After struggling through the seventies and early eighties we had reached our first county Senior Football Championship (SFC) final in 1982. Along the way we had defeated our bogey team Teemore and were rewarded with Roslea’s first SFC victory in 20 years over St. Patrick’s, Donagh. Little did we know that this was just the start of an adventure that would take us all the way to the Ulster Cub Final.
Under the expert guidance of Tommy Murray and his management team, preparations for the campaign ahead went into overdrive. As the evenings grew darker makeshift floodlights attached to stripped drown tree trunk poles were installed on the ‘dry half’ of the old river fieldpowered by a generator on the back of a tractor.
We had notable victories over Nudie Hughes’ Castleblaney on their home ground and Colm McAlarney’s Castlewellan in Enniskillen. Heady days then when we reached the final against St Galls when we just fell short of what would have been a historic victory for an exceptional group of footballers.
At that time, I was working a 6 month stint in Craigavon Hospital. Although long departed, for years afterwards I was often greeted with “How are things in Craigavon these days, Gerry?” Just a small reminder of the events of a few months in 1982 never to be forgotten by the players and their families, the club and the huge number of supporters from the wider parish and county.
Hard to believe that this all happened forty years ago. Unfortunately, with the passage of time we have lost several players and mentors. Sadly, John Mohan and Seamus Callaghan are no longer with us and of course Tommy Murray. A special mention goes to Benny McDermott who stuck with us through the lean years in the seventies and whose training sessions were legend. Many a player used to leave their dinners in the field and for the abdominal exercises, when I think of the words, “Up six inches, apart, close, apart..” I still get a pain in my belly! I am sure they would have enjoyed getting together again to reminisce about all the good times we had with the Roslea Shamrocks.
