{"id":906,"date":"2017-08-17T15:28:16","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T15:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/?p=906"},"modified":"2017-08-25T20:29:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-25T20:29:04","slug":"the-millennials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/the-millennials\/","title":{"rendered":"The Millennials"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Derry minor football team of 2000 were the\u00a0eleventh in the county\u2019s history to win the Ulster title. Two of their number were Claudy\u2019s Gavin Donaghy and Ogra Colmcille\u2019s Chris Collins, two men now living nine thousand miles apart, but with shared memories about a dramatic year at the turn of the century.<\/em><\/h3>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Somewhere along the line everything about the management of\u00a0a successful GAA team changed. Not an abrupt off-a-cliff change, but a quiet revolution embedded within a burgeoning information age.<\/p>\n

Like a precise definition of the term \u2018Millennials\u2019 (also known as Generation Y), the timing of the change in the approach to the preparations of top sports teams, from the traditional manager-led dictatorial environment, to a culture-based player-driven one, is hard to pin point.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s generally accepted though is that the All-Blacks were pioneers. Faced with humiliation following the 2003 World Cup, a new management team under Graham Henry set about building the world\u2019s most successful sporting team, whose culture, described in James Kerr\u2019s book \u2018Legacy\u2019, is now the bible for many businesses and sports teams worldwide.<\/p>\n

So, for purposes of the narrative, we\u2019ll call it 2004: the year of the change; a year when Mary McAleese was elected to a second\u00a0term as Irish president, \u00a326 million went missing from the Northern Bank in Belfast, and Gavin Donaghy and the Derry senior footballers faced Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat back door run certainly threw up a couple of teams and venues Derry wouldn\u2019t be overly familiar with,\u201d says Donaghy, now a design engineer with Aerison in Western Perth, Australia.<\/p>\n

Wicklow, Cavan, Wexford and beaten Munster finalists Limerick were overcome along a path that took Donaghy and Derry back to Croke Park for a quarter-final encounter with P\u00e1id\u00ed \u00d3 S\u00e9\u2019s Westmeath outfit, fresh from making their own mark by winning the Leinster championship for the first time in their history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Derry support was fantastic that day,\u201d he recalls. \u201cMuldoon\u2019s goal was one of the highlights of the year and something I remember well to this day\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two stunning first half goals from Enda Muldoon and Paddy Bradley put Mickey Moran\u2019s young Derry team onto a platform that they weren\u2019t shaken from, despite huge pressure from the Midlanders in the second half.<\/p>\n

Introduced as a substitute for Conleth Moran in the fifty-sixth minute, Gavin Donaghy made his return to Croke Park, the stage he had played on just four years previous, in a game which featured one of the biggest talking points of the Minor Championship of 2000.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Sandstorm by Darude<\/a> was the anthem of the Derry minors of 2000. You\u2019ll know it if you hear it. It\u2019s a tune that spawned hundreds of memes, a lyrically redundant high tempo number that reverberated on repeat around the team bus as it made its way to Breffni Park for the championship opener. One can only imagine what the team’s manager,\u00a0Chris Brown, thought of it.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/2000-sean-mckenna-e1503049068759.jpg” imgwidth=”300″ caption=”Sean McKenna, Derry minor captain, Clones, 2000″ align=”right” captionposition=”right” lightbox=”off” credit=”David Maher\/SPORTSFILE” ]\n

Still, it did the job in\u00a0a game where inches can often define destiny. Call it luck, inspiration or character, but with Derry two points down, and with only seconds remaining and the Oakleafers\u00a0facing an early exit, Gavin Donaghy\u2019s high ball into the square was punched into the net by his older brother, Marty.<\/p>\n

“Inches either way and our team would have been forgotten,” remarks Donaghy.<\/p>\n

Cavan\u00a0dreams were cruelly shattered in that instant but\u00a0Derry’s beat\u00a0would play on towards Casement Park where Down were dispatched amid a memorable performance by the team\u2019s captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSe\u00e1n McKenna\u2019s job that day on Benny Coulter was something else,\u201d recalls Donaghy.<\/p>\n

The Glen man formed a formidable half back line with his club mate Gary McMaster on the opposite wing and Chris Collins at number six.<\/p>\n

It was a number which had always held special significance for the young lad from Ogra Colmcille.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying in the playground at primary school I always wanted to be Henry Downey. In fact, that was the reason I went to the Convent, because Henry taught there,\u201d laughs Collins about the school he would later captain in MacRory Cup campaigns.<\/p>\n

Playing centre half back at only 16 years of age for Derry minors in 1999, in a team containing future senior stars like Fergal Doherty, Kevin McGuckin and Paddy Bradley, Collins was grateful for the encouragement dished out by the older heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember training at Bellaghy prior to the Ulster semi-final against Donegal. Baker (Liam Bradley) told me I was starting. I wasn\u2019t sure what to think but I recall Kevin pulling me to one side and telling me that if Baker thinks you\u2019re good enough to start, then you are. I took great encouragement from that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Having been selected to represent Ireland in an U17 international game against Australia \u2013 one of two brothers to do so, with all three boys representing the county at minor level\u00a0– Collins looks back on his second of three years (in 2000) with Derry minors with fond memories, and yet also a sense of what might have been.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a very strong group,\u201d he recalls of the minors of the millennial team. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to the current team (of 2017) in some ways. We had a couple of Drumsurn lads in Damien Canning and Colm Feeney. You have Tiernan McHugh and Dara Rafferty there this year so there\u2019s a similar feel to it.<\/p>\n

“Jim Kelly and Ciaran O’Neill were really top drawer forwards as well,” claims Collins. “They were as good as anyone in the country at that age group at that time.”<\/p>\n

Managed by a team headed by Chris Brown that included the future Derry senior manager, Paddy Crozier, Collins feels that the direction given to the young players was one of the reasons for their success.<\/p>\n

“Chris Brown\u00a0was definitely ahead of his time now you look back. He had a relatively large group of people in the management who all knew their own respective roles and who carried them out efficiently, and without fuss,” he claims. “Ann Boylan was our physio and whilst there wasn’t the same emphasis on strength and conditioning and analysis that there is now, everything else was in place.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe beat a Tyrone team in that Ulster final that featured the likes of Se\u00e1n Cavanagh, Peter Donnelly and Martin Penrose. Cormac O\u2019Neill and Paul Young hit goals that day and Ciaran O\u2019Neill from Glen was brilliant at centre forward. I actually missed that game due to a broken jaw I got in a club game! They got the better of us the following year and went on to win that All-Ireland so it was all very close and competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/2000-chris-collins-e1503049122235.jpg” imgwidth=”1200″ caption=”20 August 2000; Chris Collins, Derry v Cork, All-Ireland MFC semi-final, Croke Park.” credit=”Aoife Rice\/SPORTSFILE” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n

The end of Collins\u2019 intercounty career, cut short due to serious injury, was \u2018one of the biggest losses to Derry football at that time\u2019, recalled Paddy Crozier a number of years later. A degenerative condition in his right knee \u2013 his strongest kicking side – not only finished Collins at intercounty level, it left a legacy which still remains today.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just locks out,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe pain is immense. It only happens once or twice a year. The last time it happened I think I fainted on the kitchen floor. The result back then was that I could never get that sustained period of conditioning under my belt that was needed to get to the next level. The consultant I was seeing suggested that I take up cycling as the impact on the knee wasn’t as aggressive. I’d still cycle fairly often yet,” he concludes.<\/p>\n

Derry\u2019s loss would soon become Derry\u2019s gain though, as following a sports degree course at UUJ with a couple of summers \u2018running around\u2019 the New Jersey coast, Collins was appointed Games Development Manager (GDM) amid changes to the GAA\u2019s coaching landscape across Ulster. He was just 22 but already the days of Derry minors seemed a distant memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no real support structures for young players at the time,\u201d remarks Collins. \u201cOnce the minor campaign was over that was basically it. It\u2019s something that has gotten a lot better in recent years but there\u2019s still more work to do in that area,\u201d says Collins, now into his twelfth year as GDM.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of hard work over many years now at grassroots, schools and county level and it\u2019s good to see our minors now back in Ulster finals and in Croke Park. We\u2019ve done that consistently now over the past three years and whilst it\u2019s unrealistic to expect that success in every single year due to the nature of knock-out football and how competitive Ulster is, Derry looks to be headed in the right direction at underage for the near term at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins is adamant that the years spent developing relationships with clubs and schools, and outside of the county at provincial and national levels, is the key to progress at all aspects of Gaelic games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something we\u2019ve worked very hard at,\u201d he states. \u201cI\u2019d be in favour of a hands-off model of management for sure,\u201d he explains in relation to the coaching staff he now manages. \u201cWe recruit good people, we give them a job to do and we let them get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/FB_IMG_1502985749300-e1502990464261.jpg” imgwidth=”300″ caption=”Chris Collins receives the Graham Cup from John\u00a0Keenan” align=”left” captionposition=”left” lightbox=”off”]\n

Of course, managing professional relationships to further the GAA in the county isn\u2019t his only outlook. Collins and Donaghy, team-mates from 2000, still keep in regular contact across continents. Seventeen years may have flown by – separating the Derry minors by thousands of miles – but the electronic world has increased levels of communication exponentially during the same period.<\/p>\n

The mother of all phones, the Nokia 3310, is now regarded as a cult item, but was state-of-the-art back at the turn of the millennium. The ability to use the internet as a primary source of information has changed the way that current generations not only interact, but in some ways how they think.<\/p>\n

The rise of the use of WhatsApp and other messaging media has changed how groups communicate. How teams interact. In a lot of cases even language has been made follow suit.<\/p>\n

Need information about sports psychology? Google it.<\/p>\n

Strength and conditioning? Google it.<\/p>\n

Young players are increasingly well educated in what goes into the makeup of a successful athlete meaning that even the most well informed coaches and managers must constantly stay ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/2000-gavin-donaghy-e1503049138957.jpg” imgwidth=”1200″ caption=”20 August 2000; Gavin Donaghy, Derry v Cork, All-Ireland MFC semi-final, Croke Park. ” credit=”Damien Eagers\/SPORTSFILE” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n

The opportunities outside of football and the GAA are also much wider and readily available for young players, a topic Gavin Donaghy acknowledges:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still as involved in the GAA as ever I was,\u201d he says from his Western Perth base. \u201cTravelling hasn\u2019t really changed my views. To be honest, it probably made me think a wee bit about things I possibly missed out on by staying at home each summer for football, but that\u2019s just part of it all, and I wouldn\u2019t change anything that has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

An engineering degree from Queen\u2019s University has given Donaghy currency that travels, but it was also a time during which he developed into a serious intercounty footballer which saw him play at the top of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queens team that I played on had a good few county players on it then and so did the teams we played so I reckon that helped a fair bit in preparing me for the step up [to senior] with regular training and games within the university set-up. At that stage the U21s and seniors were working together relatively closely with Mickey Moran over both squads so there was a few of us drafted in.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Ulster minor champions of 2000, Gavin Donaghy was joined by his brother Martin, goalkeeper Brian Scullion and Slaughtneil\u2019s Jim Kelly in progressing to adult ranks.<\/p>\n

Following the Ulster final, manager Chris Brown also drafted in Joe Diver, a fact which the big Bellaghy man recalled in a Derry Journal interview published in 2006:<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been doing my A-Levels and after they were over Chris Brown brought me on board. I got five minutes as sub in the infamous game against Cork where the lad had the two yellow cards but wasn’t sent off.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Diver recalled correctly, two yellow cards had been issued to the Cork midfielder, Kieran Murphy, but no red card ever came. Derry had lost by a point and Cork would go on to win the final comfortably. It still rankles.<\/p>\n

\u201cGutted would be an understatement,\u201d says Gavin Donaghy, almost exactly 17 years to the day and over 9000 miles from Croke Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cGerry Kinneavy\u2019s mistake just compounded it all. In the first five minutes I had kicked two points, and then next thing I was under the stands getting my cheek stitched up! So it was a bit of a rollercoaster that day,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

In a cruel twist of fate compounded by time and distance, Donaghy isn\u2019t ever far from the memory of what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt [the feeling] has changed but I still hold a bit of regret at not having a crack in the final. One of the lads in the Cork team that \u2018beat\u2019 us plays in the same club as me now and likes bringing it up every so often\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The GAA club to which the Claudy man refers is Western Perth Shamrocks. Formed in 1988, and an example of the changing world of the GAA, it\u2019s a natural environment for Gavin Donaghy and where he sees that \u2018the GAA overseas is much the same as home\u2019.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_8266.png” imgwidth=”659″ caption=”Gavin Donaghy representing the Perth Shamrocks club” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on a much smaller scale,\u201d he admits, before telling of how the essence of the games has transplanted in a short space of time across vast ocean. Gaelic games are in the people, and truly representative of the people of Ireland, warts and all, as Donaghy outlines:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe passion is very evident in games even though most players were born thousands of miles away and your \u2018fierce rivals\u2019 are a club barely fifteen years old. The clubs here act as a hub for the Irish which gives it a great sense of community. The effort put in by volunteers here is ridiculous, and in some cases maybe more than what you\u2019d see from an average club at home, bearing in mind the resources that we have, or don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come Sunday and Croke Park time for the class of 2017, at least one part of Western Australia will be urging the Derry minors on one step further.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d imagine the buzz around the panel will be brilliant,\u201d Donaghy says knowingly. \u201cMy advice (to the lads) would be simple. Leave it all on the field. Have no regrets and just play the game. I\u2019ve got an Ulster medal but I missed out on the chance at an All-Ireland. It\u2019s at home sitting in a cabinet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home for Donaghy will always in Claudy surrounded by the Sperrins. But the former inter-county player has also helped create and sustain a home from home for Irish ex-pats. He’s the Western Perth Shamrocks club chairman. He’s also their referee.<\/p>\n

The All-Blacks made personal humility their cardinal value back in 2004. Seems like they weren’t alone.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_8262.jpg” imgwidth=”853″ caption=”Martin Donaghy, Sean McKenna and Gavin Donaghy, July 2000, Clones.” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n

Derry Minors 2000<\/strong>: Brian Scullion (Bellaghy), Martin O’Kane (Castledawson), Colm Feeney (Drumsurn), Philip Mooney (Swatragh), Sean McKenna (Glen), Chris Collins (Ogra Colmcille), Gary McMaster (Glen), Kevin McCann (Greenlough), Damian Canning (Drumsurn), Gavin Donaghy (Claudy), Jim Kelly (Slaughtneil), Cormac O’Neill (Greenlough), Martin Donaghy (Claudy), Ciaran O’Neill (Glen), Paul Young (Loup), Shane McGuckin (Loup), Stephen Scullion (Ballinderry), Conan O’Brien (Magherafelt), Connor Doherty (Bellaghy), Arthur McNally (Ballinascreen), Paul Hearty (Lavey), Brian Rainey (Doire Colmcille), Barry McGuigan (Slaughtneil), Joe Diver (Bellaghy). Management<\/strong>: Chris Brown, Paddy Crozier, Charlie O’Kane, Bernard Henry, Aidan O’Brien.<\/p>\n[aesop_image img=”http:\/\/derrygaa.ie\/features\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/2000-team-e1503049094663.jpg” imgwidth=”1200″ caption=”Derry minors, Croke Park, 20 August, 2000 ” credit=”Ray McManus\/SPORTSFILE” align=”center” captionposition=”center” lightbox=”off”]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Derry minor football team of 2000 were the\u00a0eleventh in the county\u2019s history to win the Ulster title. Two of their number were Claudy\u2019s Gavin Donaghy and Ogra Colmcille\u2019s Chris Collins, two men now living nine thousand miles apart, but with shared memories about a dramatic year at the turn of the century. ***** Somewhere […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904,"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