HEART rates among Errigal Ciaran supporters were through the roof once again on Saturday evening as their club flirted dangerously with defeat before winning an epic All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry’s Dr Crokes.
Mind you, the Errigal fans are used to that because only once in the 10 championship games of this campaign have they been able to relax to any extent in the closing stages.
In every other game, there’s been a kick of the ball in it at the final whistle.
The winning margins have been: 0-3 (Pomeroy, Tyrone first round), draw (Clonoe, Tyrone QF), 0-3 (Clonoe replay), 0-1 (Killyclogher, Tyrone SF), 0-1 Trillick (Tyrone final), 0-2 (St Eunan’s Ulster first round), 0-8 (Cargin QF), 0-1 (Clann Eireann SF), 0-1 (Kilcoo, Ulster final), 0-3 (Dr Crokes All-Ireland semi-final).
“This season has been a rollercoaster and that game probably epitomised everything about us and about the year we’ve had,” said Peter Harte after the extra-time drama in Newbridge last Saturday.
“We could have won it at times, we could have lost it at times and then ‘Ogie’ (Joe Oguz) kicked an absolute bomb and we showed good heart at the end. We’re delighted to still be in the competition.
“We’ve talked about being hard to beat, just staying in the game and making sure we die in the boots and you could see that out there. That last play they had, Padraig (McGirr) came up with a big turnover for us and it’s those sorts of things that keep you alive in competitions. Thank God, this year we have come out on the right side of a good few of those battles.
“It’s just about staying alive, taking it play by play and making sure that, coming down the stretch you’re in that position where you can stay alive.”
Errigal have been in command at times and they’ve had to dig in at others and Harte says the determination to “die with the boots on” and fight to the finish has made the difference in games that could have gone either way.
Harte is no stranger Croke Park but to play there with his club next Sunday will be “magic” for the 2021 Sam Maguire winner.
A losing finalist in 2018, he has seen triumph and defeat and he will join an elite list of club and county All-Ireland champions if Enda McGinley’s side win the Andy Merrigan Cup decider against Dublin’s Cuala.
“It’s magic,” says Harte.
“It genuinely is a dream come true to run out and represent your club on one of the biggest days for one of the biggest honours. We’ve a chance to do that now but you don’t want to be part of a losing final team – I’ve been part of a few so it’s all about getting over it (the line) now.”
For long spells of Saturday’s semi-final, it was Dr Crokes who had to stay alive because a salvo of scores from Errigal’s brilliant front two Darragh (1-6) and Ruairi (0-7) Canavan they were playing catch-up. But the Kerry men took the lead late in injury-time and it needed a late equaliser from Peter Og McCartan (after Harte had been fouled) to force extra-time and then an Oguz piledriver to finally put (just enough) daylight between the teams.
“Some of the scores were brilliant from both sides,” said Harte.
“Darragh, Ruairi, Tony Brosnan for them, big Joe with the goal… It must have been a good match to watch because the quality out there was very high and I suppose that’s what you’d expect at this level. Both teams were probably at it (training) hard over Christmas and thank God we had enough to get us across the line.”
Harte is old enough to remember travelling to O’Moore Park in Portlaoise in 2003 when Errigal lost an All-Ireland semi-final to Nemo Rangers. That four-point loss followed a previous semi-final defeat in 1993 so the class of 2025 finally got the monkey off their club’s back.
“A semi-final is the worst stage of any competition to get beat,” said Harte.
“So, we were very determined that we wanted to keep this going and give ourselves one more week to stay training together and playing together and now we want to make the most of it.
“We don’t have too long to think about the final, we’ll just get the boots on again next weekend and go. It’s exciting that way, an extra week’s break wouldn’t have done us any harm and Cuala would probably say the same but, look, we’re just delighted to be there.
“We’re looking forward to that now and you hope to bring your best game on All-Ireland
final day so that’s what we’ll prepare for this week.”
REFEREE Brendan Cawley came in for some criticism from Errigal Ciaran fans for his display in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final between the Tyrone and Ulster champions and Kerry’s Dr Crokes.
On several occasions, it seemed that the Kerry club’s forwards were awarded frees for relatively innocuous tackles while more obvious fouls on Errigal players weren’t penalised. Crokes scored 0-8 from frees and Errigal 0-3 but Peter Harte was satisfied that referee Cawley “called it as he saw it” and his decision-making didn’t have a negative impact on the Errigal players.
“In the middle of the game you don’t think too much about it, you just play what’s in front of you and get on with it,” said Harte.
“In fairness, Brendan called it as he saw it and you get on with it, you play it. We’ve been good this year, we just play. We’ve got a ‘next ball’ sort of mentality and that’s what you’ve got to do.”
