COLOURFUL OCCASION LIGHTS UP CLONES
Richard Bullick
The hoped-for Orchard clean sweep didn’t quite work out in the end as the Armagh men’s wait for the provincial crown continues, but it was a privilege to be in Clones for Saturday’s double bill of Ulster gaelic football finals.
A sea of Armagh orange interspersed with Donegal green-and-yellow made for a spectacularly colourful occasion and the full house of 29000 generated a fantastic atmosphere for a thrilling men’s final which had everything you would want in sport.
The traffic congestion afterwards is always talked about but Clones is a special place on the day of these big games, the sport’s spiritual home in Ulster, and as we watched captivated in the evening sunshine, the heart told the head that Casement Park should never be built.
Of course, that’s coming from an unashamedly sentimental and nostalgic chap who would also love the old Ravenhill and Windsor Park back instead of the supposedly improved versions, but stadium debates are for another day.
The Orchard class of 2000 were presented to the crowd at half-time to mark the quarter-century anniversary of that Ulster title triumph and it was great to see some of those Armagh men accompanied in the stand by daughters who are now wearing the orange jersey.
Paul McGrane was the last Armagh man to lift the Anglo-Celt Cup back in 2008 and his daughter Moya captained the Orchard’s Under 16 girls to an All Ireland B title triumph last season.
Diarmaid Mardsen’s older daughter Lara was an unused sub for Armagh in the senior ladies decider while his younger girl Gemma had arrived in Clones fresh from captaining the Orchard county’s Under 14s to an 8-12 to 2-13 victory over Louth that morning.
Unlike her nearby Clan na Gael clubmates, Ger Reid’s daughters Aoife and Ella, Gemma wasn’t even born last time the Armagh men won Ulster and the outcome meant so much she actually covered her face for most of the final minute, unable to watch.
There were quite a few family links between the two Armagh senior sides contesting Saturday’s Ulster showpieces, notably ladies captain Clodagh McCambridge and her brother Barry both wearing the No 3 jersey for their respective teams.
The size of fanbase evidently varies but the women’s commitment matches that of the men, the hopes and dreams are the same, likewise the highs and lows, so it was great to see these two Orchard county teams sharing the stage at the weekend.
As someone who has written reports for this newspaper on the Armagh ladies team’s last 152 matches and is hugely proud of this side, it was so gratifying to watch the ground gradually filling up during their comprehensive victory.
That first final probably didn’t showcase ladies football in its absolute best light as the two teams weren’t well-enough matched to replicate the sort of fantastic contest the men’s match threw up as Armagh marched to a straightforward win against game but outclassed Donegal.
Even the celebrations felt slightly flat afterwards and the players were rushing off but all credit to Ulster GAA and the courteous stewards for facilitating media access in a way which wouldn’t happen in the inhospitable hell-hole that Ravenhill is for women’s rugby games.
It was nice to meet the new LGFA President Trina Murray from Westmeath, who was in attendance at Clones along with her GAA counterpart Jarlath Burns as the organisations increasingly converge on the way to integration.
A small gripe is that Saturday’s match programme featured just four pages on the ladies final – the IRFU routinely devote more space to women’s rugby in their Ireland men’s match programmes – and the broadcast coverage could have been a bit better.
The well-informed BBC commentary team of Oisin Langan and Maura McMenamin did a great job but, unlike for previous showpieces, there was no presenter or pundits, though the biggest gripe was the glaring absence on screen of a match-timer.
The ladies final was also shown on the TG4 Youtube channel but they didn’t even have a co-commentator and the ad breaks came thick and fast with SEVEN during the first half alone after the pre-match parade had been interrupted by one for toilet-cleaner!
There were no post-match interviews either but, unlike on at least one occasion in the past, both broadcasts remained on air long enough to carry the typically assured, well-pitched post-match speech of Orchard captain Clodagh McCambridge.
The very large crowd which had assembled in St Tiernach’s Park by then also heard it over the tannoy and a decent chunk of them had also witnessed at least some of the ladies final having answered the call to come early.
However, it made my blood boil to see the online negativity towards young Donegal defender Abigail Temple-Asokuh in response to her pre-match comments encouraging fans to forsake the pubs in time to catch the curtain-raiser.
Aside from the disgraceful racist abuse of the Donegal native, the disparaging attitude towards women’s sport was a poor reflection on those posting the moronic messages rather than on our leading ladies footballers who undoubtedly deserve real respect.
This newspaper proudly leads the way in showcasing superb sportswomen like the incomparable Caroline O’Hanlon, now in her 24th season in the orange jersey, Saturday’s Player of the Match Lauren McConville and double goal-scorer Aoife McCoy.
McCoy has a great personal entourage who travel the country supporting her, while Lauren more than lives up to having one of the most famous surnames in gaelic football. They are a fantastic credit to themselves, their families, their sport and our county.
Now worthy All Stars, the diminutive duo were in their first senior season when Armagh last played an Ulster final as a double-header with a men’s match back in 2014 when a team captained by O’Hanlon upset the odds by dethroning Monaghan in Clones.
They have given great service to the Orchard cause over more than a decade since while Armagh’s only goal-scorer from play 11 years ago, Kelly Mallon, put so much into her four years as captain in between and lifted the Ulster Senior Championship trophy three times.
Towards the other end of the age scale, Mallon’s outstanding young Armagh Harps clubmate Emily Druse epitomises the commitment of the emerging generation in an era when too few will work hard for success rather than chasing superficial fame for its own sake.
In the face of the online negativity towards Temple-Asokuh, it was heartening to read an interview with Armagh joint manager Darnell Parkinson speaking passionately about what great role models these Orchard heroes are for very young girls like his own daughters.
Darnell’s warm words took my mind back to the hugely respectful comments about McCoy and County Player of the Year Roisin Mulligan by his fellow gaffer Joe Feeney when making presentations at the Armagh LGFA Awards night last November.
Both Joe and Darnell have seen up close the calibre of individual involved so their words carry much more weight than the trolling online losers. Congratulations to the Armagh management and players on this Ulster title win, with power to add in the coming months.
Finally, a special word of appreciation to accomplished sports photographer Colin Molloy, who makes the effort to be at so many ladies matches, and his fantastic images – some of which are seen in these pages – help frame these Armagh glory days in fitting fashion.
