Managers View
Creggan’s, Kevin Madden….
By Brendan McTaggart
Now in his third year in charge, Kevin Madden has already written his name in the annals of Creggan history by guiding the Kickhams to their first championship final in 41 years. It’s already been close to a perfect season for the Creggan men and Madden told us that they earmarked winning the league amongst other objectives at the start of the year: “Wining breeds confidence but I’m the type of manager that wants to win every match I’m involved with but look I sat down with the players at the beginning of the year and they set four objectives. The Championship, that was our priority, the senior league, the O’Cahan Cup and the Reserve Championship. We have three of those and now the biggest one of all awaits us on Sunday.
“In terms of development and progress and where we wanted to be coming into the final, it has gone very well.
“As a manager you want to see your team progressing, developing and I think the word is maturing. We’ve used the league wisely to blood new players and we’ve used it to obviously win as many games as we can, especially against the bigger teams. It turns out we’ve went on and won the league but in terms of development, it’s been important. Will it make any difference when the ball is thrown in on Sunday? Absolutely not but it’s been a good learning curve for the boys, being able to see games over the line.”
With a victory already gained over Sunday’s opponents in the O’Cahan Cup final, Madden strongly refuted any suggestion that result would have any bearing on Sunday’s contest: “Absolutely not. Neither team was going out to lose that game but at the same time both teams had personnel missing and the O’Cahan Cup isn’t Championship intensity but we were happy to have won it.”
Championship run….
Creggan kicked off their campaign with a comprehensive win over fellow south west rivals Ahoghill but while the score line suggested a big victory, the Kickhams manager told us they didn’t get things all their won way: “We always treat whatever opponent we come up against with the upmost respect. We knew how tricky Ahoghill can be, in particular when they’re in a game. Like that match was only 0-9 to 0-5 at half time and they missed a good goal chance. It wasn’t all plain sailing but we got our game going in the second half and the score line maybe did flatter us in the end but at the time, it was a good statement whenever we had them under the cosh that we were able to put them away.”
Their semi-final victory against St Johns probably reflected how much Madden’s team have progressed this year. The Johnnies had been earmarked for at least a return to the decider and Creggan were comfortable two point winners on the day having controlled the game. Madden told us that their contest against the Corrigan Park side in mid-August helped them in their preparation for last four encounter: “I think in previous years we were able to turnaround games like that but when it came to the championship that wasn’t really something that stood by us. That game in particular, we were something like 1-5 to no score after about ten minutes but we did begin to get our football going and mange to sneak the win on the day.
“For us coming into the championship, it was about not letting St John’s getting that type of start again. The big thing for us coming into the championship was being able to beat St John’s, a top four team who would have aspirations of winning the championship. Being able to match and surpass their intensity. Although we only won that game by two points, we dominated that game and really stood up.
“Two points is a dangerous lead. Just ask St Gall’s and given how dominant we were in that match, I would have liked to have been further ahead. At half time we had kicked seven wides and St Johns hadn’t kicked any but we played well and showed a strong resolve and mentality when St Johns did get themselves back into a position where they challenge for the game, we were able to break that momentum and kick on.”
A dual club….
With the hurlers having reached the Intermediate championship decider, the pressures of being involved in a dual club would have increased. Madden told us how he has dealt with it thus far: “It’s been good. There’s no point saying it hasn’t been challenging because it has. Particularly when your faced with maybe two hurling games and two football games and all the training sessions within a two or three week period. For a while there it was absolutely crazy but that’s when a bit of common sense has to come into play. You need to realise when boys need managed and need a rest rather than training and obviously working together, closely with both setups is important. You cant have division within a club like Creggan, they’re too tight and its not healthy to have divisions. There’s such an overlap of players, I think in the football panel there’s 16 or 17 players who all play hurling as well. It’s important that the football team are wanting them to do well at hurling and the hurling team are wanting them to do well at football. We needed to all work together to get the best out of both.”
With Sunday being the first all south-west final in Antrim history, the Creggan manager is probably better placed than anyone to comment on it: “A Portglenone man living in Moneyglass and managing Creggan, brings its own challenges but this is a novelty final. It’s unique but I think for both communities it will be incredible. It will be tense, there’s obviously an intense rivalry between the two teams but for Antrim county as a whole and even for people from Derry and Tyrone, it’s going to draw a massive, massive crowd and a massive interest which is brilliant. It’s bringing huge public interest but for us its another game of football and it’s all about performing to the best of our ability. In terms of the occasion for both communities and both clubs, its magic.”
The Creggan manager is well aware of Cargin’s threats and improvements made through the season and Portglenone native told us what he’s expecting while adding his side aren’t happy just to get this far: “I’m expecting a very different Cargin. I saw them out here a few weeks ago against St Galls and they looked to me like a team who were improving and a team that have players coming back from injury. They have recent success with winning championship finals and they can bring that as well so we’re expecting a very tense, exciting encounter with both teams really going at it. Nobody wanting to lose but both teams going for the win.
“I’ve been about teams and seen enough teams who were almost just happy to have got to a final and have maybe been caught up a bit on the occasion and the hype. In terms of my fella’s, they’re an incredibly focused bunch and they are very mature from where we were at two years ago from playing Cargin in the championship. There’s a different mentality there and a different focus. Yes, Creggan haven’t been in a final in 41 years and this will be new to them but these guys all have big game experience whether it be McRory Cup Finals or playing at county level and a lot of them have played in Croke Park. The big day shouldn’t phase them and they’re definitely capable.”
The friendship test…
The two opposing managers on Sunday bring another element to the game. They’ve been in opposite dugouts before in the championship with Madden forming part of Liam Bradley’s team when Glenullin defeated Cassidy’s Bellaghy in 2007 after a replay while Madden’s performance off the bench in 2000 almost did enough for Antrim to defeat a Derry team managed by the legendary Eamon Coleman and Cassidy in his backroom team. Anthony Tohill catching a Sheeny McQuillan free before it could go over the bar in the last minutes of the game. A lesser mortal or a smaller man wouldn’t have got near it but the two managers have also worked together and have forged a friendship. That friendship will be tested to the limits on Sunday: “I was Damian’s assistant manager in Derry and worked under him for two years. It’s fair to say we’ve become good friends and barely a week wouldn’t go by that we wouldn’t talk about football over the phone, albeit the last ten months have been a bit more guarded.
“About two months into taking Cargin Damian rang me, we were just chewing the fat about different teams in Antrim and he talked about the possibility of he and I possibly trading DVD’s on other teams. I had to remind him that the rivalry between Creggan and Cargin is just as fierce as the rivalry between Bellaghy and Lavey, the Loup and Ballinderry or any of those. If there was any DVD’s seen crossing the border there would be lynch mobs after us so things cooled down after that but look Damian and I are friends and we will remain friends after Sunday.”