Pictured is Derry footballer, Brendan Rogers who has teamed up with AIB to support the GOAL mile. As part the campaign AIB is offering people who register for the GOAL Mile the chance to win one of the ten €1,000 prizes for their GAA, Camogie, or LGFA club. To win, people need to register for their GOAL Mile and then enter the AIB GAA GOAL Mile competition at www.aibgaagoalmile2024.com.
By Cian O’Connell
There is always something happening in Slaughtneil. That is just the way of life in the proud Derry outfit. An upcoming match, an occasion to embrace.
So, Saturday’s deeply satisfying AIB Ulster Club SHC Semi-Final win over Cushendall brought joy, offering another reminder of Slaughtneil’s skill and spirit.
A couple of days later Chrissy McKaigue, a totemic figure for club and county, announced his retirement from Derry football duty.
McKaigue set standards and remains an influential person for Slaughtneil, working as a Games Promotion Officer. “A gritty player with a never-say-die attitude, a professional,” Rogers remarks about his highly regarded colleague.
“Sport is his life. I don't think sport will stop for him, he will go into coaching and involvement, he is a GPO for Slaughtneil, he is involved with St Pat's Maghera at school. I don't think this is the end for Chrissy, it is just a change of direction for him.
“A brilliant career, whether he got any trophies or not, I think he was always going to have a brilliant career, the way he conducted himself, the level he brought himself to.”
McKaigue did what was required for Derry. “He was always marking top calibre people, 35 years of age marking David Clifford, and doing a good job on him,” Rogers adds.
“As somebody said, that is a testament to his preparation. Everything has to come to an end at some stage, nobody ever thinks it is because of how he looks after himself. We're glad to have him about for so long because he was such an influence for the team.
“Now, it is an opportunity for someone else to fill those shoes, to build on what he has laid down.”
Chrissy McKaigue and David Clifford following the 2024 All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final at Croke Park. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Paddy Tally’s recent appointment as Derry manager to succeed Mickey Harte is significant according to Rogers. “We trusted the whole executive process that they would find the fight guy,” Rogers says.
“The players can just play. We knew that they wouldn’t just run and get anybody, they would get the right fit for the team. It is not easy getting an inter-county manager.
“To get the top, top managers, they are very difficult go get and very difficult to nail down because they are in such demand.
“I am sure there was a lot of in the background to get someone like Paddy Tally and especially getting him away from the lure of Kerry, the fact he has seen something in us is very positive as well.
“We have a good man under the helm at the minute. Sometimes these things take time, but we got the right man eventually.”
It proved to be a strange 2024 campaign for Derry, who won the Allianz Football League Division One title before a disappointing Championship concluded with an All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final loss to Kerry. “It is very difficult to say what exactly went wrong,” Rogers says.
“There was probably a big compound effect of injuries, the players perform, were the decisions tactically wrong, things like that. There is so many variables that we encountered.
“Nobody is perfect, nobody sets out to do the wrong thing or play wrong or all them things. I would go as far to say the players are as accountable as management. Everyone was in agreement together. It didn’t work out, absolutely we have a lot to learn from that.
“Ultimately, we did learn form that, it was just too late. After the first few defeats we put in a performance against Mayo, and then we just didn’t back it up against Kerry. The joys is we get to do it again and we have quite a young profile of players.
New Derry senior football team manager Paddy Tally. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
“They got to learn that last year, so maybe it won’t be as big of an issue further down the line. We get to adapt and address it earlier and how to address it earlier. Sometimes you need setbacks like that to hit the reset and develop again.”
As a club Slaughtneil have been relevant on the Derry, Ulster, and national stages for a decade now. “It is maybe only now that you get to look back in that regard,” Rogers says.
“You think about what people around the club did to make it where it is. There was a lot of foresight, people were doing things when it wasn't fashionable, maybe when people didn't totally agree with it, but they kept at it any way.
“The likes of - and it is well documented now - that Thomas Cassidy, God Rest Him, he'd have picked us up at seven or eight o'clock in the morning, took us to Ballycastle, Portaferry, all of those places. He sold his own car to get a mini van to drive us. Actions like that were all foresight.”
This was long before silverware and success occurred. Still, there was a belief that Slaughtneil could compete eventually. “We weren't winning things as a club, but they knew as a club that if they invested, it would go that way,” Rogers adds.
“So, whenever we got our first run in the Ulster final in 2013, that really wasn't where the ambition ended. It isn't saying that age group had got there, done the work, and hoped it would stay.
“Those people still stayed at the roots of the club, the morals and the drive, it never changed - constantly innovating, constantly making things better.
“We developed a cultural centre in An Coirne, and a theatre in An Coirne, and cafes in An Croí, the Irish medium school has developed 10 fold since it started.”
People collaborated. Working together on and off the field mattered deeply. “It isn't maybe all about the club, at times, it is about the community,” Rogers reflects.
Derry's Brendan Rogers in action against Kerry in the 2024 All-Ireland SFC Quarter-Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
“Once you build that culture, it drives more and more. That has helped develop the conveyor belt that feeds the longevity.
“You're thinking about the community and then the community comes back into the player group. I'm not saying you're guaranteed talent, but what you're guaranteed is an ethos and a good culture, and you'd hope that develops senior players.
“That is 10 years in the making, I'd like to think that has been done before, and Chrissy is now transitioning into the GPO role, things like that just sets a trend for the next generation. We hope that continues the conveyor belt.
“It has worked so far, but a lot of things go on behind the scenes, that you just wouldn't think of, that you'd never know until 10 years time, and you realise they saw something that we didn't. That is why they are so good at what they do.”
That ability and willingness to adapt continues to serve Slaughtneil well. “If you think everything is going to stay the same, that you're going to get better, it is never going to work,” Rogers replies.
“You've to be willing to move with the times. Even things like rule changes have such an impact on the way the game is played, the development of players, and how you progress a player from U8 to inter-county. You've to think about that career path.
“Once that career path ends, what is the next journey for them, you don't just leave them in the lurch. It is good that the club is offering that facility for people, long after their playing careers. They are thinking about what is best for the people in the community.
“When you have that thought in mind, you'll always be thinking ahead, but never shying away from the work that is required day to day to make it happen.”
An AIB Ulster Club SHC decider against Portaferry is next on the agenda.
