VETERAN RYAN EYES ELUSIVE ULSTER TITLE
RYAN McCLUSKEY is the footballing equivalent of a Sequoia tree, the giant redwood that spans the ages. His county career stretches taller and lasts longer than anything else in sight.
Instead of counting rings, the Fermanagh player’s longevity can be measured via the various scars of battle, both psychological and physical.
Enjoying the status of officially being the longest-serving Championship player at intercounty level hasn’t come easy — his debut on the May 13, 2001, against Donegal coincidentally, puts him ahead of the player with the alltime Championship appearance record of 93, namely five-time Dublin All-Ireland winner Stephen Cluxton. That’s the sort of company he’s keeping.
That he is part of the Fermanagh squad chasing an historic first provincial title at Clones tomorrow afternoon says a lot before you factor in the fractured skull in 2012, and the metal plate he had inserted before returning to play.
He was corner-back for the fairytale odyssey to the 2004 All-Ireland semi-final, where Mayo edged Fermanagh out after a replay, a fate they suffered too against Armagh in the 2008 Ulster final.
Last time out, he was named in the match-day 26 for the semifinal ambush of Monaghan, making headlines when he was sent to the stand by referee Conor Lane following an incident towards the end of the first half when he was undertaking water dispensing duties on the touchline in the searing heat and was deemed to have squirted water at Drew Wylie, a charge dismissed on appeal. And his career dates back even further than his Championship record.
Now 37, he was just a fresh-faced 18year-old when he was first called up to the Fermanagh squad in 1999. Between fears over an internet meltdown via the Millennium Bug, Bill Clinton getting acquitted of impeachment proceedings and it being the first year of the euro, the world was a different place then.
So, if someone had said in ’99 that he’d still be going at it with little reward, would he have taken it?
‘Maybe those bangs on the head over the years have clouded my vision!’ he laughs.
‘No, absolutely I would. It’s been a massive part of my life on and off the pitch. Again, it’s been well documented in players’ lives that there is too much commitment and a professional side of it.
‘Maybe I have been regimented by it at this stage but it’s something that I have loved. I’m sure my partner is glad to kick me out of the house in the evenings at times as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed it — I wouldn’t mind a testimonial coming up like those soccer boys. And I spent my time at soccer, too. Maybe I’d be entitled to two.’
A talented soccer player, the reference is to his time togging out for Portadown and Dungannon Swifts at different stages. When he thinks back to a decade ago and the 2008 Ulster final that got away, he contemplates the question as to whether he would still be here if he had the medal.
‘I don’t know. There always is fire in your belly. You play the game to win trophies and be part of that team element and to win things.
‘It’s not individual accolades but you could ask of the men in the county who played long before me, they’d bite your hand off for a provincial medal.
‘Would I still be here? I probably would be knocking about here still doing something alright! God knows I’d be water carrier or something, or maybe I’d have been wiser and listened to some of those doctors’ consultations.
‘Even last year when we had a dismal League campaign, and Championship, it was definitely in the head that that was the end of the whole thing.’
Enter Rory Gallagher, fresh from managing Donegal, with his eclectic backroom team of Tyrone cult hero Ryan McMenamin and McCluskey’s old teammates Shane McCabe and Ronan Gallagher.
‘It was an easy decision. I played against Rory for a number of years, and the rest of the backroom team, Shane [McCabe], Ronan [Gallagher], and I remember playing against Ricey on a couple of occasions and having a couple of battles there as well. It was easy to come back with the aim of trying to get back in and improve, and win that elusive medal as well.’
Bundling Armagh and then Monaghan out of the Ulster Championship has made Fermanagh one of the stories of the summer. ‘Did we think we’d be here? We knew if we worked hard, we’d have a chance of getting over Armagh and a chance against Monaghan. It’s mad.
‘It’s Ulster football. There’s so much going on in terms of other provinces looking to restructure, but [in Ulster] every day you go out, there’s a different threat from a different side.’ Along with Wicklow, Fermanagh remain one of only two counties never to win a provincial final. McCluskey doesn’t have to be reminded what’s at stake. ‘It would be huge. It would be a massive, massive step in Fermanagh football. There’s a great lift and a great buzz about the place already. We battle the odds every year, in every game. It’s been an historic run thus far, leading up to the game.’ It would also be another bit of history for one of football’s true survivors.