Scór na nÓg semi-finals
Saturday 18th November @ 7pm in Desertmartin
Sunday 19th November @ 5pm in Ballinderry Parish Hall

Derry Final
Sunday 26 November @ 3pm in Glenullin

Ulster-semi final in Swatragh on 10 December @ 7pm

Ulster Final 13 January @ 5pm in Downpatrick

All Ireland Final
Saturday 17 February @ 3pm in Sligo IT.

Details of all entries to be with irishculturalofficer.derry@gaa.ie by Monday 6 November

Please respect local residents when parking, refrain from blocking any access points to residential homes, and please do not park in any areas that may be required by emergency services. Thank you for your continued support and co-operation.

Kevin McCloy speaking at the launch of Donal McAnallen’s new book at Garvaghey, Co Tyrone.

With grace we will suffer

With grace we shall recover

There by the grace of God

There by the grace of God, Manic Street Preachers, 2002.

Sunday 10 September was an emotional evening at the home of Tyrone GAA at Garvaghey.

The launch of Dr Dónal McAnallen’s book ‘The Pursuit of Perfection’ – a detailed and inspirational account of his brother Cormac’s life and legacy – was attended by, among many others, Derry’s All-Star full back, Kevin McCloy.

While the large crowd packed the auditorium, to the Lavey man’s right at the head of the room sat Tyrone senior football manager, Mickey Harte. To his left sat the book’s brilliant author. Each had a unique and emotional, yet intertwined, story to tell.

The whole evening was knitted together with class and wit by one of Ulster’s great Gaels, Mark Conway.

Some of the insights were absolutely fascinating for any followers of Gaelic games.

Like the story of how Cormac loved to keep records. How as a player, as the book’s title suggests, he had constantly strove for perfection both on and off the pitch.

How there were drawers full of his own self-performance analysis, long before performance analysis was even ‘a thing’. How he had kept those records from his earliest playing days until his last.

One of his drawings from his formative years showed a detailed schematic plan of Croke Park. Each stand was sketched and labelled. And then, like on match days such 28 September 2003, it began to fill with 82,000 people. Except it wasn’t finished. Circles had been drawn to represent each person in the crowd. The Nally stand was filled first. Then the Hogan. The young would-be All-Ireland winner had drawn the representation of each person by hand, boxing the circles into groups after each 100 in order to keep count.

“He always kept himself honest,” said Dónal McAnallen.

By the time he had reached a few sections along the Hogan Stand, Cormac had drawn a staggering 10,000 circles on the page.

His devotion to detail was demonstrated again years later on perhaps his finest hour. After devising their game plan to beat Armagh at a training weekend on the previous Saturday in Dublin, the wallchart fixed on the dressing room wall underneath the Hogan Stand predicted both the half time and full time scores to within a few points.

The game had followed the script more or less to the letter and as the Red Hand players celebrated their maiden Sam Maguire win, few noticed as the young Eglish full back removed the document from the wall, carefully folded it, and placed it in his kitbag for safe keeping and posterity.

It was an act only revealed to his manager, as well as the attentive crowd, on that damp Sunday evening in September 2017.

It was jaw-droppingly poignant.

Just like McCloy’s account of his own experience.

No-one needs reminded of the events of 13 August 2014 at Owenbeg when 11 minutes into the first half of the senior championship match between Lavey and Magherafelt, McCloy collapsed.

The husband and father of two (now four) had been struck down by a serious heart problem, the details of which are beyond the analysis of this discussion. Thanks to the presence of defibrillators – the awareness around which had been the gift of the Cormac Trust following the heroic response of the McAnallen family to the circumstances in which they found themselves ten years previous – McCloy’s life had been saved.

It was a connection he would never forget again and one which accounted for his presence at the book launch, as well as his unstinting ongoing work with the McAnallen family and the Cormac Trust.

From the time of Cormac’s death, the McAnallen family was keen to direct public attention to these cardiac conditions that cause such sudden deaths. Their work based on the promotion, education, awareness and provision of defibrillators has changed many lives, including one of our county’s finest footballers.

They were two All-Stars and two full-backs, suffering two similar incidents with tragically different outcomes.

We owe them both our diligence and attention to detail within all our own clubs and communities to ensure that proper training and education is in place for the use of CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

There by the grace of God, go I.

This game will be preceded @ 1.30pm by Under 18 B2 Final: Callan Gaels v Ballinderry.

In addition to the College Field adjacent to Celtic Park, we have arranged parking facilities at the following locations:

Rath Mor Shopping Centre, Blighs Lane

St Cecilia’s College, Blighs Lane

Model Primary School, Northland Road

We would ask all patrons to respect local residents when parking, refrain from blocking any access points to residential homes, and please do not park in any areas that may be required by emergency services. Thank you for your continued support and co-operation.

Throw-in at Croke Park is 1.15pm. Live coverage on TG4 from 12.45pm

1-Oran Hartin-Limavady

2-Oran McGill-Glen

3-Conor McCluskey-Magherafelt

4-Sean McKeever-Dungiven

5-Simon McErlain-Magherafelt

6-Padraig McGrogan-Newbridge

7-Conleth McShane-Bellaghy

8-Oisin McWilliams-Swatragh

9-Dara Rafferty-Drumsurn

10-Paddy Quigg-Kilrea

11-Richie Mullan-Dungiven

12-Martin Bradley-Ballinascreen

13-Ben McCarron-Steelstown

14-Lorcan McWilliams-Swatragh

15-Mark McGrogan-Newbridge

16-Odhran Lynch-Magherafelt

17-Callum Brown-Limavady

18-Declan Cassidy-Bellaghy

19-Jon Paul Devlin-Ballinascreen

20-Tiarnan McHugh-Drumsurn

21-Fergal Mortimer-Craigbane

22-Conor Quinn-Bellaghy

23-Odhran Quinn-Bellaghy

24-Matthew Smyth-Ballinderry

25-Alex Doherty-Glen

26-Damon Gallagher-Bellaghy

27-Peadar McLaughlin-Kilrea

28-Cormac Murphy-Magherafelt

29-Ryan Scullion-Ballinascreen

30-Lorcan Spier-Bellaghy

31-Tiarnan Walsh-Swatragh

Throw-in at Croke Park is 2pm. Live coverage on TG4

1-Oran Hartin-Limavady
2-Oran McGill-Glen
3-Conor McCluskey-Magherafelt
4-Sean McKeever-Dungiven
5-Simon McErlain-Magherafelt
6- Padraig McGrogan (c)-Newbridge
7-Conleth McShane-Bellaghy
8- Oisin McWilliams-Swatragh
9- Dara Rafferty-Drumsurn
10-Paddy Quigg-Kilrea
11-Richie Mullan-Dungiven
12- Odhran Quinn-Bellaghy
13-Ben McCarron-Steelstown
14-Lorcan McWilliams-Swatragh
15- Mark McGrogan-Newbridge
16-Odhran Lynch-Magherafelt
17-Martin Bradley-Ballinascreen
18-Callum Brown-Limavady
19- Declan Cassidy-Bellaghy
20-J.P. Devlin-Ballinascreen
21- Tiarnan McHugh-Drumsurn
22-Fergal Mortimer-Craigbane
23-Conor Quinn-Bellaghy
24- Matthew Smyth-Ballinderry
25- Alex Doherty-Glen
26-Damon Gallagher-Bellaghy
27-Peadar McLaughlin-Kilrea
28-Cormac Murphy-Magherafelt
29-Ryan Scullion-Ballinascreen
30-Lorcan Spier-Bellaghy
31- Tiarnan Walsh-Swatragh

Thursday 24th August
BALLERIN 7.45pm
Premier Electrics JFC Qualifier Rd1
Loser of Magilligan/Ardmore v Ogra Colmcille

CELTIC PARK 7.45pm
Premier Electrics JFC Qualifier Rd1
Doire Trasna v Winner of Magilligan/Ardmore

Friday 25th August
OWENBEG – 6.45pm & 8.15pm
Small & Hyland IFC Quarter Final
Foreglen v Ballerin
M&L Contracts SFC Quarter Final
Greenlough v Banagher

CELTIC PARK 6.45pm & 8.15pm
Premier Electrics JFC Qualifier Rd1
Limavady v Doire Colmcille
Sean Dolans v Glack

Saturday 26th August
OWENBEG – 5.45pm & 7.30pm
Small & Hyland IFC Quarter Final
Slaughtmanus v Castledawson
M&L Contracts SFC Quarter Final
Slaughtneil v Ballinderry

Monday 28th August
OWENBEG – 6.30pm & 8pm
Small & Hyland IFC Quarter Final
Faughanvale v Moneymore
M&L Contracts SFC Quarter Final
Ballinascreen v Coleraine

Tuesday 29th August
OWENBEG – 7.45pm
M&L Contracts SFC Quarter Final
Glen v Kilrea

Thursday 31st August
BELLAGHY 7.45pm
Small & Hyland IFC Quarter Final
Ballymaguigan v Newbridge

Our Championships Fixtures and Results Pages (Automatically updated when referees submit the scores after games):

M&L Contracts Senior Football Championship

Small & Hyland Intermediate Football Championship

Premier Electric Junior Football Championship

The Intermediate and Senior Reserve Championships then being on Monday. Full fixture details below:

Oakleaf Restaurant Senior Reserve Football Championship

Glenshane Coach Hire Intermediate Reserve Football Championship

The division 2 finals took place in Celtic park with Swatragh defeating Na Magha in the shield final and Omagh St Endas defeating Kevin Lynch H.C in the cup final. There were some fantastic players on show for all 4 clubs. Derry senior hurler Alan Grant presented the trophies to the captains of the victorious Swatragh and Omagh teams.

Finally in the division 3 finals Ballerin, Drum and Castledawson played off a 3 way competition for the title. In tough weather conditions Ballerin defeated the host team, Drum in the final to win the first ever hurling silverware for the club. It is fantastic to see new clubs participating in hurling and great credit must go to the coaches and volunteers in these clubs for the work they are doing to promote and develop the game.

The under 12 go league has been running every Wednesday throughout the spromg and summer months, giving players regular games and an opportuity to develop their skills. All the coaches working in the clubs at this level deserve great credit for the standard of hurlers being produced across the county.

Hurling training resumes tonight (Tues 18) at Ogra (6.30-7.30)