AS DAYS GO, it had to be one of the most bizarre of Ciaran Meenagh’s life in Gaelic football.
Derry were in the Ulster final for the second year in a row. But less than 48 hours before the ball was thrown up in Clones, his brief changed entirely.
With allegations of domestic abuse in the public domain, the manager Rory Gallagher announced he was taking a ‘step back’ from Derry.
In his place came Meenagh.
As a youngster, he won an All-Ireland minor title in 1998 and back to back U21 titles in 2000 and 2001 with Mickey Harte’s special group. He was right half-back on a team containing Pascal McConnell, Gavin Devlin, Cormac McAnallen, Kevin Hughes, Stephen O’Neill, Enda McGinley, Owen Mulligan, Brian McGuigan, Philip Jordan and Ryan Mellon.
Meenagh in action for Tyrone U21s. INPHO
INPHO
All of them progressed onto the senior team and all won All-Ireland senior titles. Except for Meenagh, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury and missed out on everything.
He got back into the panel for 2005, but the injury was too much to overcome. Instead, he won national honours at handball, a sport highly valued in Loughmacrory.
Somewhere along the way, he’d have known there wasn’t much of a tradeoff.
Back to the Ulster final, and he was back in the big time, bearing proper responsibility.
Once more, the game went to extra-time, Armagh chasing them for all they were worth. But Derry had the experience of 2022. They took Niall Loughlin off, put him back on again in extra-time. Put Lachlan Murray on, took him off, put him in again.
Along the line, Meenagh was himself; calm, with the minimal displays of excitability. He consulted with Enda Muldoon, with Ronan Gallagher, with strength and conditioning coach Peter Hughes and team doctor Hugh Gallagher.
After Ciaran McFaul nailed the final penalty to settle the issue, he was placed in front of the media. Questions were framed to be fair to him, squeezing into the spaces not occupied by the elephant in the room.
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A strange week?
“Listen,” he said, “We are a collective management team and I have a motto in in life; no fuss, take it as it comes, you take things in your stride and get on with it.
“That’s the way I treated today. The players are the same. They are a mature group, there are very little egos in there or egos in our management team. They don’t exist I would like to think, so the performance spoke for itself.”
Without question, it was the most disrupted and harrowing build-up a team will have experienced for a provincial final in recent memory. And their energy levels looked low in the opening stages.
But their task was aided by the continuity Meenagh provided.
The Tuesday night after the final, Gallagher brought some finality to proceedings by stepping down. Meenagh automatically assumed control, just over 48 hours after the final ended.
As a schoolteacher with St Colm’s in Draperstown, he had linked up with the local Ballinascreen club and helped them to a Derry senior football final ten years ago.
He took virtually every single team in the school, until Benny Heron joined the teaching staff. Along with three years managing Dromore in Tyrone up to 2018, his name was being spoken of. He led Dromore to a league title and in two of his championship campaigns, they were beaten by the eventual winners by a point.
When Damien McErlain took over from Damian Barton as Derry manager in time for the 2018 season, he inherited a familiar problem. The Oak Leaf defence was leakier than a colander. No surprise really, as the progress of Slaughtneil on the club scene was robbing them of Chrissy and Karl McKaigue, Brendan Rogers and Paul McNeill – four of the Derry back six at that time.
In his first season in charge, they let in 11 goals in seven games, falling into Division Four. It was clear he needed to troubleshoot the problem and so made an approach to Meenagh.
“I didn’t know him that well but I knew he was respected as a coach. Particularly his defensive knowledge and how to coach a team to keep things tight,” recalls McErlain.
“Now, the thing has evolved since that, and so has he. But I brought him in at that stage and it was a massive effect. You can see now the benefit of bringing him in, he is an absolutely top, top level coach. He really opened our eyes to the level you can take coaching to.”
What Meenagh brought, was clarity of message, and as he might say himself, no fuss, no ego.
“As a person, he was genuine and a man who had serious high levels of integrity,” states McErlain.
“He put a serious amount of work into it all with his detail. The other coaches and management could see that he had his homework done and he was fit to demonstrate it, then deliver it on the pitch.
“His communication skills were great. I always find that teachers are great communicators and Ciaran was no different in that regard.”
After stepping away from Derry at the end of the 2019 season, McErlain returned last year as the manager of the county minor team, a position he previously held when they reached the All-Ireland final only to be beaten by, well, David Clifford and his 4-4 haul from play in the 2017 final.
This Sunday, they are back in another Ulster minor final and he often bumps into Meenagh in the corridors of the Owenbeg training ground.
“And he is still learning, questioning what you are doing, asking about it. That’s him on a constant learning curve,” he states.
“He was special to work with. Whenever I was leaving Derry, I said to the lads, ‘look, whoever comes in, if you can keep Meenagh, that gives you serious continuity and the lads all respect him highly. Make that a priority.’ And thankfully we did.
“Now, he is in the hot seat himself.”
Ciaran Meenagh entering Clones. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
It’s not anything he sought out.
For over a decade, he has been driving standards within his club, acting as an unofficial ‘Director of Football,’ bringing in strong figures to manage and coach.
Last year, Loughmacrory became innovators by bringing their players away on an overnight training camp, something that could frighten the life out of club treasurers if it became a trend.
“He’s a God up in Loughmacrory as he puts the hours in. He’s that genuine, he is strong and honest with boys. He leaves very little room for a critique or boys coming at him. He communicates well and everyone knows where they stand with him,” says McErlain.
As he enters the All-Ireland fray, Derry taking on Monaghan next Saturday night, he finds himself the Derry manager.
A reluctant manager, perhaps, but one you shouldn’t underestimate.
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'He's that genuine, he is strong' - The Tyrone underage star now managing Derry
AS DAYS GO, it had to be one of the most bizarre of Ciaran Meenagh’s life in Gaelic football.
Derry were in the Ulster final for the second year in a row. But less than 48 hours before the ball was thrown up in Clones, his brief changed entirely.
With allegations of domestic abuse in the public domain, the manager Rory Gallagher announced he was taking a ‘step back’ from Derry.
In his place came Meenagh.
As a youngster, he won an All-Ireland minor title in 1998 and back to back U21 titles in 2000 and 2001 with Mickey Harte’s special group. He was right half-back on a team containing Pascal McConnell, Gavin Devlin, Cormac McAnallen, Kevin Hughes, Stephen O’Neill, Enda McGinley, Owen Mulligan, Brian McGuigan, Philip Jordan and Ryan Mellon.
All of them progressed onto the senior team and all won All-Ireland senior titles. Except for Meenagh, who suffered a cruciate ligament injury and missed out on everything.
He got back into the panel for 2005, but the injury was too much to overcome. Instead, he won national honours at handball, a sport highly valued in Loughmacrory.
Somewhere along the way, he’d have known there wasn’t much of a tradeoff.
Back to the Ulster final, and he was back in the big time, bearing proper responsibility.
Once more, the game went to extra-time, Armagh chasing them for all they were worth. But Derry had the experience of 2022. They took Niall Loughlin off, put him back on again in extra-time. Put Lachlan Murray on, took him off, put him in again.
Along the line, Meenagh was himself; calm, with the minimal displays of excitability. He consulted with Enda Muldoon, with Ronan Gallagher, with strength and conditioning coach Peter Hughes and team doctor Hugh Gallagher.
After Ciaran McFaul nailed the final penalty to settle the issue, he was placed in front of the media. Questions were framed to be fair to him, squeezing into the spaces not occupied by the elephant in the room.
A strange week?
“Listen,” he said, “We are a collective management team and I have a motto in in life; no fuss, take it as it comes, you take things in your stride and get on with it.
“That’s the way I treated today. The players are the same. They are a mature group, there are very little egos in there or egos in our management team. They don’t exist I would like to think, so the performance spoke for itself.”
Without question, it was the most disrupted and harrowing build-up a team will have experienced for a provincial final in recent memory. And their energy levels looked low in the opening stages.
But their task was aided by the continuity Meenagh provided.
The Tuesday night after the final, Gallagher brought some finality to proceedings by stepping down. Meenagh automatically assumed control, just over 48 hours after the final ended.
As a schoolteacher with St Colm’s in Draperstown, he had linked up with the local Ballinascreen club and helped them to a Derry senior football final ten years ago.
He took virtually every single team in the school, until Benny Heron joined the teaching staff. Along with three years managing Dromore in Tyrone up to 2018, his name was being spoken of. He led Dromore to a league title and in two of his championship campaigns, they were beaten by the eventual winners by a point.
When Damien McErlain took over from Damian Barton as Derry manager in time for the 2018 season, he inherited a familiar problem. The Oak Leaf defence was leakier than a colander. No surprise really, as the progress of Slaughtneil on the club scene was robbing them of Chrissy and Karl McKaigue, Brendan Rogers and Paul McNeill – four of the Derry back six at that time.
In his first season in charge, they let in 11 goals in seven games, falling into Division Four. It was clear he needed to troubleshoot the problem and so made an approach to Meenagh.
“I didn’t know him that well but I knew he was respected as a coach. Particularly his defensive knowledge and how to coach a team to keep things tight,” recalls McErlain.
“Now, the thing has evolved since that, and so has he. But I brought him in at that stage and it was a massive effect. You can see now the benefit of bringing him in, he is an absolutely top, top level coach. He really opened our eyes to the level you can take coaching to.”
What Meenagh brought, was clarity of message, and as he might say himself, no fuss, no ego.
“He put a serious amount of work into it all with his detail. The other coaches and management could see that he had his homework done and he was fit to demonstrate it, then deliver it on the pitch.
“His communication skills were great. I always find that teachers are great communicators and Ciaran was no different in that regard.”
After stepping away from Derry at the end of the 2019 season, McErlain returned last year as the manager of the county minor team, a position he previously held when they reached the All-Ireland final only to be beaten by, well, David Clifford and his 4-4 haul from play in the 2017 final.
This Sunday, they are back in another Ulster minor final and he often bumps into Meenagh in the corridors of the Owenbeg training ground.
“And he is still learning, questioning what you are doing, asking about it. That’s him on a constant learning curve,” he states.
“He was special to work with. Whenever I was leaving Derry, I said to the lads, ‘look, whoever comes in, if you can keep Meenagh, that gives you serious continuity and the lads all respect him highly. Make that a priority.’ And thankfully we did.
“Now, he is in the hot seat himself.”
It’s not anything he sought out.
For over a decade, he has been driving standards within his club, acting as an unofficial ‘Director of Football,’ bringing in strong figures to manage and coach.
Last year, Loughmacrory became innovators by bringing their players away on an overnight training camp, something that could frighten the life out of club treasurers if it became a trend.
“He’s a God up in Loughmacrory as he puts the hours in. He’s that genuine, he is strong and honest with boys. He leaves very little room for a critique or boys coming at him. He communicates well and everyone knows where they stand with him,” says McErlain.
As he enters the All-Ireland fray, Derry taking on Monaghan next Saturday night, he finds himself the Derry manager.
A reluctant manager, perhaps, but one you shouldn’t underestimate.
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Ciaran Meenagh Derry GAA Succession