As Padraig Ó Mianáin tells it, how he got involved in the Eoghan Rua GAA club in Coleraine was a total accident.
The student had moved down from Derry city to study, and was asked by legend of Ulster GAA, Sean McGoldrick, if he would like to take charge of an underage hurling side.
Ó Mianáin accepted the invite, and with that hurling was revived in the Derry town for the first time since the 1930s.
That simple decision would lead directly to the club being 60 minutes away from an All-Ireland final this Sunday, as they face Sylane of Galway in Ballyshannon at 2pm.
Padraig has no regrets.
“Me and Sean would have started hurling in the club maybe 20 years ago. I was a student in Coleraine and when Sean’s kids were coming up to eight or nine he wanted them to play hurling and he roped me in to helping.
“We started underage and two years later we’d won at U12s and and then it continued on up the age grades all the way to minor.
“We decided that we trained them for seven years and instead of letting them drift we’d keep going. There hadn’t been hurling in Coleraine since the 1930s so it was real revolution and that spawned the camogie too.”
It may be all new for the club’s hurlers getting out of Derry and the province, but Eoghan Rua’s All-Ireland club pedigree is well established.
The camogie team are two time All-Ireland intermediate club champions, while the clubs senior football team lost an All-Ireland intermediate club final to Ardfert of Kerry.
All that success brings its own pressure, but as the team manager explains, the biggest issue the club face is trying to work as a dual club, while short on numbers.
“We’d struggle with having so many dual players, and with our men’s side making the county club final, that really affected and we only started hurling properly when that was all over in October.
“We’ve a lot of hurlers but they just can’t commit.”
The Ulster side face the Connacht champions on Sunday, and as first time winners of the provincial title, it’s all new territory.
Eoghan Rua’s last game was their All-Ireland quarter final win over Fullen Gaels in Birmingham. By the time this Sunday’s game rolls around, it will be almost a full 10 weeks since they last took to a field for a competitive game. Padraig admits it’s a big concern as they had done little enough hurling upto the county championship beginning in October.
“We have ten players on both teams, and six county footballers on our starting panel, so it’s a problem for small clubs, and we’re not traditional area so we’re lucky to have good generation.
Once club football started, our training stopped, We’ve been improving but with 10 weeks now, can we gain momentum from the game back in November.
“We got a bit of a run through Ulster and we’ve been training for the last 2 months so that should help us ahead of the weekend.”
The Derry side will be hoping conditions in Ballyshannon will be much improved, but as the team manager admits, his side will be the firmest of underdogs when they take to the field. It may be just typical GAA manager-speak but there is a sense that the club know they face an enormous task to upset the odds and see Croke Park next month.
“Look at the teams left and there is a seriously high standard with Galway, Cork and Kilkenny and then us left. Any team in Galway is going to be good. We’re not talking about unknown counties really aprt from us but we’re looking forward to it.
