TO say that Dungannon flirted with danger during the 2020 championship is the sort of understatement Kevin McAleer would struggle to get away with.

Inspirational skipper Padraig McNulty kicked a dramatic late equaliser with the last kick of normal time in their first-round clash against Loughmacrory, before they pushed on in extra-time.

The Clarkes plotted another great escape in the quarter-final against Ardboe, their nerveless corner-forward Paul Donaghy hitting a majestic leveller seconds from the final whistle (extra-time ensued…again).

Their semi-final clash against Errigal Ciaran was madcap stuff altogether – they were three points in arrears midway through extra-time, and we’re still trying to figure out how they pulled themselves back up from the cliff-edge. Then their penalty shoot-out victory against Trillick – already the stuff of legend.

Obviously it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the camaraderie in the team must’ve been something special, but nobody, not least the players themselves, anticipated that the O’Neill Cup would make its long-awaited return to the historic town last September..

We’ve spoken to two of the protagonists of their success; forward player Lorcan Mallon, photographed after the Trillick game on his hunkers face-timing his brother Adam, who now lives in Boston (Adam had been a senior player for the club before emigrating and in normal circumstances would have flown home to cheer them on in the final).

Our other interviewee is centre half-back Sean Molloy, a stalwart of the team. He was brought into the senior panel a decade ago when he was only 16 years old. Back in those days they were travelling to the farthest reaches of Tyrone for Junior matches against the likes of Owen Roes and Clann na nGael, so it’s fair to say that a lot has changed.

Molloy, who was sidelined with a broken arm in 2019, believes that everything just seemed to fall into place as they won their first senior championship title in 64 years.

“It was the third year under Chris (Rafferty), Collie (Holmes) and Terry (Loughran) so they had the right amount of time to implement their ideas.

“Young lads were fully integrated into the team, and everyone got on very well. There was a very competitive element at training – nobody was taking it for granted that they were started.

“The mindset of the team had changed from previous years as well – the camaraderie was a step up and we backed each other to the hilt.”

Even though Lorcan Mallon is only 23, he’s entering his eighth year on the panel. He was parachuted into the squad for their Ulster Intermediate Championship clash clash against Warrenpoint in late 2014, but things went belly up the following season in Division One.

“We were going to the likes of Errigal and Trillick and getting lessons in how to play football. We went straight back down again and it was a bit of a shock to the system.

“When we got relegated the goal was to get back to Division One by any means, whether it was via the play-offs or championship or whatever.”

Indeed, the Clarkes achieved promotion the roundabout way with a play-off replay victory over Aghyaran in 2018, and getting a senior championship victory under their belts was their main aspiration after a deflating defeat to Omagh in 2019.

Lorcan said: “The only championship game I’d ever won was an Intermediate match against Greencastle two years ago, so the goal was simply to get past Loughmacrory in the first-round.

“We knew the talent was there but we were facing another good young team in Loughmacrory and they took it right to the wire – as did everybody.”

Sean Molloy was left concussion by a stay knee in their quarter-final clash against Ardboe, so he had to sit out their thrilling semi-final victory over Errigal Ciaran.

“I took a knee to the head when I was bending down and picking up the ball. I don’t know whether it was intentional or not.

“That was ten minutes into the second-half. I came back on and was feeling hazy so they had to take me off again. I had to step aside for the Errigal game which was definitely hard as I wanted to play every part I could for the team. I was fighting to get my place back for the team in the final and thankfully I did.”

Errigal Ciaran looked home and hosed on multiple occasions in the semi-final, none more so than when substitute Ciaran McGinley took advantage of some sloppy Dungannon play to lash the ball to the net in the second period of extra-time.

Yet even that failed to sufficiently sicken Dungannon into submission. Somehow, and it almost defies explanation, they scored four points in-a-row deep into extra-time to deny Errigal Ciaran their third championship final appearance in four years.

Corner-back Ciaran Barker hit an unforgettable winner from a ’45’ with the final kick of the game, and his teammate Molloy says that it was the result of god-knows-how-many hours on the training pitch.

“It was hard watching from the sidelines but to be honest I thought we were the better team, even when we were behind. I just knew the boys were going to pull through.

“Fair play to Ciaran for stepping up and hitting that free, it took amazing courage. He put in serious work – whenever we were training he’d have been there an hour before, practising his kicking, and he might have stayed for an hour afterwards as well.

“I remember there were days when I passed the football field and he was there training. He definitely put in the work.”

Molloy also remembers an inspirational team-mate before the game by team manager Chris Rafferty, a proud Dungannon man.

“Chris is a brilliant motivator and a great man-manager. I remember before the Errigal Ciaran game, we had a chat in the clubrooms before we travelled down to Omagh. I remember the look on everyone’s face after Chris had finished speaking, everyone was raring to go.”

The Clarkes didn’t have any players on the county set-up last year, so Lorcan Mallon recalls they were almost giddy at the prospect of playing Errigal Ciaran in front of the RTE cameras.

The entire country got to witness a classic encounter, and it was no surprise that Dungannon came good when the fat was in the fire as they were able to bring on experienced substitutes like Kiefer Morgan and Patrick Quinn.

Mallon said: “It gave us a lift when we heard the game was on RTE. Club players don’t normally get the chance to play on TV, maybe it’s different for the county lads.

“Errigal got ahead of us a few times, but we never dropped our heads once in the entire championship. Nobody ever passed the blame, we were always relaxed and ready to go. We knew the strength of our panel as well, that players could come on and make a difference.

“Each game was like a final really. We’d got the monkey off our backs against Loughmacrory so we were in bonus territory after that. It’s no wonder that Tyrone clubs tend to struggle in Ulster – we were completely exhausted after the final, I’m not sure we’d have been fit for another game.”

So Dungannon had qualified for their first senior championship final since 1986, where they would take on reigning champions Trillick. It’s easy to say in hindsight that their name was on the cup, but they actually had a horrid start to the game.

Lee Brennan found the net in the 15^th minute to leave five points between the teams, but the Clarkes weathered the storm, spurred on by a second-half goal from Paddy Quinn.

Commenting on their slow start, Sean Molloy said: “Nerves probably had a big part to play in that – it was such a big occasion, and we were coming up against a team with a number of county stars. Trillick are a very well-drilled team and we knew that coming into the game.

“We managed to stay in the game and I suppose we realised we could take these boys on. We started to win the midfield battles in the second-half and that allowed the likes of Paul Donaghy, Kiefer Morgan and Paddy Quinn to get into the game.”

Dungannon were dictating the course of the game for much of the second-half, but Trillick survived a sticky spell and got themselves back on top.

The Clarkes dug deep and forced extra-time after superb points from Morgan and Kevin Barker, and the two periods of extra-time were almost unbearably tense.

A historic penalty shoot-out beckoned after a late Trillick free, and Lorcan Mallon was one of the designated penalty takers for Dungannon. He missed a spot-kick against Omagh in the previous year’s championship, as if the pressure wasn’t bad enough.

“We practiced when we trained up in Omagh before the Errigal game. There’s boys laughing and messing around, it’s completely different. You can slot one in the top-corner when you’re messing around, but it’s a whole different story when the nerves are hitting and it’s 64 years since you won the championship.”

Mallon had to step up twice and he nailed both efforts. That helped set the stage for Ciaran Barker, who converted the winning penalty after both teams had taken ten spot-kicks each.

“Lee Brennan went before me in sudden death and he slotted it home so the pressure was really on – if I missed that was it, we were out. It was an unbelievable feeling when Ciaran hit the winner. He actually missed his first penalty but he’s very composed and I’d no doubt he’d slot it away when he got that second chance.”

Thanks to the wonders of technology, Mallon got to speak to his brother Adam after the game, even if he couldn’t be there in person.

“Things have calmed down now but it’s still hard to describe how much it meant to everybody in the town.

“Straight after the game, my mum came over and I was straight onto face-time with my brother and he was nearly in tears down the phone. He was close to coming over the week before the final but couldn’t because of the pandemic.

“It’s something you dream about. We hadn’t been anywhere near it, but we competed against boys from the likes of Coalisland when we were younger and knew we weren’t too far away from that standard. We thought maybe one day, that’ll be us, and it was unbelievable when it did happen – I’m still pinching myself.”

It was an amazing all-round team effort from the Clarkes throughout their championship run, but Molloy had particularly kind words for the likes of captain Padraig McNulty.

“The scores Paul Donaghy got were unbelievable, he saved us against Ardboe. Mark McKearney as well – if you win a ball and need to feed it off to someone, he’s always going to be there. You have to mention Paudie as well, he played a captain’s role all year, he’s the man we look to for leadership. The subs made an amazing impact as well.”

Molloy says they’re keen to prove that they’re no one-trick pony as well. Winning the championship meant the world, and he hopes it won’t be the last time they climb the steps of Healy Park.

“It meant so much to the entire town, and the lads who played in the final against Trillick in ’86. It was unbelievable to do it for them.

“It was a bit of an escaper for everybody – not just for the players but for the people who were able to watch us. Even neutrals told me how much they enjoyed watching us play.”

“I know from talking to other players on the team that it’s given us a hunger for more. It’s hard enough to win it but retaining it will be even harder.”