IN SOME ALL IRELAND finals, a less heralded talent chooses that particular game to deliver the performance of a lifetime.
Ben Crealey is not a household name, but he was a legitimate rival to Oisín Conaty as the man-of-the-match in Croke Park on Sunday. Scoring two points in the first half to settle the game down was a demonstration of a man rising to the occasion as Armagh win their second Sam Maguire.
Apart from that, his tireless work in turning the ball over made him a perfect foil for Niall Grimley in the Armagh engine room.
“A lot of relief. Great to get over the line. It hasn’t sunk in. After all those bad days you’ve had, you always dreamt of having that one good day and it has come,” says Crealey in the Carrickdale Hotel as he relaxed on Monday morning.
Asked what has been the greatest strength, he believes the people involved.
“We have really good coaches. A really good set of players. We are the best coached team in Ireland in my opinion. Our backroom is unbelievable. Kieran Donaghy, Ciaran McKeever, Conleith Gilligan, Ciaran McKinney, they are brilliant,” he explains.
“And then the players, we have been through so many challenges, so much adversity. It is hard at the time but it strengthens you. Players, coaches, the support have been unbelievable this year. When you hear that roar after you score two points in a row, well…”
As for his own performance, he just went for broke.
“I had been told all year to back myself with those shots and it is probably the first year the shots are coming off, unlike previous years.
“You have to back yourself in those situations on the big day. It has paid off this year.”
In another world, you might have known the name for very different sporting reasons.
His father, Brendan Crealey, is a famous name in rallying. At the turn of the century he had a semi-professional contract to race for Mitsubishi. They put him into their – to use rallying vernacular – absolute hogs of yokes; the famous Evolutions.
His son grew up in this environment. A petrol head. By the age of 7, he could drive a car. He followed his father to England and Scotland for rallying, competing in the British Championships.
After a couple of tough smashes, he hurt his neck and wound down his own driving. And then he concentrated on Ben.
“I started Go-karting and once I turned 17, I was rally driving,” he recalls.
“When I got my road licence it was a Nissan Micra for three or four years. It was on wee airfields, closed roads. So one week I could be rallying, the next week I would be playing a football match. I struggled to juggle the two.
“I started missing big football games because I was playing for Maghery seniors at the time and I missed the semi-final against Crossmaglen in 2015. That was the year before we won the county in 2016. So we were beat by Cross and I missed that game. I was over in England and that was my last rally.
“Back then I was in a wee Fiesta. It was driving through forestry and it might not have been that fast, but the thing was, you hardly knew where you were going. You had to go on your co-driver’s pace notes so maybe it seemed a lot faster than it was.”
He had a few knocks in the car. Nothing to worry about and nothing that left him with injuries. His co-pilot on the pace notes was Liam Regan, who is currently competing in the World Rally Championships with William Creighton.
“I couldn’t live with the guilt of it, missing games,” says Crealey.
“Rallying, it’s a small sport and it runs through families I suppose. It’s pretty niche and you are born into things like that. Just adrenaline.
“I had to make the decision then. I had to make a decision and football was starting to get serious then too.
“I chose football. You go to rallying because my dad was looking for me to do that. But you go to football because there are 35 lads going after something. I remember watching that game in 2015, and then having to face the lads after…”
That decision has led to the ultimate success. His GAA connections are sound too. Through his mother Denise’s connections, he is first cousins of Blaithín, Cadhla and Tiernan Bogue of Tempo, who all play for Fermanagh. Blaithín is currently preparing to embark on a career with North Melbourne to play in the Women’s Aussie Rules.
They will have been envious of their cousin last Sunday though, the man who always kept the faith.
“You always believe. You always thought you could get over the line in big games. The penalties… We played a lot of big games and we knew from that we were always going to be in it for the last ten minutes,” he says.
“We also had to tidy up on the last five plays. That’s what had cost us in the past and it wasn’t perfect yesterday. But we could have beaten Donegal in our last five possessions in the Ulster final.
“When you watch it back, the coaches are always telling us there was an All-Ireland in this group and they were telling us for years.
“The days after those big defeats, you are so down. But what do you do? You have to get up and go after it again.”
He concludes, “I feel like the same as any player. You always have that dream in the back of your head. There were days it was hard to believe it was ever going to happen. But you always have the dream. It’s the same as any Gaelic player at this level.
“Me personally, I always felt we had an All-Ireland in us.”
