RONAN McRory was just six when his mother used to call him and his siblings down to the dinner table. Nothing unusual there, of course – except it was still dark and they had just rolled out of bed.
Ulster club Sundays were a big thing in the McRory house back in late 1993, you see. With dad Ciaran playing centre half-back on an Errigal Ciaran side eyeing up a first provincial crown, the whole house was caught up in the excitement.
The short trip to Omagh - where Lavey awaited - and Irvinestown twice before Kilcar were despatched, then the big one at the Athletic Grounds, and immortality achieved as RGU Downpatrick were swept aside.
Magic memories, every one of them.
“We’d still laugh about it at home,” he smiles during yesterday’s AIB media event, “I have four other siblings and mummy used to be spooning the hot dinners into us at eight o’clock in the morning to head to those Ulster club games and make sure we weren’t hungry…”
Although the Seamus Mac Ferran Cup was secured, however, it wasn’t to be as the pursuit of bigger goals hotted up – Nemo Rangers and Colin Corkery edging Errigal out the All-Ireland exit door after extra-time.
Last weekend, the son moved one step further than the father.
Sprung from the bench as Errigal and Dr Crokes jockeyed for position down the straight - extra-time in an All-Ireland semi-final once more - the 37-year-old played his part to help the Tyrone champions seal a showdown with Leinster kingpins Cuala.
It has been some journey. Like his dad, McRory shared the field with Peter Canavan towards the end of his playing days; never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that, 20 years on, he would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Tyrone legend’s two sons.
But the symmetry doesn’t stop there. When Errigal claimed a second Ulster title in 2002, the first man McRory remembers running to in Clones was Enda McGinley. And who did he replace three years later when handed his senior bow against Moortown? Enda McGinley.
Now, two decades down the line, three-time All-Ireland winner McGinley leads Errigal into battle as the biggest day in the club’s history looms.
“I remember everything about the 2002 game… them boys were our heroes.
“It goes in a flash. I know that sounds like a cliché, but I remember the older players saying to us younger boys at the time, you have no idea how short your career is. At the time, you’re a young buck and you don’t really take much heed of that, but it really is true.
“So it really is a special time for our whole club, especially the younger people. Long may it continue.”
For all the elation, those supporters have been made to suffer every step of the way as Errigal ground out win after win, running the gauntlet so many times on the way to this stage.
That’s where the safe hands and calming voice of men like McRory assume maximum importance, helping steady the ship in those manic moments when the hopes of a club and community hang in the balance.
And, if the call comes at Croke Park on Sunday, he will be ready.
“As soon as I come on the field, I always try and get on the ball, maybe have a voice about there as well. I’d probably be known to be able to talk younger players through the game a bit… we’ve been in a fair few clutch games, I suppose, in the Tyrone championship.
“You’re just willing to get on at any stage. If it happens in the final and I get on, great. If it doesn’t, and we get over the line - even better. As long as you get over the line, that’s the main thing.”
