Rangers rock

By John Haughey
BBC Sport

Donal Murtagh and Martin Califf were team-mates for Crossmaglen

You're inclined to give Donal Murtagh the benefit of the doubt when he tells you that he only became Crossmaglen manager at the end of last year because nobody else wanted the job.

Murtagh's rock-like displays in the Crossmaglen number three jersey as the club won All-Ireland football titles in 1997, 1999 and 2000 were the epitome of honesty.

He only finally retired from the club's senior panel last year, with a cruciate ligament injury helping to convince him that is was time to hang up his boots.

His final two injury-affected years with the Cross seniors also saw him taking a tentative first dip into management with then Monaghan intermediate club Donaghmoyne.

Things didn't go too badly at all either with the 37-year-old guiding the club to the Division Two title in Monaghan last year.

All the same, Donal wouldn't have seen himself as being a candidate for the Crossmaglen role when Michael McConville stepped down after last year's Ulster Club semi-final defeat by Bellaghy.

"There were a few men who maybe were a bit reluctant to take it. They maybe thought it was a bit of a poisoned chalice," says Donal whose day job is as head greenkeeper at Mannan Castle Golf Club near Carrickmacross.

That's not to say that Donal had never envisaged the possibility of taking the reins at his beloved club.

I wasn't shy about putting my voice forward and having a word with the manager Donal Murtagh

"I did obviously want to manage Cross (at some stage) but I didn't think it would be this soon."

The idea of a future career in management had always intrigued Murtagh and he had never been afraid to put his view across both out on the field, and in the dressing-room if things weren't going to plan.

"I used to make a few decisions on the field at times. I played at full-back and I was captain for a number of years.

"If things weren't going too well, I used to move things about myself. I enjoyed doing that end of that and reading the game when things were going wrong.

"And I wasn't shy about putting my voice forward and having a word with the manager."

But Donal would admit that Joe Kernan was not a man who got things wrong very often in the heat of battle.

Kernan led Crossmaglen to their three All-Ireland titles and "brought club management to a whole new level".

"The professionalism he brought to it, that's a dirty word in the GAA but that's the case. Joe brought a lot of organisation to the job and he carried it on into the Armagh job.

"Of course, he had the raw talent, he had the players coming through and it shows with our record over the last 11 years."

Looking back, Donal almost finds it hard to believe the success that has flowed Crossmaglen's way over the past decade.

The commitment of Oisin McConville has delighted Murtagh

In 1986, his first year on the Cross senior panel, the club claimed the Armagh title but Donal wasn't part of the championship team and a barren 10-year period followed that win.

"I had to wait 10 years to get one (Armagh senior county medal) and now I have 10.

"It's funny the way it happens. I thought I was the jinx on the team."

Therefore, winning that first Armagh senior medal in 1996 will remain one of Donal's greatest memories despite all the All-Ireland glory that followed.

"Some of the team probably didn't even know that there was an All-Ireland Club title. Cross had always won county championships and there was never much emphasis put on the Ulster Club.

"It was only when we started to play in tournaments all over Ulster and winning them that Joe Kernan said that the team was fit to go places."

Six months after winning his first Armagh medal, Murtagh was picking up an All-Ireland gong at Croke Park as Mayo side Knockmore were well beaten.

"We beat Knockmore in 1997, Ballina two years later but probably beating Na Fianna (2000) was special because they were a Dublin team.

"You know what Dublin teams are like. They like to think that they have a right to win everything."

Murtagh's displays for his club suggested that he had all the attributes to do a similar job for Armagh but apart from a brief stint during Paddy Moriarity's reign in the early 1990s, when Joe Kernan was part of the backroom team, Murtagh wasn't involved.

John Donaldson would go through a brick wall for you if you asked him Donal Murtagh

"I didn't want to give the commitment and when I look back, there was no commitment compared to now.

"I gave 100 per cent to the club for 20 years playing senior football. I was willing to give that but I just wasn't willing to give the commitment to Armagh."

Murtagh "doesn't regret that one bit" even though he never misses an Armagh county game.

"When they won the title in 2002, I was ecstatic and not in any way jealous."

Being the great club-man that he is, Donal was proud of the roles several Crossmaglen men played in that memorable victory over Kerry and he's relieved that they continue to crave success with club and county.

"With Oisin McConville and the two McEntees, they are so hungry for success and Francie Bellew is in that category as well."

He's also pleased that several more men from the All-Ireland Club winning sides are also still around to lend vital experience.

"John Donaldson would go through a brick wall for you if you asked him.

"Cathal Shortt is also still on the panel as well so there is a sprinkling of the experienced men."

And there's also the contribution of that tenacious corner-back Martin Califf who is Donal's assistant this year.

"Martin was as good a corner-back as there was anywhere. How he never got a run with the county team, I'll never know."