By Seamus McAleenan and John McIlwaine
A COUPLE of weeks ago, the plans were falling into place for Chloe Drain to have a dream 2020.
The Dunloy stalwart had played a leading role at full-back on Sunday March 8th as Antrim beat 2019 Division Two league champions Tipperary by an impressive 5-13 to 1-6 to almost guarantee the Saffrons a league semi-final for the first time in quite a few years.
Her hen-party was set for the following weekend (just before St Patrick’s Day), and all left to do ahead of her Easter Monday wedding was to dot an “i” or two and cross a couple of “ts”.
Then Covid-19 entered the equation – resulting in a completely different hen-party, her wedding to Kevin McShane postponed and no camogie for the foreseeable future.
“It has just been surreal how everything has changed in such a short time. To be honest Kevin and l were a little worried about the wedding with Covid-19 spreading and talked about the what ifs. But we never imagined that the impact would be so big, nor that there would be a near-enough total lock-down.
“We had set our wedding date around camogie – and football – plans and probably were thinking that the worst that could happen was that a match-date would have to switch to Easter Monday because of the weather.”
Kevin is a member of the Cargin team that completed back to back Antrim championship titles under Damian Cassidy last year, while Chloe has seen Antrim camogie fortunes suddenly surge under the new management team of Paul McKillen and Jim McKernan.
“Everything was going great with Antrim. I think Humpy and Jingo have been such a breath of fresh air this year. Training had become so focussed, the atmosphere in the changing room was so good – just the right mix between craic, fun and focus. And all that was beginning to show in results on the pitch.”
Despite games being called off due to Storms Ciara and Dennis, the Saffrons had built on a strong showing in the opening game against Dublin, by picking up a surprisingly easy win over Tipperary.
“We still have Laois to play, but such is our score-difference, it will take a massive win for either Tipperary or Dublin and a bad defeat for us to deny us a semi-final spot. Little did we think that worse was around the corner. I doubt now the league will actually finish.”
Just four days after the Tipp game came the announcement that all games and training have been postponed until the end of March – but more than likely for the rest of the spring and into the summer.
Drain, a PE teacher in St Louis Grammar in Ballymena, has also seen the end of preparations to defend the Ulster under 14 schools’ crown.
“St Louis won the Ulster under 14 A title last year for the very first time and there was a great buzz about the school with training over the past month or more. We were due to play our first game last week.
“We beat St Patrick’s Maghera in the final last year, and that was a big breakthrough for the school.”
Coaching the Maghera team in that final last May was Chloe’s Antrim team-mate Niamh Donnelly who also happens to be her bridesmaid.
“Niamh had organised a great hen weekend for Kilkenny just before St Patrick’s Day and that had to be shelved with just a day’s notice. We ended up with a house party instead.
“Then there was the uncertainty about the wedding which we eventually got postponed until the middle of November. I would say there might still be a trip to Kilkenny, if this Covid-19 allows life to get back to normal.”
“To be honest, I am not sure whether I was more upset about the wedding or the camogie – but don’t tell anyone that!”
However Chloe and Kevin were not the only GAA couple whose wedding fell foul to Covid 19, three others in Antrim GAA, all of whom originally went for Easter Monday as their original date, were also affected.
Former Antrim camog and gaelic footballer Mairiosa McGourty from St Gall’s and her fiancée Christopher ‘Cricky’ McGuinness from Rossa had also planned to tie the knot on Easter Monday, with their reception in Ten Square in Belfast. Cricky, himself a former county hurler, and still a major cog in the Rossa senior team was obviously deeply disappointed at the postponement but was philosophical about the whole thing
“Its disappointing that we had to postpone the wedding at a late stage but in the context of the current climate it seems like a minor obstacle. Trying to put a positive spin on it, we now have a Christmas themed Wedding to look forward to…. however working from home feels like the marriage test has already started!!’’
Brona McIntyre and Peter McCollum had originally decided on the Easter Monday slot, but because of a clash they decided to go for the following weekend, with the reception planned for the Mill Park in Donegal town. Bróna is a dyed in the wool Shamrock and Pete is Creggan to the bone and their son Cillian is a confused young man, not knowing whether he will dress in the green and gold of Kickham’s or the red and white of Loughgiel when is sets out in the morning. That is usually determined by what grandparents he is going to visit on a particular day. It’s not good to turn up at Tony McCollum’s house wearing the Shamrocks kit, to pop over to Tommy McIntyre’s sporting the Creggan gear. Just like the other couples Bróna looked at the big picture
“It’s just annoying all the planning that had went into it for the last 2 years we were at the point where we were just double checking the last few things, everything was ready to go. Like Chloe and Kevin, Peter and I had planned the wedding round the GAA season so trying to find another date was difficult. We have ended up pushing it back by 8 months in the hope that everything Covid-19 has settled. We had to try and ensure everything we had booked was ok to go again in November and we were aware that was going to be difficult. Thankfully everybody apart from our band The Hype was available. Everyone was really understanding. Our reception is in The Mill Park in Donegal town so we only had 8 dates between now and the end of the year to choose from, but they were great and worked with us no problem.
We got another band booked thankfully, but they said they had been getting constant enquiries within the last week. We took the decision ourselves to postpone before it was enforced on us. That way it gave us a couple of extra days to help get organised”
At least Aimee McAtamney and Kevin Sheerin don’t have to worry about crossing clubs like the other three couples. Both of them are Tir na nOg Randalstown and have known each other since they were children playing at the club pitches at Whitehill. They were also Easter Monday and like Bróna and Pete they were heading to Donegal for the reception, the Clanree in Letterkenny the venue of their choice. Like Bróna the only thing they couldn’t re-book was the band and Aimee is equally disappointed about that
“I’m gutted to have to give up the Rare Auld Stuff but it is what it is.Taking the decision to reschedule before being forced to helped, as we were ahead of the game searching for a new date to match all of our bookings. Unfortunately we had to search for a new band. We hope that when the GAA season gets back up and going we will not run into any potential clashes. In the current pandemic, everyone’s health and well-being is much more important to us and we just hope this will pass as quickly as it came and we get to enjoy an end of summer wedding.”