Errigal Ciaran footballer, Ronan McRory, pictured before the AIB All-Ireland Club SFC Final against Cuala.
By John Harrington
Now in his 20th season as a senior footballer with Errigal Ciaran, Ronan McRory’s longevity has afforded him the unique experience of playing with both Peter Canavan and his sons Darragh and Ruairí.
He won a Tyrone Senior Football Championship with Peter back in 2006 but has already gone one better with the chips off the old block with two county titles and one Ulster title in the bag, and potentially an All-Ireland to come on Sunday.
McRory has been a hugely influential attacker himself over the past two decades for his club and considers himself very fortunate to have shared a pitch with two generations of the Canavan clan.
“2005 was Peter's last year playing with Tyrone and he came back and gave the club some four or five really good years,” recalls McRory.
“I always grew up watching Peter and to get to play with him was just mad because my father played with him. My father played with him, he played with me, and now I play with his sons. It's a strange dynamic.
“Peter Canavan goes down as one of the all-time great Gaelic footballers and to say you played with him is brilliant. Of my brothers two of us have played with Peter and one of them hasn't and that would be a slag between us.
“The two young bucks, Ruairí and Darragh, they're great and I'd love to say they haven't reached their full potential yet even though they're flying at the minute.”
If they’re still some way off reaching their full potential, that’s a very scary thought for opposition defenders.
Former Errigal Ciaran player Peter Canavan shares a quiet moment with his son, and Errigal Ciaran captain, Darragh Canavan, after the 2024 Tyrone County Senior Club Football Championship final match between Errigal Ciarán and Trillick at O'Neills Healy Park in Omagh, Tyrone. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Peter Canavan was the greatest forward of his generation, and McRory believes his sons have the same tools in their respective lockers.
“Kicking scores, taking men on, speed, speed of thought...the three of them can do things at such a high speed which is a very difficult skill to do,” he says. “They can do things at high speed that a lot of people would struggle to do while jogging.
“The two lads obviously had a quiet game by their own high standards in the Ulster Final, one point between them, but when they draw a lot of attention like that it leaves a lot of other boys free.
“They're very unselfish lads and I would pay them a huge compliment that they're as good lads as they are footballers. That's massive compliment to them. They're great lads who come from great stock in the McGarritys and Canavans.
“It's a pleasure to have been able to play with both Peter and the lads. Thank God they're Errigal people because I wouldn't like to be playing against them.”
Now 37, McRory himself remains an important figure for this Errigal Ciaran team.
His dedicated approach is an inspiration to others in the dressing-room and it’s a testament to the condition he’s kept himself in that he’s featured consistently off the bench for the Tyrone club during their run to Sunday’s Final.
“In terms of the mindset, every game is about preparing as best as you can,” he says. “You eat well and you prepare as if you were starting and going to play 60 minutes.
“You never know when you're going to be called on if you're going to be called on. So the mindset doesn't change, it's just fully focused. Everybody is good craic in our changing rooms and our bus and we get on really well as a panel but there is a switch that's tripped when you get to the stadium or even get on the team bus to go somewhere.
“It's great that the young fellas have that switch because you do need it. My mindset is no different to when I started. Obviously as you win and you start climbing the ladder to the All-Ireland series it becomes a bit more pressure. But pressure makes diamonds, doesn't it.”
Ronan McRory of Errigal Ciaran, left, celebrates after the Tyrone County Senior Club Football Championship final match between Errigal Ciarán and Trillick at O'Neills Healy Park in Omagh, Tyrone. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
McRory can remember in his early years on the Errigal Ciaran team how his older team-mates would warn him that a club career goes by in a blink.
Even though he’s played for 20 seasons he knows now that they were right because they’ve “gone in a flash”.
He knows he doesn’t have long left at the highest level of club football, which is why he appreciates this opportunity to play in an All-Ireland Final all the more.
“It's brilliant. I won't say it was never on our radar, in your wildest dreams you might think you have a chance and for years I would have always thought we had a chance.
“But then even to get out of the Tyrone championship is so tough alone. And then when we first started getting into Ulster you had your Ballinderrys and Crossmaglens who were powerhouses not just in Ulster but all of Ireland back then.
“Then in more recent times when we got out it was the Glens, Scotstowns, and Kilcoos. We're just so thankful that we're able to get through an Ulster Final that was so tight. Obviously the Crokes game we went to extra-time again and we we're just so delighted to get to a final.
“It hasn't really sunk in because it's just a week turnaround from the semi-final.”
The last time McRory played in Croke Park he scored three points as Tyrone defeated Kerry in the 2004 All-Ireland Final.
It won’t bother him if his contribution isn’t quite so telling this time around, all he cares about is the result.
“20 yeras is some stretch! 2004 was great and if you had said to me I wouldn't be back for 20 years...it's difficult to get back to Croke Park and I'm so thankful that I have.
“If I get on, great, if I don't and we win it doesn't matter. As long as Errigal lift that Cup it doesn't matter to me."
