AS a young boy, Sean Mullan dreamt of taking on the world.
Whether it was the might of Kerry in an All-Ireland minor semi-final or the prospect of a Feyenoord team laced with stars of the Dutch 1974 World Cup squad, this was all he’d ever wanted.
He had achieved the first dream but never got the chance to complete the second.
Fifty years ago today, on August 15, 1974, he arrived at Coleraine Showgrounds for training just as he did every Thursday night.
The group were running together when Sean collapsed on the field.
Despite the heroic efforts of club official Mickey Rooney in particular, they weren’t able to save the young footballer’s life.
He was 20 years of age.
Ballerin, where the seven brothers and two sisters were reared, was and is Mullan country.
Johnny and Teresa had nine kids in ten years – Brendan, Evelyn, Seamus, Sean, Brian, Padraig, Eamonn, Teresa and Stephen.
The last two were twins, just 14 when Sean died.
Their eldest brother Brendan was 24. He’d caught the eye as a young player at Coleraine and got his chance across at Fulham and later Millwall before returning home towards the end of 1969, where he returned to the Bannsiders’ ranks.
By then Sean was making his own way.
Talented in both codes, he and their other brother Seamus were both part of the Derry minor team that won Ulster and then met Kerry in Croke Park in the summer of 1970.
That was a Kingdom side containing the likes of Ger O’Keefe, Ger Power and John Egan.
Derry had them scrambling when midfielder Eugene Laverty was fouled bearing down on goal six minutes from time.
The penalty was handed to Martin O’Neill but his shot was straight at the goalkeeper. Kerry survived the scare to win by five.
Mullan was top of the right with Seamus at left-half forward that afternoon.
All seven brothers played for Derry minors in some shape or form across a decade.
Sean had, like all the other boys bar one, gone to St Columb’s College in Derry, though he moved then to St Joseph’s, Coleraine during his studies.
After leaving school he took into work in the office of the farming and building contracting business the family ran.
He loved Ballerin and Derry but he loved soccer too and the GAA’s ban on playing other sports at the time created conflict that so many players of that generation fell foul of.
Following in Brendan’s footsteps Sean was also a youth international in 1972, playing against England.
“An exciting player with an eye for goal, a newcomer to the squad,” his pen pic in the match programme for the game at Chester Street on March 11, 1972 read.
Just over a month later, Mullan was a young member of the squad that won the Irish Cup with Coleraine, beating Portadown 2-1 in the final.
He also won Ulster Young Player of the Year.
Coleraine won a host of silverware over the course of a decade, including four Irish Cups, but their crowning glory came in 1974 when they won the club’s first and only league title.
Sean Mullan’s pace and panache cut a dash on the wing, his lightness and brightness a shimmering beacon in attack as the Bannsiders claimed the Gibson Cup before being rocked by club legend Bertie Peacock’s decision to stand down as manager soon after.
Still, the mood was upbeat days before the start of the new league season. Feyenoord were on the horizon for their glamour two-legged European Cup tie.
Frankie Moffatt had missed their Irish League winning campaign with a broken leg and was on the road to recovery, running alongside Sean Mullan when he collapsed that fateful night 50 years ago.
Mickey Rooney, a club official, tried in vain to resuscitate Mullan but he passed away. His family were called for but were unaware what they were coming to as they arrived at Coleraine Hospital and the ashen faces of the people standing around told them.
Sean was in a room with his boots at the bottom of the bed. Gone. How? Why?There was so much less medical knowledge at the time but they were given a diagnosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes an enlargement and thickening of the heart, making it more difficult for blood to be pumped around the body.
They had lost their father suddenly two years earlier, and their mother Teresa had endured then the loss of Dan McKay in between, a man she treated like a brother.
When Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s European Championship clash with Finland three years ago, Sean Mullan was in Frankie Moffatt’s mind.
“Last night’s events brought back unhappy memories of the night Sean Mullan collapsed whilst running beside me at training in the Showgrounds.
“He was not so lucky and sadly later passed away. That night Mickey Rooney was a hero in all that he tried to do for Sean but to no avail.
“Sean didn’t get to live his life and to fulfil his dreams lie the rest of us but I hope you rest in peace my dear friend. Sadly missed but never forgotten,” Moffatt posted on social media.
Fifty years on, he has never been forgotten.
A tribute to Sean Mullan will take place ahead of Friday night’s derby clash with Ballymena at the Showgrounds.
Struck down inexplicably soon, he was an incalculable loss to Coleraine, to Ballerin and above all, his family.
