Authors: Donal Keenan
In Belfast Pascal found himself a different football family. Players from all over Ulster had gathered.
Danny Quinn from Derry.
Malachy O’Rourke from Fermanagh.
Benny Tierney, John Rafferty and Jarlath Burns from Armagh. Quality footballers and serious students. They won the Sigerson Cup in 1989, beating a UCC team that included a young
Maurice Fitzgerald. ‘That was my first taste of success at any level and it remains one of the real highlights of my years playing football,’ says Pascal.
Back home young Peter was making progress. The Tyrone under-21 selectors were glad to make use of the Killyclogher connection. And in hallowed halls in the nearby cathedral city of Armagh the problems besetting the communities of Glencull and Ballygawley had been noted. Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich sent a new curate to the parish in 1989 with the specific instruction to bring the two sides together. Fr Seán Hegarty was good with people and he was passionate about football. He had managed Armagh and a variety of club teams with relative success. ‘He did his job well,’ says Peter with a smile. ‘He told us what we wanted to hear and he told the other side what they wanted to hear. Fr Seán told the St Kieran’s people that we were dying to get back with them. He told us that they were dying to get us back. It wasn’t the exact truth, but he got the two sides talking again.’ By the end of 1989 the dispute was effectively over and the Canavan boys and girls were officially accepted into the GAA family. Errigal Chiaráin GAA club was officially born in 1990 and the good times rolled.
The Canavans took immediate advantage. Peter had made his inter-county debut in a League game in October 1989 against Mayo. Pascal was selected for the next game against Meath. They played their first Championship match for Tyrone together in the Athletic Grounds in Armagh in June 1990. Tyrone’s rise to success was on a slow burner, fuelled by Peter’s success in captaining the county to successive All-Ireland under-21 titles in 1991 and 1992. At club level the boys found a new lease of life. Errigal Chiaráin became successful quickly. By 1993, with Stevie, Barry, Pascal and Peter on the team, they became county champions. It was the first success for the parish in sixty-two years. They went on to win the Ulster title.
These were happy times in Ulster football. Down, Donegal and Derry created history by winning three successive All-Ireland senior titles. Tyrone had lost to Down in the 1994 Ulster final. It was progress. In 1995 they reached the final again and beat Cavan. They beat Galway by three points in the All-Ireland semi-final. The community went wild. The build-up was colourful and fun. The players enjoyed every moment. They felt prepared and were without fear. Peter explains: ‘Winning the under-21 All-Irelands had changed attitudes. Up to then winning an Ulster title was an achievement and anything else was a bonus. But we had gone down to Croke Park and beaten the likes of Kerry and Dublin, and that was a big boost psychologically. The 1986 team had also inspired us. It had so many great players like [Eugene]
McKenna, [Damien]
O’Hagan and [Kevin]
McCabe, as well as Paudge [
Quinn]. We enjoyed getting to the final and everything that came with it.’
The final is memorable too, one of the most infamous in history, for which heartbreak was to be Tyrone’s lot. Peter Canavan scored eleven of Tyrone’s twelve points. Dublin scored one goal and ten points to win by one point. Peter had made the pass that led to an equalising point, but was penalised for picking the ball off the ground and the point did not stand. Dublin’s Charlie
Redmond was sent off, but actually played on for a few minutes before referee
Paddy
Russell insisted on his removal. Peter’s performance was hailed as one of the best ever in a final. ‘I actually think I played a lot better in many other games, including that year’s semi-final,’ he insists. ‘I got a lot of scores from frees and I would have preferred to have been on the ball a lot more. It was a stop-start game. It wasn’t a free flowing game and can’t have been a great spectacle for the supporters.’
Pascal says: ‘It is only when you look back that you realise how poorly both teams played that day. Peter’s scoring was terrific, but our performance overall was not good enough. There was a lot of anger with the referee and a lot of regret. It was understandable at the time. But these things happen. We didn’t play well.’
Peter’s best memories of 1995 are of the build-up, of the pleasure he got from having his brother on the team and some close friends. Did he pick the ball off the ground?
‘No,’ he answers emphatically. ‘It was a marginal decision but it is one he [the referee] got wrong.
’
There isn’t a hint of anger as he tells it. ‘I don’t hold a grudge against that man. I said that day and I have said it since that the Tyrone players made a lot more mistakes that day than
Paddy Russell did. We didn’t do ourselves justice that day. I have never held it against him. There was a lot of controversy at the time and talk about objections but we wanted none of that. They had won on the field of play and that was it.’
He does display signs of annoyance when he reflects on 1996. ‘Losing the final in 1995 was heartbreaking but we did bounce back from it. We put two Ulster titles back to back and that hadn’t been done since the 1970s. And we played some great football in Ulster that year. We were young and still felt good enough. We thought we were stronger in 1996 and then we took a hammering in every sense of the word from Meath in the semi-final and we didn’t recover from that for a long time.
‘We had played Meath in a few challenge games and that was a mistake. They knew that if they went out and played football with us that we were younger and fresher. They knew their strength was their physicality and they used it. They used their strength to the full. Gradually they wore us down. I shouldn’t have remained on; I had damaged ankle ligaments in a heavy tackle in the first half.
Brian Dooher was injured.
Ciarán McBride was injured. The manner of the defeat that day was harder to take than any other and it took us years to recover.’
The late 1990s passed them by. A team that should have been reaching its peak was struggling. They lost the competitive edge, became pedestrian. But hope was sparked at under-age level. ‘Some of us were wondering about the future,’ Peter remembers, ‘but the emergence of a new group of young players was the spark. These guys were different.
Stevie O’Neill,
Cormac McAnallen,
Brian McGuigan,
Ryan McMenamin all came through. They were seriously good footballers with a great mentality and they were such a disciplined group. I’m not saying we had a problem with discipline. We didn’t. But some of us were living in the past, following old routines after games. These new guys were ambitious and they were tight, very disciplined and knowing what they wanted and how to get it. They had a really positive effect on the likes of myself and
Chris Lawn. No doubt, they extended my career by a few years.’
* * *
The new kids grew up in a different era in Ulster to Peter and Pascal Canavan. They were historically aware, but had little experience of the troubled times in the 1970s, 1980s and much of the 1990s in the six counties in the north-east of Ireland. They were never subjected to roadblocks and searches, being detained on the side of the road and prevented from getting to training or getting home. They grew up at a time when the politicians were talking and arms were being laid down, fortifications were disassembled and a sense of normality returned to everyday lives.
‘We lived it,’ says Peter now, ‘but we took it in our stride. It was only when people pointed out how different our lives were that we took notice. And looking back now it does seem strange and unusual and we can understand why it was all so off-putting.’ He doesn’t go into too much detail. It was life. The security forces set up checkpoints. Inter-county footballers felt targeted. No one took responsibility. It was never official policy. But it was too much of a coincidence and happened too often not to be orchestrated in some way.
‘Whenever you went out of the house you expected to be stopped. We grew up with it and became accustomed to it. It was second nature. You didn’t look up when helicopters flew low overhead because you were used to it. Boys jumping out of ditches didn’t alarm you because it happened all the time. You knew when you were going to county training sessions that you were likely to be stopped. Your bag would be searched and your gear thrown around. And coming out of training afterwards they were waiting for you again and went through the same thing all over. I remember lads coming straight to training from the building sites and on the way home they would be held up, left standing on the roadside for an hour before they were let go home. They wouldn’t get home until after midnight.
‘It is unreal to think that it was allowed to happen. But it didn’t prevent us from going out again the next night because we loved what we were doing and we would not be stopped. The people in our communities and all over Tyrone had a great passion for football and we took great pride in representing them. It was annoying that it was happening just because we were training to be inter-county footballers, but we got on with it.’
Having lived through it, he has an ever-greater appre-ciation for life today. ‘Great strides have been made. I remember when I first went to college in Belfast and we were told not to wear our gear on the streets or around the college campus. Now you go to the colleges and the flags and banners are flying and on the streets people are wearing their county colours with pride and without fear.’
As the political situation changed, so did the GAA. The lifting of the ban on members of the security forces joining the GAA and the opening of Croke Park to soccer and rugby caused real anxiety in Northern Ireland. Peter Canavan shared that feeling. ‘I remember at the time of the debate about the opening of Croke Park and I said that it would be a sad day for the GAA to see a Union Jack flying over Hill 16. That was how I felt. When it did happen it wasn’t gratifying to see it. It wasn’t gratifying to see England playing in Croke Park. But it was the right thing for the GAA to do. The majority of people here realised it was the right thing to do, but they were coming from the same position I was, having experienced what we did.
‘It wasn’t easy and our feelings were being diminished by some people in the south who said that we were living in the past. It was hard to swallow. But opening Croke Park was right without doubt and the association generally has benefited from that decision. It was a courageous step to take. Our games have become stronger as a result. More people around the world are aware of Croke Park now and they have become curious about Gaelic games and that is good for everyone.
* * *
Tyrone may have endured a lean period in the late 1990s, but Peter Canavan was enjoying his elevation to international status. He enjoyed playing with some of the great Ulster teams during the decade, among forward lines that contained some sensational talent. But to get the chance to play for his country and to prepare in an environment as close to professional as a Gaelic footballer can experience meant a great deal to him. He enjoyed the highs of back-to-back test series victories in 1998 and 1999 and endured the lows of defeat and the violence which sometimes occurred during those games and which earned him a suspension. He acknowledges the problems with the game but is a staunch supporter.
‘As a Gaelic footballer you watch other Irishmen playing for their country in soccer and rugby and you would love to be in that position. The International Rules series gives us that opportunity. It is the nearest thing we have to an international game and the players value it tremendously,’ he insists. ‘There is more to it than just the games. It is the training, being involved in a set up that is like being involved with a professional game. We got to see the lifestyle of being a full-time sportsman, training and playing with the best footballers in Ireland, and being well looked after and made feel important.
‘My experiences over the years have been largely positive. You have to take the odd hiding now and again but I would gladly do it all over again. The violence in some of the games during that time does leave a stain, but only a small bit. Some of the games in the 1980s were a total disgrace, but I think the authorities are trying everything to get rid of that element from the game. There is now a mutual respect between the two associations and the two sets of players, and as long as that exists we have the basis of a great game. It can’t happen every year but I think a bi-annual event is worth holding on to.
‘Gaelic games are now played all over the world, but we are nowhere near a situation where you could have competitive games. International Rules gives our players the chance to play for Ireland and that is very important. It also gets people talking about Gaelic football; it gives them knowledge of our game. More people are aware of our game as a result of the series with Australia and that is good. We should continue to promote our own game as well.’
At the same time he was instrumental in the setting up of the players’ representative body, the Gaelic Players Association. It was a controversial move that was not readily appreciated by the authorities locally and nationally. They were regarded as rebels who were operating against the spirit of the GAA. Canavan understood the concerns of some people. The spectre of professionalism created fears within the GAA and he recognised that. The GPA was never about professionalism and he always believed it should be adopted as the official voice of the players. ‘I just didn’t think it would take so long for the GPA to be officially recognised. Now that it has happened it will be good for the players and the association in general.’