Coleman’s memoir a timely reminder of Derry’s joy in ’93

NOSTALGIA ALWAYS has a big part to play in proceedings on All-Ireland final days in Croke Park, and last month it was the turn of the Derry footballers of 1993 to be paraded before the crowd in between the Minor and Senior football finals.

They remain, to this day, the sole team from the Oak Leaf county to lift the Sam Maguire Cup, but there was one important man missing from their celebrations.

Eamonn Coleman, their inspiring manager, died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in June of 2007, and I had assumed he took his thoughts on that memorable year and his controversial removal afterwards with him to the grave.

Happily, though, that wasn’t the case. In 2002 he sat down with his niece and goddaughter, journalist Maria McCourt, and spoke at length with her on his colourful life on and off the football fields.

And while it has taken 16 years for the end product to emerge, the timing of the release of ‘The Boys of ’93 - Derry’s All-Ireland Kings’ fittingly coincided with their big reunion in Croke Park.

Given the close family ties, the author was the ideal person to put Coleman’s memories on paper. And by using the south Derry vernacular that was his wont, she remains true to the subject matter which is exactly as it should be.

Coleman’s famous phrase, ‘the players is the men’, is used more than once, and it summed up his belief that the influence of managers in the game was over-stated, because the people performing inside the white lines really made it all happen.

The press loved their dealings with this character from the shores of Lough

Neagh, and another of his preferred quotes was ‘youse boys knows nathin’ about futball’.

This book is short, just 114 pages in total, but its succinct nature makes for an easy read and it cuts to the chase without any unnecessary padding.

Coleman was a football nut all his life, making history in 1962 when, at the tender age of 14, he became the youngest-ever winner of a county Senior title on the field of play when his beloved Ballymaguigan won their one and only championship.

He went on to claim All-Ireland Minor and Under-21 medals with Derry in 1965 and 1968 respectively, but he will be best remembered outside the county for that all too brief spell as Senior manager when he masterminded that memorable 1993 final victory over Cork.

That was in the pre-back door era when second chances didn’t exist. Derry has been devastated to lose to Donegal in 1992, particularly as their conquerors went on to win their first All-Ireland.

The following year was a different story, though, as Coleman saw his side turn the tables on their neighbours on a rain-soaked Clones pitch on Ulster final day, before defeating Dublin in the semi-final.

The subsequent win over Cork was achieved amid a backdrop of a major rift behind the scenes between the County Board and players, an issue that was inflamed when the Treasurer leaned across a dining table and struck the captain, Henry Downey, in a row over the provision of gear.

Being the quintessential players’ man, Coleman was never going to take the side of officialdom, but he paid a costly price.

In 1994, Derry lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Down in Celtic Park. It remains, to this day, the best football game I have ever seen.

Before the year was out, Coleman had received a phone call in the U.S.A. informing him that his services weren’t retained, and the story of betrayal behind the scenes makes for a riveting read. ALAN AHERNE

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