September 19, 1993. The day a team of Derry men marched into Croke Park and defeated perennial heavy hitters Cork to claim their first ever All-Ireland win.
Today marks 25 years since Eamonn Coleman’s charges reached the peak of the mountain, and came back down with Sam Maguire in tow.
On this day, 25 years ago, legendary figures like Tohill, Downey, Barton and Scullion etched their names into Oak Leaf folklore.
Before he passed, the late Eamonn Coleman penned a book alongside his god-daughter Maria McCourt, documenting the trials and tribulations of a team trying to reach unknown heights.
“The Boys of ’93: Derry’s All-Ireland Kings” is a fantastic read for any Gael in search of some good old fashioned nostalgia. In an era where Dublin keep on winning, it is nice to look back at a time when the championship wasn’t a foregone conclusion. When teams had to fight tooth and nail just to make it out of their province.
The early 90’s was a rich period for Ulster football. Down’s victories in ’91 & ’94 were sandwiched between maiden victories for Donegal and the Oak Leaf county. After years of being told they weren’t good enough, and that Ulster teams don’t do All-Ireland finals, the province began to take over.
A common misconception that still burns today is that the rivalry between the Ulster counties is what held them back for so many years, that there was a deep hatred for each other. Coleman painted a very different picture of Derry’s homecoming in 1993.
“The journey home will never be forgotten, it was really something special. People won’t believe me about it not being the football, but it was by far the high point for me. The sheer joy on people’s faces before we even got anywhere near our home county was brilliant. Footballers from Armagh and Tyrone, coming out on the streets in their droves to wave us on, on our victory march home.”
“Newry was jammed as the Down people turned out in their thousands and Paddy O’Rourke, the Down captain of ’91 welcomed us north with Sam. It took us half an hour to get through Armagh or more. It was swarming with people, I’d never seen the like of it. The cup had never been as far as Armagh before, the farthest it had ever come was Newry”
“At the Moy the Tyrone men had set up a platform and Plunkett Donaghy made us a presentation. Plunkett had been unlucky enough in Derry’s 1992 National League final win over Tyrone when, going up for a ball in the dying seconds of the game, it slipped through his hands and into the back of the net. ‘Hey Plunkett,’ shouted a voice from the crowd, ‘that’s the second trophy you’ve handed to Derry.'”
It was a special for football in Ulster, and this story illustrates that perfectly. Whilst one can understand the sentiment of Paddy O’Rourke welcoming the Derry men back over the border, Down had won two All-Ireland’s in recent years. They had been there before, done that.
The thought of men and women from Armagh and Tyrone coming out in their droves to welcome home the victorious Derry team really highlights how special an occasion it was, and how special a period this was for Ulster football, and how together the province was at this time.
Two counties who had never before reached the same heights that Derry or Down had were still delighted to see their counterparts bring home success.
During the height of what was a bloody period in Ulster’s history politically, it is great to see that Gaels in the province where able to set aside county loyalties and come together in celebration of one another’s achievements.
