Читать книгу The Boys of '93. Derry’s All-Ireland Kings онлайн

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So, it was Gary who stuck with it and made the most of the talent he had. I never saw him as following in my footsteps – you can’t take football after anyone. It’s a help if you’re in that environment but after that it’s just how good you are in yourself.

He had grown in those years I was away but hadn’t changed at all since he was a cub of fourteen. A bit bigger and bolder like myself, he was happy enough to have his da as manager but perhaps thought privately that it might make things hard for him.

I don’t think either of us realised just how tough it would really be on him, or rather how tough I would turn out to be on him.

For years, Derry football had been in decline but at the start of the nineties, I could see the shoots of something there.

Adrian McGuckin had done great things with St Pat’s in Maghera, winning the All-Ireland Senior Football Colleges championships in both ’89 and ’90. That, bolstered by the growth of St Pius’ in Magherafelt, had meant the young boys coming through had already had their first taste of success with the schools.