By Shaun Casey

ENDA McGinley was Ronan McGuckin’s club captain when the Ballinderry native guided Errigal Ciaran to the 2012 county title, defeating defending champions Dromore in the showpiece, and McGuckin knew McGinley was destined for top level management.

The three-time All-Ireland winner led the Ballygawley men to another Tyrone title this year before ending a 22-year wait for a provincial crown, beating Kilcoo by the minimum of margins in an exciting Ulster final.

It’s onto the All-Ireland stage now for Errigal Ciaran and a clash with Kerry and Munster champs Dr Crokes awaits this weekend.

“Enda is a special person and as a footballer, he was a fantastic footballer,” McGuckin described.

“He was more skilful footballer than he’d probably give himself credit for, but the heart of a lion and a real competitor and a real thinker on the game too. His approach to making himself better every day and striving to be the best that he could be, that’s what stood out for me.

“When he talked, the rest of the lads listened, but a lot of his stuff was by example as well. I was always pretty sure that if he wanted to go down that route, he was always going to make a good manager and certainly that’s what has happened.”

McGinley spent three seasons in charge of Antrim between 2020 and 2022, taking them out of Division Four in his second year, and McGuckin believes his former skipper has the capability to take another county job in the future.

“It all depends on what Enda wants, he has the attributes to go to the top,” he added. “We can talk about what is the top, he’s at the top of management at the minute. He’s got an Ulster Club winning team, is that any less than a county Ulster winning team? I would argue not.

“The skills that go into managing the team are very much the same. So, Enda has proved himself as a successful manager and if he wants to go on ahead at some stage in his career to manage Tyrone, I have no doubt that he would be a success at it.

“He’s that type of guy, he’ll leave no stone unturned, and he’ll suffer the sleepless nights and make the sacrifices that go along with being successful, but he has it in him to do it if that’s what he wants to do.

“He’s got a young family and all the rest and it’s a lot of considerations when you’re talking about taking a county team, but if I knew Enda, he would hate that this conversation has even taken place.

“Number one, he’d be uncomfortable with any level of praise and number two, he’s got a job of work to do here with Errigal and he might not want to be thinking about anything else.”

This week’s Gaelic Lives looks ahead to the All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend and we have Ulster minor winning reaction.