Doire Colmcille seeking to take minor strides forward

We’re all familiar with the gripe. Maybe not those exact words but the sentiment is routinely and regularly aimed at teenagers or young adults by disapproving older generations. Gaelic footballers don’t escape the charge and while stereotypical in it’s typecasting, there’s little doubt the distractions of modern life are a huge challenge for sport in general.

Put yourself then in the shoes of a GAA coach trying to reconnect with young players, specifically that 16 to 18 age group, to re-establish a lost minor team in an area where Gaelic games has struggled for traction over recent decades.

It’s no small task as Doire Colmcille coach Brian Duffy can vouch.

“Kids today face so many pressures, it’s unreal,” reflects Andersonstown native, Duffy, “You hear so many people talking about, ‘In our day....’ but we need to give these kids a break and recognise the pressures and stresses they’re under. In our day, we had nothing else to do. All these computers, phones, the Internet - had we had them we would have been on them as well. People saying, ‘Kids are never off screens’ cracks me up a bit if I’m honest.”

Duffy though has his work cut out in his resurrection bid with a March 9th first game date hanging over his head and he’s seeking help.

After years without a minor team at the Lowry’s Lane club, alongside coach, Andy Quigley, the former St. Agnes’ player has taken on the challenge of bringing back what is a vital link from the club’s now blossoming underage programme and a senior team which has made steady improvements over recent years.

Numbers are strong in the club’s nursery, Under 10 and 12 age groups while the U12s and U14 teams are holding their own, just like the 16s, while the club’s female teams are flying high from Under 8s upwards. A huge problem for the boys though has been bridging that gap from Under 16 to senior level but Duffy is adamant the club can re-connect the dots to the ultimate benefit of the senior side.

“The first block you build as a coach, or as a club, is not winning matches, it’s getting people playing the game,” he explains

“Traditionally kids find themselves with a club because of family ties. It’s not that simple in a city but we are now based in a superb area with houses and families all around us.

"We have something that rural clubs don’t have and they have something we don’t have. They have community spirit and everybody wants to be involved. If you see someone walking out of their house at 6pm in the evening in Ballinscreen, or Slaughtneil, or Bellaghy, you know they are away to the club.

“We have Hatmore, Kylemore, Turasmore, Grangemore, the Glen, Rosemount and the surrounding areas. We had 12 or 13 at the first training session recently so I’m asking the boys, and the wider community, to bring friends with them to play football.

“It is about trying to let the young people see the value of it and make it attractive to them. We try to make it enjoyable, trying to keep it about football. I’m trying to get bodies, people. You don’t have to be a brilliant footballer. We are trying to build something long term.

“When you look at the strides Ladies football has made in the city, it’s fantastic. Our own girls are brilliant. It’s growing superbly and that’s what we are trying to replicate with the boys. This is about young people. We want them to see if that they come to the club, they are going to have a bit of craic, they are going to have fun and make friends. They are going to get football but this is not all about football. If they don’t want to play football, there are plenty of other things for them to get involved with, on and off the pitch.”

Brian, himself a former senior manager at Colmcille and Level One coach with Derry’s Under 16 girls, spent the last couple of years coaching Ballinscreen Ladies to a county Championship and while he admits he got his eyes opened while at St. Colm’s, he doesn’t see any reason why the success of rural club cannot be replicated with city clubs like Doire Colmcille.

“Coaching Ballinscreen, I really got my eyes opened. Being originally from Belfast, I always knew rural clubs had the edge on city counterparts but I have never experienced it so vividly until I was out with Ballinascreen. The club is their life, it’s the centre of the community.

“Taking the Ballinascreen Ladies, you are on the pitch at the same time as the kids, the camogs, the young players and it is amazing to see. You could see how much the teams and club bonded together. They had two teams at some levels, maybe 40 young fellas and girls and it didn’t matter what team anyone was on, they supported each other and the club.

“City clubs are starting from a bit further back than that but the GAA is about family so the more families we get involved the better. I would call on teenagers and ex-players to spread the word and try to get as many down as possible to the club in general but specifically the minors but a club is not just about football. You have the cultural side, the dancing, the music, the language - there is something for everyone to get involved with in a GAA club with the annual culture night coming shortly.”

Colmcille’s number may be supplemented by players from Sean Dolan’s this season because the Creggan’s club are also without a minor side and while Duffy is not against the necessity imposed situation, he stressed the ideal scenario is for both clubs to be fielding their own minor sides and competing against each other.

The reborn Colmcille minors are currently training at 10am on Saturday and 5pm on Tuesdays at the club’s superb Lowry’s Lane based pitch and would welcome any potential players looking for a game with Duffy’s short term ambitions centred only on seeing the team compete.

“I’ve said to every team I’ve coached, ‘I’ll not be the best coach you’ve ever had but I’ll give you everything.’ I always say to anyone who feels they would walk away because they are not winning matches, then they are better off not starting because when you start at ground zero, there is no point expecting to win championships and that’s how it is this year with me.

“If we compete, and if we are giving teams a hard time, that’s all I want. I want the young lads to enjoy competing and enjoy the training. It’s not about ability at this point. If they have never kicked a ball in their life before, if they come and enjoy it, they will be in the team and even if they don’t fancy that, there is a role for every one at a GAA club.”