Getting to the final is only half the battle. It earns you the right to challenge.
Portglenone manager John McKeever is going into Sunday’s county final with enthusiasm but his eyes are wide open.
The Casements are in a first final in 15 years. There is the consistency of getting to five semi-finals in a row after a period of rebuilding.
But it was five years in the hurt locker. Their semi-final defeats weren’t just disappointing. They were gut-wrenching.
They had one foot in the final one year before Aghagallon had the ball in the Portglenone net. It was a knife to the heart.
But they didn’t down tools. The squad were back at the start line the following January.
“All we’ve ever wanted…was to win a senior championship,” McKeever said.
Going into their semi-final with Lámh Dhearg, their manager took the heat off the Portglenone side. The worst thing that could happen was they’d come up short for a sixth time.
And sure, the average Joe, outside the group, had written them off anyway.
Going into the semi-final, McKeever took the pressure off them. It was only a match. What was the worst thing that could happen? They lose a sixth semi-final in a row like some on the outside felt they might.
McKeever flips it on its head. Getting to semi-finals isn’t to be looked down on. The fact everyone was back at the start line this season tells of the resilience in the group. Perseverance is another word that fits like a glove.
“There’s a serious consistency there to get the five senior championship semi-finals in a row… people forget that,” McKeever said.
“Those defeats, they were heartbreaking but the group all stayed together. Nobody retired, or nobody threw their head up, or nobody left, or nobody went travelling, or anything like that…We managed to keep everybody together.”
And every winter, the target was the same. Get back to a semi-final and aim to take a step further. But getting the last four was the always the focus.
“So that’s the way that we planned it from February, was to get back to that semi-final again,” McKeever added.
Chatting to the Portglenone manager, you get a sense of his local pride. Winning club All-Irelands with Fr Rocks and school success are all well and good.
But Portglenone is home. After a spell in Bellaghy, it was time to give his home club a push forward.
There is also pride in the underage progress. When the U16s were in the county final, a team put on their way as children by his late brother Paul, they deserved the support of everybody in the club.
Senior training was moved back. The seniors were told get out in numbers to support the players who’d be looking their jerseys within a few years.
There was a recent minor title. The underage teams straddle the Bann to get challenge games across in Derry and further afield.
Past players are back rolling up their sleeves to shape players and give them an opportunity to blossom.
When the seniors advanced to Sunday’s final, the young players were on the other side of the line. Backing them to the hilt. It’s all about Portglenone.
When the club held a fundraising cycle lately, it was a clockwork operation. Their facilities have grown to match their expectation.
“There’s a serious coaching model in Portglenone,” McKeever added of eight years of hard work.
“We were going to get the real solid structures in place and drive the underage really strong. And that was us moving on because we did go down to Intermediate football, that was us moving back to senior football again.”
It’s 10 days out from Sunday’s final and McKeever is just in the door from an U-12 coaching session. That’s the other end of the club.
Sunday is about the flagship team – the seniors and 15 years after losing a third final in a five-year window, from 2005 to 2009, at the hands of St Gall’s, Portglenone are back where they want to be.
It’s the biggest day in Antrim football and they’re on the starting grid. They are waiting on the light turning green.Their opponents are Cargin. That’s why McKeever’s eyes are wide open.
For all the fresh enthusiasm his side will have, Cargin are the team to beat. A win on Sunday and it’s their eighth title in a decade.
“I have obviously the utmost respect, for Cargin,” he said, revealing how his daughters turn out for their ladies’ teams.
“We’ve a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and Cargin will have all that experience,” McKeever said, pointing how it will be the perfect ingredient for an entertaining hour.
“I think the pressure is off us now that we’ve got over that semi-final. We’ll go into it probably more at ease than we would have been getting into that semi-final because we know that we’ve got over that last hurdle.
“It means that we can go out play fearless and the thing about it is, our boys now have a serious hunger about them.
“They want to be the first group of lads in Portglenone history to win a senior championship. They want to be a group of lads to do something that has never been done before and that adds a lot of value to it in terms of hunger.”
But getting to the final is only half the battle. It earns you the right to challenge.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a huge test and we’ll need a huge performance to stop Cargin, we know that…we’re fully aware of that,” McKeever admits.
“We know we’ll be massive underdogs. We respect that because Cargin have been brilliant champions over the years.
“There’s a serious buzz about the club at the minute. The players will not be involved in any of that buzz, we’ll be keeping them away from that and encourage the rest of the community to really enjoy the build-up to it.
“We’ll just be keeping the players just under the radar and keeping their heads down and look forward to it.”
All Portglenone have ever wanted as to win a championship. Getting the semi-final monkey off their back takes them a step closer. The next step is the biggest.
