Keith Duggan talks to Adrian McGuckian ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland club football final
You must understand. This is a trip to the deepest South, a walk of faith. In the small pocket of rural Derry that makes up Ballinderry, they know that Thurles is the fabled home of hurling and they see its splendour on television on Munster championship days but really, they never thought much about it beyond that. They could never have foreseen decamping en masse for a spring time football match.
Even if the players conceded to private dreams of All-Ireland football finals, Croke Park formed the backdrop. Traditionally, all big GAA games required a visit to Dublin; it was an essential part of the ritual. So this is not only new, it is alien. Instead of heading across Ulster on Sunday morning, they are pre-selling tickets for a celebration night in the Anner hotel outside Thurles on Sunday night, win, lose or draw. It is neither worse nor better than they thought it would be, just different.
"I suppose a few of the lads were a bit disappointed the game wasn't in Croke Park - some of us have played there before but a number haven't. But Thurles is supposed to be a beautiful ground to play on and it will probably be a bit more atmospheric as it is a little smaller. We are delighted to be here. Maybe Nemo Rangers will have a bit more experience than us, but then that is the case anyhow," says Ballinderry's captain Adrian McGuckian.
As with all Derry club teams, Ballinderry seems mythically big. It is easily forgotten just how small places like Bellaghy, Magherafelt and Tohill's Swatragh truly are. Because Ballinderry has the marquee names - the lanky, consummate forward Enda Muldoon, one-man-show Conleth Gilligan, evergreen Declan Bateson - the presumption is that they come from a town of reasonable size. Ballinderry is merely an area, hardly even a village and just about scrapes inside Derry's border. In fact, some of it spills into Tyrone.
"Ah the less said about that, the better," laughs the captain.
Adrian McGuckian is also a well-known name and one that seems to have been connected to the highest level of Derry football for quite some time. If there is difficulty in precisely placing him, if there appears to be a gap in his sporting résumé, that's because there is. Although he is only 24, McGuckian is enjoying a second career.
"Aye, it's fairly well known, I was ill there for a time. It was around the 1998 season and I just wasn't at myself and was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. At the time I was playing a lot of football. The pain got more severe and at its worst, I suppose I was just hoping for a pain free life. But once it eased off again, you know, my thoughts immediately turned to football again. The game is like a drug and you just want to get back at it."
Prior to that, McGuckian's ascent through the Derry football scene had been glittering, with McRory Cup, Hogan Cup, Ulster MFC, All-Ireland U-21 honours paving an inevitable call up to the senior squad. Having his athleticism just snatched from him at the age of 22 was cruel and hard to fathom but he fended off despair and looked ahead to the time he might return.
"It was about a year later when I got the all clear. At that time, Damien Barton was in charge at Ballinderry and he was very understanding. Like, my fitness was at rock bottom and I had put on some weight due to the inactivity. It took a good while to recover and when Brian McIver took over, he was equally brilliant about encouraging me and letting me take a rest when I needed it."
McGuckian's return coincided with - and perhaps contributed to - Ballinderry's transformation to the nearly boys of the Derry championship to All-Ireland contenders.
He was the Bass player of merit last November, awards which Muldoon and Gilligan have also claimed. And he has recently been invited back onto the Derry panel.
"Well, yeah, I had been invited to train when I initially came back but I was reluctant to take on too much at once. I was happy enough just to stick with the club training. Then last season I got another call and came into the panel prior to the championship. I didn't feature too much, I think I had two appearances in the All-Ireland qualifiers but still, it's absolutely great to be back on the scene again."
So Sunday's club final against Nemo Rangers, leading Ballinderry in the parade, is in itself a gift-wrapped present.
Ballinderry have earned their passage here, dogging a path through Ulster before a splendid semi-final display against Rathnew in the mud of Longford.
"Funny, in previous years, we were probably guilty of fading away in tight games, not giving up but just not acquitting ourselves well. That's something we have learned to do this year and it is going to be especially important now. I mean, Nemo have such strength.
"They stood in the dressing room after losing last year's All-Ireland final and vowed to return and here they are as good as their word. That's a phenomenal achievement and as well as that experience, they are going to be so hungry for this now. This is a ferociously big task for us."
But McGuckian knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. If Ballinderry are going to be up against it, they have the right man out front.
