, but we carried on preparing not sure if it would even get off the ground.
How the club season would pan out remained shrouded in mystery.
Plans continually changed, you could feel confident of what were the rules and schedule one minute only to miss the latest update, and suddenly you were behind the curve again.
There was going to be crowds, no crowds or small crowds.
Dressing rooms would open, but then they were shut.
There were 10 allowed to train together but non-contact, then 15 then the whole shooting match and then, for some clubs, suddenly none at all.
Sign-in sheets, sanitiser, e-learning, COVID supervisors, put it all together and it was the strangest of times.
Not many of us would’ve got through the whole spell without at some stage having a quiet thought: ‘what the hell are we at?’.
Yet, we trundled on.
Early league games were shoehorned in as clubs tried to organise timetables for the use of their pitches which ended up like the workings of a Swiss train timetable such was the demand.
Somehow we all trundled on, cut our cloth to suit and knew it was better than nothing.
As we started to get used to the mayhem, there was a growing realisation that the fare on offer was brilliant.
I’m sure that having a full panel of players, including county players and a fixed schedule of games, had a direct hand on the level of training and consequently games we got to see.
The condensed season also meant that there were no dreary legs or loss of enthusiasm.
The games had the energy of early-season league games but the focus and pressure that naturally arises when championship is on the doorstep.
As the teams were in such an early state of tune, the football wasn’t, couldn’t be perfect but was none the worse for it.
Having gone six months without anything and having been starved of our regular summer football, we jumped on any bit of club action and news we could get.
Awareness of what was happening, not just in our county but in others was greater than ever and driven further by the streaming revolution.
Streaming of course was present in previous years but because of the COVID-induced crowd restrictions it was now pushed centre stage and its extensiveness and quality felt like the dawning of a new era.
Without it, all those brilliant matches would have been purely followed on Twitter or enjoyed by the few hundred (cough) that were at it.
Like Cinderella, it feels like club football has been taken to the Ball and stole the show.
The days of it being left at home cleaning the dishes as county football soaks up all the glory look over.
From Carryduff’s progress in Down, Cargin’s history men in Antrim, Maghery’s four-goal wonder in Armagh it has been a spectacular campaign.
Tyrone’s was already a much-heralded championship and has only added to its reputation.
At the start of this year, the extent of the competition was summed up by the fact that any of eight clubs were realistic contenders.
Dungannon weren’t on that long list.
Their consequent win has left us all scratching our heads and resigned to the rather glorious fact that next year, every team in the top flight will now believe they have a chance.
Dungannon’s heroics and impossible season as the team that couldn’t be beat will live long in the memory.
I’m sure along with his COVID concerns, Stephen Nolan like the rest of us was questioning the use of penalties to end a county final or maybe he was pondering how Mickey Harte might incorporate Paul Donaghy.
Either way, I’m sure the poor man’s head was probably spinning from the sheer entertainment and joy of it all.
Speaking of penalties to decide matches, has that been another ingredient in the club spectacular we have all lapped up?
Maybe not penalties themselves, but the winner-on-the-day format that has been embraced out of necessity?
At the same stage who wouldn’t want a replay when the football is this good?
Like many, I was pondering the horror of penalties to decide a county final.
How can such an honour be decided on essentially a toss of a coin?
But then, be it a goalkeeper or defender making a slip for a last-minute goal, a free-taker fluffing his lines or a dodgy call from the referee, tight games are nearly always decided by tiny moments.
Maybe a replay after extra time and only penalties after the second day?
If the county board officials had offered the teams a replay instead, would they take it?
Trillick definitely.
The Clarkes, I’m not so sure.
They were the underdog, and the adage about one bite at a cherry usually rings true.
I’d have a feeling they would’ve been happy to take their chances.
Dunagnnon are maybe a poor example of this underdog factor.
Given their quality and depth of talent and the fact that their opponents knew better than anyone to disregard their recent Intermediate status, they were underdogs in name only.
For genuine underdogs, penalties much more than a replay offers the best chance of a giant-killing.
For that alone, I probably would be happy to keep them.
It may be a terrible way to lose but it’s also the most likely way of seeing the unrestrained joy of the underdog.
The clock hasn’t quite struck midnight yet, last orders haven’t quite been called but over the next few weeks the club season will calm down and close up shop.
For a night out we all weren’t quite sure we wanted to go on, it’s took on a life of its own.
The best ones always do. For club football, things may never be the same again.
