If you wrote a film script detailing the drama and controversies of the Casement’s club’s five consecutive semi-final defeats before this year reviewers would pan it as ridiculously far-fetched.
Portglenone people may have to suspend their own disbelief that they’re actually in an Antrim SFC Final again after that half-decade of heartache.
Their tortuous tale of torment twisted against them at the end of each of their previous five semi-finals before they comfortably saw off Lamh Dhearg in this year’s last four, setting up Sunday’s clash against champions Cargin.
Casement’s semi-final setbacks:
2019: Portglenone took Lamh Dhearg to two replays, in the first of which a free kick shoot-out was controversially ended early by county chairman Ciaran McCavana.
2020: Creggan scored a last-gasp winner at, of all places, Portglenone’s local rivals Ahoghill.
2021: Portglenone lose out to Aghagallon after two periods of extra time were played rather than going to a penalty shoot-out. Casement’s decide against submitting an appeal.
2022: The St Mary’s side again stunned Portglenone in extra time, with Casements wondering where the added minutes came from in which Aghagallon scored their winning goal.
2023: Casement’s lose out to Dunloy, a club much better known for hurling. Seeking a winning goal, Portglenone are hit on the counter as the Cuchullain’s net a sealing second goal.
Perhaps such a series of setbacks shouldn’t have come as any surprise though.
After all, Portglenone have never won the Antrim SFC, reaching three finals in the 2000s and losing them all, increasingly heavily, to St Gall’s.
Kevin Madden might almost have been the personification of Portglenone’s ill-luck. When they finally reached their first decider, in 2005, he was ruled out by injury. In some ways, worse was to come:
“The very first final I’d done my cruciate in the lead-up to that; that was probably the one we came closest in.
“The next one I had retired, unfortunately. Then I came back and played in the third one, which was the season St Gall’s went on to win the All-Ireland, they were far too strong, unreal.”
Portglenone had made a rapid rise, and Madden feels they should have won in 2003 – but the first case of the ‘semi-final curse’ struck.
“We’d progressed through the ranks to senior football in the mid to late Nineties; we only became a senior club for the first time in 2001. To go from that to reaching a county final in 2005 was major steps.
“We felt 2003 was maybe the year that really got away from us because St Gall’s were just starting to come to prominence.
“We played Lamh Dhearg and were nine points up at half-time – but a few things conspired against us and they came back and beat us. They actually took St Gall’s to extra time in that final. We felt if we’d got over that semi-final that year we would have gone on and won it.”
He’d made an astonishingly quick comeback from open heart surgery to play for Antrim in 2000, but there was no rapid return from cruciate damage in 2005:
“In ‘05 we’d been building nicely, had beaten St John’s – but then we played Gort na Mona in a challenge game and I did my cruciate, that was my season over. The final was close enough [0-11 to 0-8], we maybe just needed a bit more firepower…”
That was the case in 2007 as well, when the champions won by 0-10 to 0-4, with Madden watching on: “I remember being at that game, St Gall’s pretty much coasted it; we’d had a handy enough draw to get to the final. They were trying to win Ulsters and All-Irelands, we were just a stepping stone along the way for them.”
He was back in 2009 – but almost a spectator again: “We had got over a good St Brigid’s team including James Loughrey in the semi-final. I’d come out of retirement against all medical advice and managed to kick the winner in that semi-final.
“It was fairytale stuff because I hadn’t played football in three or four years. But in the final I remember looking up the pitch, I think 12 minutes gone, and the score was 8-0 – and the ball hadn’t got my length yet. It was a procession because of where St Gall’s were at that stage, they went on and won the All-Ireland.”
Tony Convery was a star defender for Casements and played in all three of those previous finals. He played alongside some current players before retiring in 2014, and coached others:
“The likes of Niall McKeever, Niall Delargy, and Dermot McAleese I’d have played with a bit at the end of my career.
“We did win an Antrim U21 title in 2013, a team that myself, Owen Doherty, Gareth Kelly, and Mark Graham took; that’s provided the backbone of our senior team that reached six semi-finals and finally got over the hurdle.
“The hope was that we would kick on from that U21 win – and we did, because after our finals of the Noughties the club dropped back into Intermediate. We did well to win an Intermediate [in 2014] with a fairly young team and then this squad pushed on to reach the semi-final stages. I’m really delighted for that core group.
“They have deserved to get to a final, it’s a good achievement, and they’ll get to experience that, including the build-up.”
Convery hopes the players have savoured the time since getting over their semi-final hoodoo:
“Unfortunately we met the St Gall’s juggernaut – but we still have good memories. Cargin in ‘06 were the only team that interrupted that monopoly.
“The players now probably won’t remember loads but there’s a similar buzz around the town. It’s important that the boys enjoy that build-up but don’t get too sucked into it…
“They should embrace that novelty and excitement without getting drained by the nervous energy it might bring. Cargin have been there most years at the final stage, they’ll know how to deal with that.”
Despite having to sit out the 2005 Final, Madden also fondly recalls the achievement of getting there: “It was massive. We’d a really good team and manager, Matt Bradley, and had taken out a really good Cargin team in the semi-final.
“The hype round the town and club was massive, and the belief was there too. While I missed out, Gerard McAleese, only 16, was the talisman in the forward line, playing brilliant stuff. But it just wasn’t to be.”
One piece of bad luck for Portglenone that turned out to be a blessing in disguise relates to former player and current manager John McKeever, says Convery:
“Around 2010, ‘11 he picked up an injury which curtailed his playing beyond that. John would have been in his late 20s – the upside was that he was able to get into coaching early.”
McKeever has impressed at Holy Trinity, Cookstown, including taking them to two MacRory Cup Finals. On the club management front he started out with his own club’s seniors, then took teams in Tyrone and Derry – Cookstown, Coalisland and Bellaghy – before returning to Casement’s in 2022.
“John has dealt with a lot of players, he has a lot of experience,” says Convery. “The biggest compliment I could give to John is that he leaves no stone unturned; it’s been the same in the Portglenone set-up, he has every base covered.
“If we can’t get over the line on Sunday it won’t be because something’s been missed or left to chance by management. John is meticulous.”
Portglenone’s story could also be seen as one of perseverance, as Convery notes: “What I also like about John is that he provides a good atmosphere for players to be in. We wouldn’t have kept the same panel, by and large, for his three years if it wasn’t an enjoyable set-up.
“The boys are being challenged and managed well in equal measure. You have to give John credit for providing that overall experience, he’s a really good man-manager.”
Madden hails the mental fortitude of the present squad and management as well:
“There definitely was a lot of talk about the psychological scar tissue of losing five semi-finals on the trot, wondering was it ever going to happen.
“John and that group of players obviously never stopped believing. They’ve gone that one step further. They’re not the first club to have such a run of results who went on to be successful.
“I remember Loughgiel had lost six [Antrim hurling] finals in a row. People there wondered would they ever win an Antrim title again, never mind going on to win another All-Ireland.
“That [semi-final] monkey is off the back, which lifts the pressure a wee bit. Obviously Cargin are firm favourites on Sunday, but that puts pressure on them.”
Convery also picks out other positives for Portglenone from the recent past: “History in Antrim has shown you probably need to win a League title before you go on to win a Championship. Creggan did that in recent years, and we won the League last year.
“It might have taken the edge off our Championship because of the focus on the League, but it was a massive thing for our club to win a Senior ‘A’ title. It gave those guys that bit of confidence.”
He definitely doesn’t think it’s ‘now or never’ for his club, with more young talent coming through:
“The foundations are better now: our U16s have just won their county Minor A championship and our Minors won the B Championship. We’re well placed to take an influx of fresh blood over the next three or four years and I’d say 80 to 90 per cent of our senior team will still be there.
“That’s probably a positive we didn’t have in the late Noughties - our team was coming to a gradual end.”
Having said that, Convery knows all too well that even competing for championships cannot be guaranteed, never mind winning them:
“’05, like any final, it just comes and it goes – it’s gone in a flash. That was the tightest of our three finals but St Gall’s probably had a three-, four-point advantage almost the whole game. We didn’t look like beating them.
“Our team was probably past its peak. We reached two more finals, but that was probably our best chance. If you’re in a final you have to approach it to win it, because you don’t know when you’ll be back.”
Sadly, some men who’ve waited the last 15 years for Portglenone to reach another Antrim Final have passed away, as Madden notes:
“The club actual lost a couple of stalwarts this year in Mickey Kelly and Jamesy McAtamney, they’d be very much in people’s minds on Sunday.
“Mickey was the groundsman and his sons Patrick and Michael, if not starting, will maybe play a part. Jamesy was the club president for many, many years, a real character.”
Convery spoke of those two as well: “Jamesy was the club president for, I think, the past 20 years. Mickey Kelly, there wouldn’t have been any games in Portglenone at any level that he wouldn’t have been at. Two really staunch supporters. I think of Seamus McDonnell, up the Largy where we live, a big supporter too.
“Maybe those guys are doing something for us, somewhere. Things have a funny way of working out – in the year you lose those big character, that something positive happens on the field then. Hopefully they can help us over the line on Sunday.”
Madden is keen for Casement’s to seize their opportunity this weekend: “They’re in a really good place, a very balanced team right throughout, and they’ve a big chance on Sunday.
“John [McKeever] has lived through the good days and more so the bad days. Going to have a proper cut is important.
“In their semi-final St Brigid’s went out not to get beat by Cargin rather than really trying to attack the game. I hope Portglenone will try to show the best side of themselves, don’t play with any fear.”
Convery agrees with that approach, and feels that the Portglenone players will understandably be boosted by their long-awaited semi-final win:
“Any of them I’ve spoken to it’s a feeling of relief, but also belief due to the manner in which we won the semi-final, it became emphatic.
“That might be the springboard our guys need just to get that monkey off their backs and be a bit freer in their own minds. Hopefully they can go into the final without any fear.”
