Enda McGinley makes ‘thoroughly unpleasant experience’ claim as Errigal Ciaran regain Tyrone title
The overriding emotion for Errigal Ciaran manager Enda McGinley on Friday night was clearly relief.
The pressure of managing his native club has weighed heavily on his shoulders this season. One of the most respected pundits in Gaelic Football, McGinley answered the call when Errigal Ciaran needed a manager for 2024.
They regained the O’Neill Cup with a thrilling 0-12 to 1-8 win over last season’s champions Trillick with Ruairi Canavan scoring 0-6 in a man-of-the-match performance.
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With Darragh Canavan, Ruairi Canavan, Peter Harte and Joe Oquz in their ranks, Errigal Ciaran have no shortage of star quality and, in a candid post-match interview, McGinley admitted he has found it difficult to deal with the burden of expectation.
“To date, I’ve found it a thoroughly unpleasant experience to be absolutely truthful! You just feel a huge level of responsibility to the players and to the people of the club because you know how much it means to them,” said McGinley.
“There are plenty of people who will handle it in different ways - I’ve found it tough enough to be honest.
“When you’ve the level of boys that you have in the dressing room and they are putting in the work, you just need to make sure that you are dotting the i's and crossing the t's as a manager. We’ve managed to get over the line and the coaches I have with me, Stephen Quinn and Paul Horisk, are exceptional men and I wouldn’t be here without them.
“I haven’t reached a huge level of joy yet because there is just a pressure on you right from the start of the year that, realistically, if you don’t do this, you’ve failed.
“That’s a high bar and there’s several teams in Tyrone that are in the same position, but certainly for our club, that’s the way it is.
“You know that when you say yes to the job. Equally, you know you are taking over squads that have been trained exceptionally well for several years before you.”
While Ruairi Canavan’s fine performance garnered the headlines, McGinley was pleased with plenty of other aspects of Errigal’s performance.
Richie Donnelly was one of the best players in the Tyrone club Championship last season, but Joe Oguz on the midfield battle while Harte nullified the threat of Seanie O’Donnell.
Lee Brennan was also well marked by Aidan McCrory and Niall Kelly broke even in his duel with Mattie Donnelly.
Praising the grit and determination of his side, McGinley remarked: “That’s the entire truth about Gaelic football. It always has been and we can dress it up with tactics and systems and we get very caught up in that nowadays.
“There is a percentage down to that, but unless you come with those core ingredients, you do not have a mission.
“We are very proud of the Tyrone Championship and it is absolutely about that. We got some criticism for our performances in the early rounds, but we knew we were digging deep and slowly discovering those qualities and enhancing those qualities through the those results.
"They didn’t catch anyone’s eye, but we were certainly happy with the progress and it took every bit of it out there against Trillick.
“Probably the exceptional performances for me today were out around the middle and in the defensive side of the game. I though the workrate in the middle third and the quality of the tackling. . . I was delighted with it.
“We knew we had to be hitting that level against Trillick. The blessing for us is that we were very well-warned in terms of Trillick’s pedigree and the level they were playing at coming into it. That helped us and forced us to raise our level. Thankfully, the boys measured up today.”
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