1982 was an action-packed year on and off the pitch, full of expectation, surprises, disappointments and regrets. I’m looking forward to chatting to all of the team on 27th August and of course it’s sad we won’t have players John Mohan and Seamus Callaghan, Manager Tommy Murray and club stalwart Benny Mc Dermott on the night. Each was a character in their own special way.
The Fermanagh Championship
I recall the year started a bit like the previous couple, in that we breezed through the league matches early in the season and then faced the championship with a nervousness that came with the ‘Favourites’ tag and of course the previous year’s defeat, but thankfully we made it to the County Final.
The morning after the semi final John Mohan, Seamus Mohan, Benny Maguire and myself headed off on holidays (I doubt it would be allowed now but John and Tommy Murray were great buddies). We were a few days in when we went touring one of the Greek Islands on mopeds. The day was going well, enjoying the sunshine and taking refreshments at every hole in the hedge, until the Mohan brothers had a ‘coming together’ while travelling as fast as the machines would go. They both came off and slid up the road like a scene in the North West 200. Seamus came out of it fairly ok but John had a nasty gash on the knee and couldn’t put his foot to the ground. Immediately afterwards and for some time, I couldn’t see any way John would play in the final, but a further ten days of Greek sunshine and hospitality did wonders. He recovered to play and help us get the New York Gold Cup.
I recall we were slow to start in the final, going four points down. It took a great team goal to put us in with a chance. A good second quarter helped reduce the deficit and we were leading at half time. The second half was a bit one-sided and we ended up convincing winners with everyone playing to their potential. We celebrated like nobody had achieved it before or would again.
The Ulster Club Championship
Then it was into Ulster and we had the extra game in the preliminary round. Training for the Ulster Club games in October and November in Roslea brought its own challenges. When I recall those training sessions I think of endless laps of the old waterlogged pitch, the tin shed for changing rooms and the tractor running the generator to provide a couple of floodlights. They were strange but very enjoyable training sessions.
I think winning the Fermanagh Championship took the pressure off and allowed us to outplay the Armagh, Monaghan and Down champions to get into the final. Carrickcruppen, Castleblaney and Castlewellan all boasted great county players. It seemed we improved in each game, with every player growing in confidence, but I still wonder why few, if any of us, performed in the Ulster Final. Was it complacency, the weather, the condition of the pitch, maybe a mixture? With reference to a line from Tommy Murray’s team talks ‘Get out and get into it’, I have to admit I never ‘got into it’ in the first half anyway! And still on team talks, I recall Chippy’scontribution the night before the final in the community centre, ‘Any of yous boys that usually eat three spuds for your dinner, eat two!’ Who needs a nutritionist!
If only we had played with the gale force wind in the first half to help build up a lead by half time, we would have had a chance. I remember Benny Maguire gave us some hope for the second half, taking one out of the clouds and sticking it in the top corner! It was ten points to a goal at half time if I remember correctly and we had it all to do.
I often think if football had been played in 1982 like it is now,where the corner forward is allowed to roam the pitch looking for possession and avoid the clutches of a corner back like‘The Dog Dawson’ of St Gall’s and Antrim, maybe the result could have been different, but we’ll never know that now.
We won the second half ok but unfortunately we ran out of time to be the first Fermanagh team to win Ulster.
Regardless of the result in the 1982 Ulster Club Final, I feel privileged to have played with a brilliant team that year and for many years afterwards.
Sure we’ll celebrate 1982 on 27th August anyway!
