Relishing decade of the Cross

All-Ireland Club SFC Crossmaglen's Oisin McConvilleBeyond the obvious historical significance there are further implications to the dismantling this week of the old British army watchtower that for years has stood directly adjacent to Crossmaglen Rangers GAA club. It's likely that some of the leading football clubs in the country, and especially in Ulster, will also breathe a sigh of relief.

Built in 1992 as one of the North's most heavily fortified landmarks, it also helped galvanise Crossmaglen into becoming one of the most successful and feared football clubs of the modern era.

They've won a record 11 consecutive Armagh county titles, and on Sunday will contest their fifth All-Ireland club semi-final in the last 10 years - having won the title in 1997, 1999 and 2000. Several familiar players are still driving that success, none more so than leading forward and this year's captain Oisín McConville.

That unique spirit of the club, admits McConville, goes a long way towards explaining their incredible success. "It does really go back to the '70s and '80s, and the occupation of the football field and things like that. All that really galvanised us as a community, and if we had to take a positive from that period that would be it. And ever since we've stuck with that.

"So really we are very close as a community. But then the only sport played in Crossmaglen is Gaelic football. If you play sport you play football, and that's a good thing. We don't have any other sports taking our players away. Like right now we have maybe 50 or 60 senior players.

"For me it's a family thing as well, with the brothers and mother so involved. In our house football is like a religion. From when we were knee-height we were going over to the club, and that's where you'd spend most of your time."

Crossmaglen will start Sunday's semi-final against Roscommon champions St Brigid's as strong favourites, and McConville doesn't fear for the club in either the long or short term.

"We've something like six to eight players from 2000, our last win. But the structures in the club are fabulous. We're winning championships at under-12, under-14, under-16. So it doesn't show any sign of drying up. We just seem to keep going from strength to strength. The fact we've won All-Irelands in the past has a great influence on the young people coming up, because they all want to play as well."

Now 31 and an Armagh senior since 1993, McConville has lost none of that old-fashioned love of sport and the desire to make the most of it.

"I don't really know what it is. Part of it is just clinging on for as long as you can. Clinging on to your youth. But I do still feel I have something to offer, and while that's the case I'll keep going. The club has been such a special experience again this year, with so many young players coming through, and that's a great time to be involved, maybe trying to influence them in any positive way you can. So I'll try to stay involved as long as I can.

"But then in 2003 and 2004 things were looking bad for me with the back injury. I needed a couple of operations but eventually it got sorted, and at least last year I was back to full fitness.

"So in a way I feel I've taken two seasons off, and that stands to me right now. I'm also conscious that every game could be your last, and you do realise your time as a Gaelic footballer is coming to an end. So you want to make the most of it, at both club and county level.

"Winning the All-Ireland in 2002 will always be special in my mind, but it's something I'll look back on when I'm retired. Right now I'm just thinking I should have another All-Ireland to put alongside that."

Given his enduring commitment at both club and county level McConville should be a prime candidate for the sort of player burn-out that apparently is close to becoming a pandemic within the GAA.

"To me a lot of this talk about burn out is nonsense," he says. "I actually feel the more competitive matches you play, and the less physical training you do, the better it is."