LAST Thursday morning, as Joe Baldwin readied himself to watch Cavan’s recent challenge game with Armagh, he tells me that he is currently nursing a broken foot and he’s in a ‘soft’ cast for another three weeks. Not ideal for a man that lives in Coleraine and has to travel two hours to and from training sessions in Fermanagh but it hasn’t stopped him, so is the dedication of the man and his unwavering love for the game of hurling.

The conversation with the Fermanagh hurling manager went on to touch on many things, his new captain, his hopes for a new season, players in and players out, things that you’d expect to talk about but what I never expected was where the conversation went next.

Unbeknownst to me, just over nine years ago, Joe Baldwin’s life was torn apart. Every parent’s worst nightmare became his reality. On Christmas Eve 2012, he lost his beautiful son Conál, aged only 12 years old. An underlying heart defect was detected, the medical term for it is myocarditis, Joe tells me, whereby the muscle of his son’s heart was expanding and contracting and on that fateful day in December 2012 his first born lost his fight against this rare condition.

I’ve chatted with Joe many times over the last year about hurling but in those fleeting conversations about the game you rarely go beyond that. Last Thursday, I got off the phone feeling a mixture of emotions. As a mother of two, I was devastated at what he has had to endure, no parent should ever have to bury their child but I also couldn’t help but feel privileged to have been given an insight into the beautiful, kind, talented, GAA loving child that Conál was.

As Joe recalled endless stories, most of which revolved around hurling I could hear the emotion in his voice as he told me about his first night as Antrim camogie manager.

“We were setting up the cones and he came running over to me and said, ‘Daddy, I can’t believe we’re the Antrim managers, ‘we’,” laughs Joe as he relives those precious moments and his son’s zest for life and love for the game. The thing was, it was never just Joe, wherever Joe was, so too was Conál.

“He would always go to the All-Ireland final with me” recalls Joe. “One All-Ireland final hurling day we were in the escalator and Ken McGrath got in behind us, a Waterford hurling legend. I knew it was Ken McGrath but Ken McGrath must have recognised us because we used to go into his shop when we were down home in Waterford, and he tapped Conál on the back of the head, as cool as you like, Cónal turned around and said “well Ken” as if he was his best friend,” he laughs. “Any other child would be in awe.”

Joe was born in Waterford but his family relocated to Kilkeel in county Down when he was three years of age. He had two sons, Cónal and Darragh, and as Joe says himself, they were completely different in terms of their interests. Cónal was a GAA fanatic, he played football and hurling for An Ríocht and he was an “exceptional hurler”, winning the Féile Skills competition with a 100 per cent score the year before his untimely death.

Darragh, on the other hand, has no interest in football or hurling but is now a showjumper, a love of animals that led him down that path to a sport he now adores.

As Joe recalls memories of Conál like they were yesterday, he openly admitted those very memories are what keeps driving him on today, next week, next month and beyond.

“I could’ve done one of two things, I could’ve quit and never got involved in it again or you feel like it drives you on. Even though he was only 12, the passion he had for the game was unbelievable and that really does drive me on.”

Following Conál’s passing Joe says he found out his son had a Twitter account and when he looked at it, his bio read:

“I’m from Kilkeel, GAA is my life”

A poignant reminder of his son’s great passion.

Last year Joe managed Fermanagh to Lory Meagher Cup success, a feat they hadn’t managed since 2015. As scenes of jubilation erupted, Joe recalls the moment the final whistle blew;

“I became very emotional because obviously he (Conál) was first and foremost in my thoughts because many times me and him had been in Croke Park. Conál’s passing certainly drives me on in the same way that Shane Mulholland would be in the thoughts of all the Fermanagh hurlers.”

Indeed, Fermanagh’s opponents Cavan, have only just experienced a huge loss themselves. Just a week ago the Breffni county said goodbye to one of their own, Cillian Boyle, a talented young club hurler from Cootehill. His passing was foremost in Joe’s mind as he expressed his sympathies before he looked ahead to the game.

The match

Fermanagh are at home this Saturday for their Division 3B opener against Cavan, an opposition the Erne men have faced many times before.

“We know one another inside out,” says Joe, “it’s a different year though, what has happened last year is gone. In Cavan minds they could possibly be looking for a little bit of redemption but that’s neither here nor there.

“Winning the Lory Meagher last year and beating teams along the way, the likes of Leitrim, Monaghan, Longford, even the win against Sligo; these teams all play in a higher league than us and we see we’re maybe languishing in Division 3B a bit and we had an opportunity to get out last year in the league final against Louth and we didn’t take it.

“We’re trying to target the league this year and try and get out of that league and play at a higher level, that would be good for us going forward. We’re very much looking forward to the challenge that it brings.”

Baldwin will be without two stalwarts as he looks ahead to the 2022 season. The retirements of both Mark Slevin and Andrew Breslin will be a big loss but Joe is pleased with how they have negated this loss in some respects with the introduction of Ciaran Breslin from the St Brigid’s club in Dublin alongside four Erne Gaels players he has drafted in.

Odhran Johnston, Ultan O’Reilly, Thomas Burns and goalkeeper Oisin Gormley all are u-20 footballers as well but featured in the hurlers’ recent challenge matches and have “performed really well” says Joe.

Ciaran Breslin is physically strong and is “exceptionally quick and very versatile”.

Joe is also hopeful that he can retain the services of Loughgiel man Barney McAuley. He has been a huge asset to Fermanagh and the Antrim man still works in Fermanagh, so if he can commit this year, Fermanagh would be in a good position going into the league.

Cavan will come to Brewster on Saturday looking a win and Joe knows every team will be looking to beat the reigning Lory Meagher champions.

“We’ll probably go with the strongest team that we possibly can. We’re at home, it’s a game we’ll certainly be looking to win. The problem is, with getting the success that we had last year, the likes of Tom Keenan and Luca McCusker and boys like that, other teams will have seen them and they will be wary of us as well. They will know more about us and sometimes when you get up on that pedestal, you’re there to be knocked off.”

Joe has added to his backroom team too, he has brought in Davy Masterson from Clones, he has worked with a lot of teams in Monaghan previously and alongside Rory O’Donnell he will have the lads physically conditioned.

“We feel everything is in place to push on. It’s as good a set up as is out there. They actually are a very easy group to manage and the onus now will be on the players to push on.”