“He said I couldn’t play with a Plaster of Paris on my broken arm. So, before the throw-in, I went over to the van where I had a small angle grinder and I cut the plaster off. In fairness, the referee was probably right.”<\/p>\n
Noel McFeely has never lacked courage. He played that championship game against Ardmore as he has lived his life: fearlessly, selflessly and with total devotion to the people of the Foreglen.<\/p>\n
From the four-and-half-mile bus journey he took as a fourteen-year-old boy to Claudy Green to watch his idol Foncey O’Kane play for the O’Brien’s, to listening attentively on Sunday mornings at club meetings under the eaves of George McCormick’s thatched roof, McFeely comes from a people and an area where memories run long and deep into the heart of the 1800s, when Gaelic games were first recorded in Derry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Foreglen, it\u2019s born and bred into you. And you do what you can for the club and the people,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1572601828131_NOEL-McFEELY-MML.jpg” caption=”Noel McFeely” credit=”Margaret McLaughlin ” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n
The club\u2019s youth officer for a fifteen year period, McFeely has held every position bar treasurer. He has won Derry Football Championships as team captain (IFC, 1985), manager (JFC, 1990) and chairman (IFC, 2013).<\/p>\n
Born in 1954 in a family of thirteen (seven boys and six girls), McFeely represented Derry at all age grades of football. \u201cI was on the fringes of the Derry senior team in the mid-eighties\u201d he says. \u201cI was always strong and fit but I was getting on in years. Time kind of ran out on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Football-wise, it was witnessing the magic of a Cavan man \u2018at Jim Brolly\u2019s field\u2019 in the late sixties that captured his imagination of what was possible.<\/p>\n
Charlie Gallagher \u2013 the subject of one of the best Irish sports books of 2019 by Paul Fitzpatrick \u2013 has been described as \u2018the George Best of Gaelic Football\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a dentist in Derry,\u201d explains McFeely. Having worked in the Clarendon Street practice for another Cavan great, Barney Cully, full-back during the 40s, Gallagher was still playing with the Breffni County when he agreed to assist the men of Foreglen prepare for the championship of 1969.<\/p>\n
A fifteen-year-old Noel McFeely couldn\u2019t pass up on the chance to soak up the experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlie Gallagher was a master,\u201d he recalls. \u201cTraining in those days was kicking in and out and who could catch it the best. Fairly basic. But Gallagher was all about speed. He was like lightening himself!\u201d<\/p>\n
In Fitzpatrick\u2019s account, Cavan\u2019s Frankie Kennedy recalled a conversation with Gallagher which backs up what the teenage McFeely had witnessed. Asked why he would not engage in long runs during training sessions, rather preferring sprints, Gallagher responded: \u201cif I don\u2019t get the ball in the first five yards, I won\u2019t get it. But I f**king will get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had only one man who could keep up with Charlie; Philip McLaughin, our corner back,\u201d says McFeely.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving Charlie Gallagher involved at that time was like bringing in Mick O\u2019Dwyer. Our players loved him and he changed the way we saw the game to be honest. The man won an Ulster championship with Cavan that year and apart from that point that never was in \u201997 they haven\u2019t won one since.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ED5M1gXW4AIWSMF.png” align=”center” caption=”Paul Fitzpatrick’s 2019 book about the life of Charlie Gallagher” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n
A joke with a jag but a case in point, that as well as a lifetime of service to the O\u2019Brien\u2019s club, McFeely\u2019s thoughts are never far from the fortunes of Derry teams. Along with his brothers Tom and Derek, they collectively sponsor the current Intermediate Football Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring my time as youth officer, I took our young players to watch Derry all over the country. I even flew our U16s to Catalonia to experience games and life out there. The lads all helped pay their own way, raising funds and all that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a great believer in discipline, especially with our young people. I\u2019m not saying mine was all that good years ago but when you get older, you get more astute and see things differently. I emphasise that now throughout the club as I think it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noel McFeely clearly cares deeply about the development of young people. It\u2019s possibly one of the reasons he got the call from Niall Conway to assist with the Derry minor football team in 2007.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t say yes right away,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t take me long and I couldn\u2019t refuse after talking it over with my family. You want to do it for Derry.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG-20191015-WA0012.jpg” caption=”Noel McFeely and son Ciaran celebrate after beating Laois in the All-Ireland Minor semi final replay in 2007″ credit=”Sportsfile” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n
An Ulster final disappointment and another point that never was against Tyrone momentarily halted the team\u2019s progress but with the safety of a back door the management of Niall Conway, Killian Conlan, Noel McFeely and Michael McMullan soon had the young Oaks back on the road, a road that took them all the way to the All-Ireland minor final of 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look back on that year as amongst the best times of my life. The three fellas along with us were unbelievable. The final was obviously a massive disappointment but it was mixed emotions too.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy son Ciar\u00e1n had been through a lot. He was badly burned when he was ten and was lucky to survive. He came on in that final ten minutes. We were leading with a few minutes to go and Galway got a goal. Ciar\u00e1n got a score back and it just cleared the crossbar. Had it been a goal he\u2019d have been a hero but we lost by a point. It was disappointing but I was glad for him at the same time. It was one of the best parts of my Gaelic life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Ciar\u00e1n, Noel\u2019s sons Eunan, Ruair\u00ed and Odhran have all represented the O\u2019Briens at adult level. Like the construction of the new A6 dual carriageway which will overhang the superb facilities at the club, progress and life forges on through generations.
\n\u201cWe have worked hard in the past few years to consolidate the position of the club,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s only when you come up against obstacles that you know you\u2019ve got a good community, when everyone rows in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re fairly well on with a new health track around the existing pitch,\u201d reveals McFeely about recent club developments. \u201cIt will be tarmacked with lights and a safe space and walkway for the entire community. With the help of the roads people we are progressing with a new artificial pitch as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever happens in the 2019 Intermediate Ulster campaign, Gaelic life in the Foreglen will go on thanks to people like Noel McFeely. Since the 1840s, wars, famine, political and economic strife have not stopped them. The plaster cast never stood a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“He said I couldn’t play with a Plaster of Paris on my broken arm. So, before the throw-in, I went over to the van where I had a small angle grinder and I cut the plaster off. In fairness, the referee was probably right.” Noel McFeely has never lacked courage. He played that championship game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n