THE WAY HE TELLS it is almost like a folk song.
His eldest brother, Owen, stayed at home to mind the farm. He would rise early, put on the corduroy trousers and work the family land of Aughnamullen, south Monaghan.
The younger brother by six years, Gabriel, headed off to Dublin to become a student. He spent thirty years suiting up for Bank of Ireland.
At home, Owen had plenty to occupy his hands but his mind was always racing. He poured his energies into coaching and the bricks and mortar development of Aughnamullen Sarsfields.
His organisational qualities were noticed. He was soon a Fine Gael Councillor.
In Dublin, Gabriel was the savage that pined for his native shore. Working in finance meant that hooking up with Aughnamullen was impossible. Instead, he could finish his business in the city centre by 7pm and be on a club pitch by half past. It was a link, of sorts, to home.
He knew everything going on in Aughnamullen, though. The brothers called each other daily, knocking back ideas, football chat, cattle prices. Anything.
Until Gabriel’s beloved Leeds United knocked Owen’s own preference of Manchester United out of the FA Cup in 2010, which brought a brief silence.
When Jack Charlton’s success with the Ireland soccer team brought in thickets of culchies from the cold, the Bannigan brothers were there, home and away, belting out the Olés on foreign soil.
With Aughnamullen, Owen was the best player; quick, direct, skillful. Until a messy knee injury ended his playing days at 30, in the early ‘90s when they were ready to challenge for senior honours.
With that dream gone, he was particularly excited about a crop of young fellas he was coaching.
In the background, he was constantly working Gabriel over that he would come back and manage Aughnamullen. Just as their father Packie had, for donkey’s years.
One of the best of the young crew was Owen’s own son, Micheál. His progress was such that, at only 15, he was ready to make his minor championship debut for Monaghan one Saturday in May, 2014.
Owen had Gabriel’s ticket sorted, he assured him on their daily phonecall.
On the Friday morning, Owen had been expected to top the polls in their local election. By this stage he had been a councillor for 15 years. He visited a polling station to cast his vote and suffered a brain haemorrhage, passing away in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
“It’s a phone call I’ll never forget,” says Gabriel now.
“They said that Owen was after being taken away to the hospital and to get on the road and I got on the road, and when I was driving, my brother, my other brother Paudie rang me to tell me that that that Owen was dead.
“It’s something that, obviously you’ll never, I’ll never forget, it took me years to get over it.”
Time, and a little connection to home as well.
By this stage he had put down five years coaching St Sylvester’s of Malahide and had decided to take a year out.
With the Aughnamullen U16s, some of the selectors appealed to Gabriel, asking him if he could manage to give them a hand. ‘A couple of training sessions,’ as they put it.
He could manage one night a week and the games. They won the U16 double.
That November, he accepted the offer to become the Kilmacud Crokes manager. He stayed for three years, bringing through almost an entire new team while keeping them competitive and finishing top of Division 1 in Dublin every year.
Aughnamullen made their move ahead of the 2020 season. They had been relegated to junior level. In normal circumstances he would have batted it back, but his employment had changed. He was out of the bank and moved into the business world with Klass Energy. He now had the flexibility to point the car northwards off the M50 and come home to his club.
Under his management, they climbed back into senior football within a couple of years.
On a golden evening when they beat Castleblayney in the championship, Bannigan was just addressing a pint in front of him when his phone buzzed.
Vinny Corey, newly-crowned Monaghan manager, was offering his congratulations and asking if he might be about for a chat before he went back up the road.
He asked Corey for his Eircode, left the pint untouched, spent half an hour with him in his kitchen and left as a Monaghan selector.
A couple of years with Corey and then he finished up. Some of the senior players asked Bannigan to consider the job. Monaghan don’t tend to do drama.
“I spoke to a few other people and particularly family,” he says.
“And I decided that, you know, I’m no spring chicken anymore. It was now or never for me, so I was either going to go and have a go at it, or it was probably never gonna happen.”
And now here is he. The Monaghan manager. A Division 2 final to look forward to against Roscommon on a Saturday night, before meeting the winners of Donegal or Derry in the Ulster senior football championship.
The first thing he had to do was compile his backroom team. He has Damien Freeman and Dermot McArdle in there, along with the renowned and low-key trainer John McElholm, father of young Tyrone forward Eoin.
But obviously, people are drawn to the presence of another selector; former Footballer of the Year, Andy Moran.
A mutual friend recommended Moran to Bannigan. He called Moran on a Saturday evening off the cuff and they talked for close to an hour.
Two days later they met in a hotel in Mullingar. Two more hours football chat, before they order lunch. Another two hours. The infectiousness was just there.
The first test was a brutal one; how to learn to live without Conor McManus. Monaghan’s greatest ever player had to retire with chronic hip injuries.
It didn’t stop Monaghan registering the biggest scoring tally for across the four divisions however. Their nearest rivals were Kerry, still 23 points behind them though.
“I did see first-hand what he put his body through, the pain that he went through, every year to try and stay on, and achieve more with Monaghan. There’s no question about it,” says Bannigan of McManus.
“It would have been great to see Conor play in an All-Ireland final, but that didn’t happen. Conor owes Monaghan football absolutely nothing and the funny thing is, Conor really tried hard. He tried everything to come back again.
“But the body was, I think the body just had enough and, he just couldn’t do it. But I know he did everything he possibly could; seen a specialist, did a stint of work in terms of rehab work to see what the body was like. But then after Christmas, he said himself, he went for a walk after Christmas, and he had to ring somebody to give him a lift home.”
Gabriel then went and did something that shows he has absolutely no regard whatsoever about what some would regard as, ‘the optics’ of the situation when he handed the captaincy to his nephew Micheál.
“I mean the mentality he has and that sort of meets this whole Monaghan team, there’s just no fear of anyone really; that when you go out like, that’s what it seems,” he says.
I think the Monaghan psychology really is we’ve probably been used to being the underdogs and, taking on the bigger names and the bigger teams.
“We certainly have a lot of respect for the teams who go out and play, but, you try to build a mentality and forge a mentality within the group. That if we prepare well enough to get them to believe in the talent we have in our within our squad.
“We’re well able to go out and give anyone a game, you know.”
Starting with Roscommon. Then onto Ulster. Most likely Donegal in Clones.
And that will be Monaghan. The small county that maxes out on their players. Their players that go until their late 30s with their bodies screaming at them to stop. With an adoring following that are rewarded time and time again.
Because they have principles and they have loyalty.
“It’s interesting how life, how something that changes in your life can lead you then on onto a different journey,” says Bannigan.
“And I’m so happy that it’s worked out that way, you know?”
Not really fair when you remember that Sligo were kicked out of the championship last year for the same reasons
@Tom McBride: totally agree.
@Tom McBride: nobody cares about lesser teams. It’s all about the big few.
@Homes: Absolutely, no way would any teams outside of Div 1 or 2 have a game rescheduled for the same. Nonsense.
@Homes: Tyrone hardly in the “big few” these days are they??
Can you imagine the sledging that will go on. The Tyrone backs sneezing on top of the kerry forwards etc
@James Beattie: lol. Didn’t think of that. Hilarious haha
Up Kerry!
Would the Tyrone team not be vaccinated yet?
@Gerard Browne: can still have covid
@John O Reilly: I know that but if everybody is vaccinated there’s no need to quarantine?
@Gerard Browne: still have to isolate even if fully vaccinated!
@Darren Mullins: if positive yes but not if a close contact as you become a casual contact if vaccinated or is it different in the UK?
@Darren Mullins: Makes the point of getting the vaccine pretty pointless so
@Gerard Browne: with the vaccine you only get a milder dose of covid
@Gerard Browne: If you call significantly reducing your chances of death or serious illness then ya, pointless
Tyrone should have been thrown out
Good call. Even though I have to do a week of late shifts to get Sunday off!
Sligo couldn’t field a team and were punished , Tyrone should be out of the all Ireland series . Broke covid rules kick them out
@Greg: they didnt break any covid rules. Cork u20s were given a similar postponent this season for the same reason.
@Kieran Lynch: where did they celebrate after Ulster Final?
Rte just announced it being postponed for a week. Final moves to September 4th.
@Kieran Campbell: Saturday???
@John McCabe: Yeah Sat 4th Sept. Most likely a 6:30-7pm kick off too, so they can accommodate for the Ireland vs Azerbaijan game in Lansdowne which kicks off at 5 bells on Saturday as well.
@Ultan Corcoran: I believe the All Ireland Final will have a ‘throw in’, and the other match at the Aviva will have a’kick off’
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
This bl00dy virus has stopped being a joke when it interferes with GAA all ireland.