Derry Masters are bidding to retain their All-Ireland Shield and Niall Gartland gains an insight into their 2024 season

CRAIC, ceoil and camaraderie. The Derry Masters team is one big family but it’s much more than a social outlet and they go in search of All-Ireland Shield honours when they take on Cork this Saturday at the St Peregrine’s club in Dublin.

The Oakleafers are bidding to retain their title having done the business against London this time last year, marking a very happy ending to their first season fielding a Masters team.

That was then and this is now, and there have been a few changes on either side of the white line. The management team has been reshuffled while familiar faces Paul McFlynn and Paddy Bradley have been unable to commit due to their other commitments.

There’s also been a raft of new recruits, including former Derry footballer Gerard O’Kane, who captained the minors to All-Ireland glory back in 2002 (needless to say the management team keep a close eye on the lads who are edging towards the 40-mark).

Still involved is assistant manager Simon Doherty, whose brother Steven kick-started the whole thing last year with a view to providing football for the slightly elder Derry gentleman.

The Glack clubman explained: “Steven was speaking to a few boys like Paul McFlynn to get it off the ground and a gather up of boys met up.

“Ronan Rocks was manager last year, they had their first training session on April Fools. Nobody knew how it was going to go, they had a few training sessions and then I was asked to come on board. It’s a bit like the Mafia, once you’re in, it’s nearly hard to get out of it.

“We train once a week and the beauty of it is that Masters football doesn’t just include the former county stars, there’s the very best Junior and Intermediate footballers who possibly would’ve been county footballers themselves had they been born into other clubs.”

The team is captained this year by Ballinderry’s Kevin McGuckin, former skipper of the Oakleaf senior team. He’s ably assisted by vice-captains Brian Mullan and Paul Cartin, while the management team consists of manager Enda O’Hagan, Jude Donnelly, Declan ‘Honda’ Mullan and Doherty with Croistal McNicholl playing an important role as physio.

By its very nature Masters football can be a fluid beast and a few prominent names have had to move on, but it’s been a seamless transition with other talented players joining the fold.

Doherty said: “We’ve lost the likes of Paul McFlynn, who was on the Derry senior backroom, and Paddy Bradley, who got injured against Donegal in an early league match and is now flat out managing Glenullin.

“But then we’ve brought in the likes of Raymond Wilkinson, Marty Doherty and Rory O’Reilly. I hate listing names because you invariably leave someone out.

“We’ve also brought in Gerard O’Kane, people were saying what about the All-Ireland 2002 winning team and start listing names as they’re becoming eligible for Masters football.

“There’s such good will for the Masters team, when I’m out and about at club championship matches, it’s nearly the first topic of conversation. The squad is very fluid, it’s changing all the time. You’ve Gavin Diamond, I’d say he’s maybe 47 or 48, I hope that’s right! Adrian Deery from Slaughtmanus turned 50 and he’s one of the fittest members of the team.”

Masters football has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years and Doherty says the standard of competition has surged considerably. Just reaching a second successive final is a fine accomplishment.

Doherty said: “We’ve had another really good year. What we’ve noticed is that every county seems to have really upped their game. We’d our first game against Armagh down at Pearse Ógs and our players said afterwards that they were maybe the best or second best team we’ve played since we started up.

“We went into the likes of Donegal, and again they’re a great team and have a massive squad full of top footballers. Antrim beat us in Ballymena and they’re backboned by boys like (Tony) Scullion and (Sean) McGreevy and those are the type of lads we want to test ourselves against.

“In 2023 we had a few games that were possibly a bit too one-sided, they were over after 10 minutes. It’s always nice to win but there’s not much craic in that, and we’re glad that every game this year has been an absolute ding-dong battle.”

A lot of manpower goes into the running of the team and Doherty pays tribute to the efforts of all involved on that front, spearheaded by their new leading man Enda O’Hagan.

“We’ve new management this year and they bring an incredible wealth of knowledge of Gaelic football to the table and we’re delighted to have them on board.

“My brother Steven started the whole thing and he’s the glue that holds it all together, he’s the orchestrator, organising things, making sure everything’s right and going to the meetings with the Gaelic Masters Association. Without Steven none of this happens.

“Croistal McNicholl from Glenullin is our physio and you can only imagine how skilled this man is when it’s his job to keep our boys on the pitch and in the right physical condition to play. If he had his way we’d be arriving into St Peregrine’s at nine o’clock on Saturday morning to work on about 20 people.”

At the time of going to publication, Derry will be 48 hours out from their All-Ireland final. Doherty says he can sense the excitement building as D-Day comes into view.

“One of the benefits of Masters Football is that it’s extending players’ careers and keeping lads fit, but probably the most important thing is being part of a team and the whole social aspect of it – the crack beforehand and the buzz in the changing rooms is electric.

“You have boys who have maybe retired from senior football seven or eight years ago, who are still playing recreationally but others maybe haven’t done anything. It’s nice for them to get back into that team environment and the games are always played in a great spirit.

“There’s a great sense of anticipation when you’re looking into something like the All-Ireland final and in the WhatsApp group I can sense the excitement building.”

Doherty also wished to put on the record his appreciation for their generous sponsors. “None of this happens without their generosity, last year we had players who got their own individual companies to sponsor them, all those details will be up on the Derry Masters’ Facebook page and if people could give them a turn that would be magic.

“Errigal are covering the All-Ireland final jerseys again which is huge for us. The county board are covering the bus, then you’ve the Ryandale in the Moy putting breakfast on us on Saturday morning. You’ve ‘Bandy’ McGuigan Snr and Brendy in Owenbeg who have been massive for us – they might gurn a wee bit but they always says yes to pitches and equipment. The likes of Watty Graham’s and Swatragh give you access to pitches and facilities and the bar in Ballykelly is sponsoring the refreshments for the way home from Dublin.”

Win or lose against Cork, Derry will enjoy their weekend. They’ve trained hard and made sacrifices, and a second successive All-Ireland title would be the icing on the cake.

“The matches are brilliant but you see the craic and the laugh you have with people you mightn’t have known even six months ago. There’s people on the team I’ll never forget.

“The bus journey is just brilliant, and as we always do we’ll have a massive sing-song on the way home. If anybody on this island opens their window on Saturday night around seven or eight o’clock, it’s guaranteed they’ll hear big Paul Cartin belting out the tunes.”