Rothar Routes

Cycle routes & pilgrim journeys in Ireland and Europe …..

Posts from the ‘GAA’ category

A NFL Road Trip along the Lough Shore

The NFL is finally up and running and it was great to be in Portglenone to witness a really heart warming Carlow victory over Antrim. A complete team performance. Tús maith leath na hoibre.

A long spin up but worth it for the die hard supporters who made the effort.

It’s great to be a spectator and have no real deadlines to follow so I used the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the GAA heartlands of the ‘Lough Shore’!

Along the western and northern shores of Lough Neagh lies one of the most remarkable concentrations of Gaelic football strength anywhere in Ireland.

In a relatively short stretch of countryside spanning Tyrone, Derry and Antrim, the lough shore has produced powerhouse clubs, legendary footballers and a culture where the GAA isn’t just a sport — it’s identity and a saving grace for communities that were ravaged by the Troubles.

This is a true football corridor. Drive the shoreline roads and you’re rarely out of sight of a pitch glowing under floodlights.

Not just any clubs but some power houses that have achieved phenomenal success at provincial and All Ireland level, have to mention I mean the Derry Clubs have!

Bellaghy Wolfe Tones stands as one of the great names of Derry football — a club steeped in success and deep cultural roots.

On the field, Bellaghy have been giants:

1972 All-Ireland Club Champions

1995 All-Ireland Runners Up

4 Ulster Club titles

3 Ulster runners-up finishes.

Their greatness was driven by exceptional players such as Damien Cassidy, one of the most elegant forwards Ireland has seen and Fergal Doherty, a prince of midfielders who had a great leap and a great pair of hands.

No story about Bellaghy is complete without recalling the late Seán Brown, a man who literally devoted his life to the club and who tragically lost his life when he was murdered by the Loyalist Volunteer Force as he locked up the grounds one night. His legacy lives on and Seán continues to inspire this great club.

It is also Seamus Heaney’s home town and I still had some time to spare so I paid a short visit to the Seamus Heaney centre. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, he wrote so beautifully of life in this community, of working in the bog, of the importance of community and culture. 

Just up the road are Ballinderry Shamrocks

Their crowning glory came in 2002, when they captured the All-Ireland Club Championship, cementing their place among Ireland’s elite. Alongside that they won 3 Ulster Club titles and were twice Ulster runners-up.

The diminutive Conleth Gilligan was one of the most intelligent footballers I’ve ever seen and his teammate Enda Muldoon, one of the most elegant ball players; Gareth McKinless has more recently been the lynchpin of the Derry defence and an All Star too!

And the most recent Derry Champions are nearby Newbridge, bordering on Toome in Antrim, home to Cargin, the powerhouse of Saffron Club Football in this millennium.

Ardboe O’Donovan Rossa are Tyrone’s Lough side Legends. Their true legacy lies in the footballers it produced.

Frank McGuigan, Tyrone’s original superstar of the 1970s and ’80s, was a scoring phenomenon — a forward who carried county teams through difficult years with brilliance and bravery. Tyrone’s greatest ever?

Decades later came his son Brian, an intelligent, play maker at no 11 and winner of three All Ireland’s with Tyrone. One of the classiest Red Hands.

What a father and son combination!

I paid a visit to the ancient Ardboe High Cross close by which looks out across the huge expanse of Lough Neagh, the largest lake in Ireland, now sadly suffering from pollution of the waterways.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the lough shore story is how success has flowed differently on each side of the Derry – Tyrone border.

Derry clubs have amassed an astonishing 17 Ulster Club titles, driven largely by Bellaghy and Ballinderry — including two All-Ireland club crowns between them.

By contrast, Tyrone clubs have won just 3 Ulster titles, yet Tyrone became an inter-county superpower — fuelled by shoreline talent like the McGuigans and others forged in these tough parishes.

Same landscape.

Different expressions of greatness.

Spend time along Lough Neagh and you quickly realise the GAA isn’t an activity — it’s the backbone of community life.

Along the shores of Lough Neagh lies one of Gaelic football’s true heartlands. A concentrated corridor of clubs and communities that have shaped Ulster football. Long may it continue.

Half Dozen GAA Moments 2024

End of another great year, and it’s nice to look back. So many great memories, these are a few personal ones from visits to games and grounds across the country! Where would we be without the GAA?

Munster SFC Cork v Kerry, Fitzgerald Stadium

Every visit to Fitzgerald Stadium is full of nostalgia for me; it brings me back to great family holidays in Kerry, a love of Kerry football, Munster Finals with Tommy Wogan and John Owens – sneaking into the Kerry dressing room after one epic battle with Cork in, 1989 (if memory serves me correct), listening to Billy Morgan coming in to congratulate the Kerry Team! Cork started this year’s clash very well and dominated for 50 minutes but fell away in the end. Is there a more picturesque ground than Fitzgerald Stadium?

Ulster SFC Armagh v Down, Tiernach Park, Clones

If Thurles is the spiritual home of hurling, Clones can lay claim to be the spiritual home of football, at least in Ulster. It’s a venue I love attending and I regularly by pass games in Croke Park to head to Clones on Ulster Championship days. This was a tight one – a one point win for the Orchard County, 0-13 to 2-6. Conor Laverty got the most from the Mourne men but Kieran McGeeney’s side showed real glimpses of class in how quickly they transitioned the ball. I was delighted to see Armagh go all the way in 2024, another county I have a soft spot for! Great memories of Armagh v Tyrone in 1989, played in Omagh; it was the day the blond haired Jon Lynch, corner back for Tyrone, got pulled into the Armagh dressing room at half time and got a flew slaps! The Giant Grimley brothers were playing for Armagh, two huge men. The atmosphere was electric and Armagh were well on top in the first half. Maybe the tunnel incident changed the game on its head. The great Kevin McCabe kicked 0-9 that day, 0-6 in the second half. The silky skilled Ciarán Corr bagged a goal for Tyrone. Our own John Owens was in and around the Tyrone panel at that time when he was togging out for The Moy, alongside Plunkett Donaghy.

Team Building Day on the Curragh

A memorable day carrying out team building exercises under the watchful eye of Tom Devereux (087 7052140). Highly recommend it for any team. The players bought into it and gave it everything. Sometimes the journey is as important as the destination! Hopefully the lads will arrive at their destination in 2025!

A packed Dr Cullen Park for Carlow v Wexford

A bit of a chastening experience for our hurlers as they slipped to a heavy loss. A series of unforced errors cost them dearly and as a result they didn’t do themselves justice on this day. But what days the hurlers have given to Carlow GAA in recent years. It’s easy see why when you see the standard of the County Senior Hurling Final this year between St Mullins and Mount Leinster Rangers. Poetry in motion. Warriors.

Scotstown GAA – An Bhoth

I passed by the club over the summer when climbing the Monaghan High Point, Sliabh Beagh (373 meters). Football is a religion in Ulster and Scotstown are currently top of the pile in Monaghan with 9 titles in the past 12 years and 24 altogether. I love the swash buckling style of a team sprinkled with star dust – Darren and Kieran Hughes, Rory Beggan between the posts, Jack McCarron, Conor McCarthy and Shane Carey among others. Uniquely the Club also provided the GAA with a great Uachtarán in Seán McCague (2000-2003) and an equally impressive Director General, Pauric Duffy (2008-2018). You can sense the pride and culture in the club when visiting the Grounds.

A memento from a visit a few years back to Pauric Duffy’s office in Croke Park! Pauric didn’t know why the Green Bay Helmet was in his office and he gave it to me as I was leaving. That brought back more memories of another great occasion in Lambeau Field, with Tommy Wogan in 2007 when we saw the Packers play the Raiders in -24 degrees!

Aidan Forker lifts Sam Maguire Cup for Armagh

I was very privileged to have a ring side seat for the Sam Maguire presentation this year – unbelievable seat! Armagh always bring colour and crowds; a GAA mad county and one I have really strong affinity for stretching back to 1977, the year Dublin beat them in the All Ireland Final. You see Armagh fulfilled a promise and came to Carlow to play our lads. Players like Colm McKinstry, Joe Kernan, Jimmy Smyth, Paddy Moriarty, Jimmy Kerr and Tom McCreesh were heroic figures to me. Years later I was privileged to befriend the greatest coach I know, the late John Morrison. We became very close and spoke almost every day. John would send me his articles that he was preparing for the Ulster Gazette to read and critique. There was nothing I could add to them – he was teaching me. In my experience John was one of the biggest influences on coaching in Gaelic Football.

Kerry SFC Final Dr Crokes v Dingle

A miserable day in Austin Stack Park where Dr Crokes finally got on top of Dingle to run out as fortunate winners by 3-8 to 0-11. It could have been so different if Dingle had taken goals instead of points from three great first half opportunities when they were completely dominant. Fair play though to Pat O Shea, though, he got to grips with the challenge and his side went on to run out deserving winners. Is there an All Ireland Club title there for them in January? Time will tell but I don’t think so.

B.Y.O.B

Bring your own ball!

Gods & Fighting Men

I was ten years of age when I first read this epic story of the Tuatha De Danann and of the Fianna of Ireland by Lady Gregory. It hooked me on Irish mythology and I still have my copy today. Funny the things you remember from childhood.

It’s been on my mind for some time to tie a trip north for a match with a climb up Slieve Gullion in South Armagh. Last week I managed both – I climbed Slieve Gullion on Sunday morning before heading into nearby Newry to see an epic encounter between the Gods & Fighting Men of Down and Monaghan club football clash in the Ulster Club SFC semi final!

The more I walk and cycle on this Emerald Isle the more I feel a close connection with the history, legends and culture of this great land. The beautiful thing about slow travel is you get to see over every ditch and through every hole in a stone wall. There is something of interest in every field in Ireland! Being curious brings great reward!

High point marker

Topiscope – places you can see on a clear day – it was raining when I was there so the views were limited!

Long before Fionn however was another great warrior – Cúchulainn who was part of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He is forever associated with the mountain as it is here he received his name and where he spent his childhood as Setanta. Conchobhar Mac Neasa, King of Ulster, was invited to a feast at the house of a local metalsmith Cualainn, after whom the mountain is named. The King was so enthralled watching the young Setanta hurling that he invited him into the feast. Before he arrives into the feast He is attacked by the King’s ferocious hound but Setanta killed him by hurling the sliotar down his throat! The King was devastated at the loss of the hound so Setanta took his place and earned the title Cú Chulain, the hound of Cualainn. Not men but Giants!

One of the stories in Book IV of Gods & Fighting Men, Huntings and Enchantments, relates the story of the Hunt of Slieve Cuilinn. Fionn Mac Cumhaill was hunting deer on the plains of Allen (Kildare) with his dogs, Bran and Sceolan , who got lost in the chase. He searched everywhere and ended up looking for them on the side of Slieve Gullion, where he met a beautiful woman keening beside the lake on top of the mountain. She begged him to find her lost ring at the bottom of the lake and being the Super Hero he was, he dived in, swam around it three times and found the ring! No sooner had he given it to her but didn’t she change into a witch and changed Fionn into an old man. Talk about gratitude! Cut a long story short but he finally got a cure in the passage tomb on top of Slieve Gullion, called the Cailleach Beara’s house. The Lake was called Loch Doghra, the Lake of Sorrow. Not sure if that name appears on modern maps though!

It’s only a short walk to the summit but a difficult one in wet conditions. The flag stones are slippy and the path steep. It was raining quite strong when I hiked it but occasionally the mist would clear and the views were spectacular. Had a great chat with a man from Mullaghbawn about our epic battle in the All Ireland Club semi final back in February 1996.

Slieve Gullion Hike

It was time to head to Páirc Esler for the clash of the Titans. Kilcoo v Scotstown. What an epic battle that Cúchulainn himself would have enjoyed. Heroic performances on both sides, capped with three incredible long range Scotstown points to win by the narrowest of margins!

This weekend I managed to pack in another trip to Newry for Steven Poacher’s hugely successful coaching day on Saturday and a trip to Westmeath today, Sunday, to climb the highest point in the Lake county before heading into Cusack Park for another cracking club championship game. Naas and St Lomans played out a great 90 minutes of football in Cusack Park, with Nass running out deserving winners and qualifying to meet Kilmacud Crokes in a repeat of the Final of two years ago. I had an early start this morning as I had to head past Mullingar and north through Castlepollard to reach Mullaghmeen Forest Park and the highest point in County Westmeath at 258 metres. This is the lowest county high point but a fairly tough little summit with an average 10% gradient for the last four hundred metres.

The highest point is located in the largest planted beech forest in Europe – almost 1,000 acres of forestry. A pity it wasn’t a few weeks ago as the colours would have been stunning. Unfortunately it was another day of heavy showers and the top was shrouded in a low lying cloud. There are a range of walking routes through the woods of beech, noble fir, Scots pine and sitka spruce.

There were great views of Lough Sheelin on Cavan as I approached he park but the views from the top were blocked by cloud and trees. I took the ‘blue route’ as that takes you up to the summit. Passed by an old Booley hut on the way down; this would have been used a shelter during summer grazing in years of yore and there are relics of famine walls built around old fields. Not to mention a few Turloughs too! (A turlough is a temporary or disappearing lakes!).

Mullaghmeelan Forest Park

Heading home from Mullingar, I took the back road towards Rhode with the intention of paying a visit to the Profundis Stone, which I had often seen signposted but never got to before. I’m glad I did as it is the only one left in Ireland. A Profundis Stone was a resting stone, a local tradition of stopping a funeral procession and reciting the “De Profundis” – Psalm 30. It is shaped like a coffin and here is a graveyard behind a locked gate on the opposite side of the road.

Well that was the last stop on another interesting ramble. I have it in my head to climb the highest point in each county over the next while. I have 12 completed already over the years so I will keep posting as I get around to the rest!

Alternative Fixture Proposal

I burnt the midnight oil last night trying to put some structure on those random ideas that were flying around in my head earlier while out on my cycle!

Like many others before the call for Proposals in 2016, I tinkered with a restructuring of the Fixtures programme to address the failings of the fixtures programme.

Time moves on but as the weekend has shown, frustration has grown with the inability to agree change. It’s concerning how this debate is framed. It’s always easy side with players but we shouldn’t deny the validity of other points of view. Far better we think independently than follow a herd mentality and get change for changes sake.

The one thing all were united on at Congress was that change is needed and it is needed sooner rather than later. There is a momentum for change and everyone has to now walk the walk.

Martin Wynne (@martywyn) tagged me in a post, and it was a bit of a eureka moment for me. He mentioned an interview with Cahair O Kane of the Irish News in which he talked about a radical change to the NFL. And that for me is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of reforming the entire structure.

Can this work? Maybe maybe not. There are probably flaws in this and I’d be interested to hear what they might be.

(1) It retains the provincial championships. Provincial Councils and their constituent counties have a responsibility to come up with structures for their Championships that are better than the present options. Leinster in particular, with 11 teams should be able to devise a competitive structure – the Ulster Championship being a good example for them to follow. I don’t buy into the defeatism around the Leinster Championship; small things have aided the strongest in the province. Remove seedings; insist on home venues for teams and remove in built advantages for the strong. It can be reformed. Ironically the period of Dublin dominance may be on the wane and the sands of time may bring a natural reordering in the province.

(2) It links the league to the All Ireland. There has been a call for more competitive football in the summer months for all counties. With tightened fixture scheduling it is possible to link the NFL with the All Ireland once the Provincial Championships are concluded. Rather than training ad naseum, players want to reduce the training to games ratio – it makes sense; we are obsessed with drawing out competitions longer than necessary.

(3) It includes all counties. Proposal B really failed a lot of tests in my opinion. No one is excluded here in this and the step up for lower ranked teams is incremental if they progress. In addition the Tailteann Cup is broadened out to include the last sixteen teams, which depending. on results, could in fact include teams from the top two divisions of the league. It’s suddenly a more attractive proposition and if the follow through is that the Final is indeed played alongside the All Ireland Final, then maybe it has a future.

How to solve the Fixtures……

I’m cycling in the dark of night on quiet back roads just over the border in County Laois. Gusty winds. Twinkling stars. I love these autumn nights on the bike.

Waiting on a call from Stevie Poacher. “I’ll call ye in 10”.

Seeking inspiration. How to solve the greatest mystery since the Incident at Dyatlov Pass.

I shuffle my phone playlist while I wait for the call back.

  • Ventura Highway by America. One for dreaming to.
  • I say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin
  • A Simple Song (from Mass) by Leonard Bernstein, one of Mary’s great choir pieces.
  • Sting singing Mo Ghile Méar accompanied by The Chieftains. Absolutely Class.
  • The Dixie Chicks belting out The Long Way Around. Great bike song.
  • Bruce and Born to Run
  • Willie Nelson On The Road Again
  • One – U2 & Pavarotti.

I revisit in my mind previous iterations I had devised in 2016 of how to restructure the Championship. Things have moved on since then. Demand for change is growing. Frustrated players feel they are not being heard and would settle for any change at this stage. But whatever we do it can’t be worse than what we have.

Each song raises my spirits; I’m cruising along past Killeshin GAA Club and ideas are flowing through my head. The bike is a great place for thinking. My 20kms passes in what seems like a few minutes. I’m buzzing.

Head in to the house and start typing the bullets flying round in my head before I forget them and have to do it all again!

The outline of what can be an alternative plan is formulating in my head. One that might provide players with more meaningful games, more opportunities for teams to develop, yet retains our Provincial and League Finals and provides ‘layer upon layer’ all within one season. It’s radical. Needs refining. Watch this space!

Stevie calls and he fills me in on the Down Championship semi finals and on the success of his Coaching Clinic last Saturday. A one man whirlwind.