MAXIE SWAIN tal For a dyed-in Glenman, lifti Cup was Jay’ moment in lo League caree sees him bat colours of Wi

BORN just a stone’s throw from the Oval on Hills Avenue, Jay Magee was reared on magical tales of the great Glentoran teams.

A dyed-in-the-wool supporter from a staunch Glentoran family, he is one of those rare and privileged players who got to live his dream.

A centre back by trade, he grew up idolising the man who played in his position – Gary Smyth – then the latest in a long line of Rolls Royce defenders to grace the famous east Belfast club.

Magee was present on the terraces for many of their big triumphs at the turn of the century too when, led by his uncle Roy Coyle, they took their place in the history books as one of the great Irish League teams.

And eventually, after taking the long road to the Oval via Ards and Glenavon, Magee would follow in his hero’s footsteps and win silverware with his boyhood club – the Irish Cup in 2013, a day he regards as the pinnacle of his career.

Arriving out of the blue at a time when the club was in serious turmoil off the pitch, their unlikely run to glory was a much-needed shot in the arm for their loyal fans, of whom he was one.

With that in mind, it shows how far he must have fallen out of love with the game, how disillusioned he must have become, to turn his back on his dream at just 29 years of age.

Plagued by a persistent groin problem for the previous two seasons and struggling to rediscover his best form, Magee resolved to throw in the towel two summers ago.

It seemed as good a time as any, with the mood music at the Oval particularly depressing.

Beset by their ongoing financial woes, there appeared to be precious little light at the end of the tunnel with the board consistently forced into selling its biggest stars, with the likes of Andy Waterworth, Sean Ward and Jimmy Callacher all departing for their Belfast rivals.

Meanwhile, the club itself had become a graveyard for a procession of bright young managers, all of whom had buckled under the strain of trying to restore former glories.

Magee’s predicament was hardly unique, of course. Most players suffer a serious crisis of confidence at some stage in their career, a point where they weigh up what exactly it is they get out of the game.

The key is rolling with the punches and coming out the other side.

Fast forward 18 months from that low point, and how times have changed, both at

Glentoran and for

Magee presonally.

For the first time in a generation, there is a palpable sense of optimism sweeping through the turnstiles at the Oval, with Magee’s man Smyth now in charge, albeit as understudy to Ronnie Mcfall until the formalities around his qualifications are completed.

And Magee too is back on his feet and back producing his best in his native east Belfast stomping ground – not at the Oval, however, but round the corner at Dundela, the club he credits with rescuing his career.

“I wasn’t really enjoying it, that’s why I gave up Irish League football, I was actually going to retire, but my mate Thomas (Carson), he’s one of the coaches at Dundela, he was torturing me and torturing me, it was 10 messages a day telling me to come up, so I did and I’m really enjoying it again,” said Magee, who was named in the Premier Intermediate team of the year at the end of his first season with the Duns.

“I just got fed up with football, things weren’t really working out for me, I was going to retire but I’m glad my mate told me to go to Dundela because I’m really enjoying it, it’s probably the most I’ve enjoyed football in all my career.”

Magee spent five years at Glentoran and for the most part, despite how it ended, looks back on his time there with pride and fondness.

After spending the previous five seasons at Glenavon who perennially fought relegation dogfights, the chance to join a team with loftier ambitions, not to mention the club he supported growing up, was far too tempting to resist.

“It was all highs at the start,” Magee. “When I first arrived, we won the Irish Cup against Cliftonville when we weren’t expected to, that was an unbelievable feeling, that was the highlight of my career.

“All my family used to go and watch me playing for Glentoran, and about 20 or 30 of my mates are all Glenmen too, my phone never stopped with them asking me to get them tickets.

“We won the Irish Cup again a few years later but I was actually injured for that one, I was injured the whole season, so my best football at the Oval was definitely in my first and second seasons, then I got injured in my third and never really got back to full fitness after that. And towards the end, they kept selling all their best players, they were going down and down, but they are still my club, I always check up on them and I’ve been invited to their player of the year dinner next week.”

While he’ll always be associated with Glentoran, Magee’s future now lies at Dundela.

He was a huge part of their title win last season, his Premiership experience and class standing out in the NIFL’S third tier, even if he was eclipsed in the race for player of the year by the net-busting achievements of striker Jordan Hughes.

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EARLY YEARS Jay in Glenavon blue as he cut his teeth in 08/09 season at Mourneview ARDS WORKJay speeds past Thomas Stewart of Linfield in 2007 playing for Ards GET SHIRTYJay celebrates a goal for Glentoran before injuries cut career at Oval short IN HIS PRIME Jay was part of a great Glentoran team before their fall from grace SETBACKSJay has suffered his fair share of injuries which nearly ended his career