Crossmaglen: Field of Dreams True North

This programme contains some strong language.

Lads, this is what we've been working for all year.

This is where the hard work starts.

We go in with a bit of heart, we show a bit of passion

and we show them that we are from Cross and this is how we do things!

ALL SHOUT

For the people in this town, Gaelic football is a passion -

an addiction to winning forged from blood, sweat and sacrifice.

The white heat of battle, that's what it's all about.

Every ball is a prisoner, it's do or die.

CHEERING

It's also a way of life,

a refuge...

a lifeline.

It's that important, life or death.

For decades, life in this town was unremarkable.

COW MOOS

But after the outbreak of a brutal sectarian conflict,

it became a place apart,

the heart of a no-go zone known as "bandit country".

Despite the dangers, a group of local children came together

to forge one of the greatest football teams in the country.

Two of those boys are now men

and they are about to dream the impossible again.

This is the story of Crossmaglen,

a town determined to be known for sporting greatness...

..a town driven to keep the dream alive for generations to come.

The only team in Ireland that will beat us is ourselves.

This is what you were born to do! Born to do!

-Well, how's things?

-Well, how are you?

-Good.

-You want your buns?

-Have you got some for us?

I do, here.

-Packed and all, it's great.

-Packed and all, ready.

Thank you.

-I like the nice ones.

-They are the nice ones.

Thank you.

It's kind of a central part of the town, being the square.

You know what, in 20 years, it hasn't changed an awful lot.

A lot of the faces around the town stay the same

and you go into the bakery at ten o'clock on Tuesday morning,

you see the same faces there

as you might see at a football match on a Sunday.

There's where me and John plied our trade, believe it or not,

as in kicking ball and playing kerbsies and...

..kicking each other!

Isn't it the fact that you can do it for as long as you want

and you haven't harmed anybody.

You can do it for as long as you want and always get better.

As Gaelic footballers, Oisin McConville and John McEntee

were All-Ireland medal winners.

Is he injured again?

We were chatting about the weight issue, you know.

As the new managers of Crossmaglen Rangers,

they are hoping to create

the most formidable Gaelic football team in Ireland.

I'm making a cup of tea here for the boys before the Championship.

This started a long, long time ago

and I'm afraid to stop it in case it brings them bad luck.

Margret McConville, Oisin's mum, has been making tea and buns

before Championship games for the past 20 years.

Is this the buns here?

Plenty of them here, they're hid behind the box there.

Paul and me are here the longest, aren't we?

-I'm here from nine to five, you're here even longer.

-I'm here the same.

It's a way of life, always has been

and will be until I pass out...

some of these days!

This is a new era for everybody, boys, OK?

Let's start off and let's be positive.

Never give up, lads, regardless of what the score is.

Is that clear?

From this first minute, as we go out, we work our socks off.

Let's go, boys, come on!

Crossmaglen's dream...

We have to stop taking it as a given, boys.

..is to win the All-Ireland Club Championship

in Dublin's Croke Park stadium on St Patrick's Day.

Go on! Go!

Ahh, brilliant, brilliant!

That's the start you wanted.

But first, they have to win the Armagh County Championship,

then the Ulster Championship.

Go on, Johnny!

Lads, let's get sharp around here, we are starting to slacken off.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Come on, Cross!

Stay with him, stay with him! Ryan!

WHISTLE BLOWS, CROWD CHEERS

Cross are through to the second round of the County Championship.

They'll need to win the next two games to reach the final.

Gaelic football has been a passion in Crossmaglen since 1887.

In the early days, life off the pitch was largely uneventful.

COWS MOO

But once a month, the town square became a hive of activity.

There used to be a fair day.

The pubs used to be full

and there used to be awful craic in this town for three or four days.

JAUNTY ACCORDION MUSIC

If you want a good fighter, you want to come to me.

-I'll think of you, someday if I...

-Aye, come for me.

For days, people were waiting around to see this fight.

The king of the travellers, the king of the gypsies or whatever it was,

to have that fight in your own town,

it literally was unbelievable.

-MAN COMMENTATES:

-Dan's eye is open.

If someone else raises a fist, there could be awful trouble.

Yes, Dan is moving in here for the kill.

The funny thing was that I remember going into the video shop

and I remember sitting up in the corner

was the king of the gypsies fight

and you could rent it out and take it home,

have it for a couple of days!

The locals even developed their own language.

THEY SPEAK THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

"Munya" is great.

"Rulya" is somebody who is mad.

"Fein" is a fellow.

"Beur" is a girl.

Even the youngsters now... Oisin's wee fellow,

I gave him ice cream or something one day and he says,

"Granny, that was munya."

We all talk it.

When you go outside of Cross, you actually realise,

"Oh, we need to think about what we're saying here

"because nobody else understands us!"

Mentally, lads, we have to be strong.

The battle is not with anybody else, but with ourselves.

Round two of the Armagh County Championship.

But some of the other team haven't turned up.

Dromintee officials are worried the whole club could be penalised

if they don't field a team tonight.

Substitutes are hastily arranged.

Why did somebody not let us know?

WHISTLE BLOWS

Men of 50 years of age, we have to respect them men

and what they have done for their club.

We went about it the right way,

we played the match and we are into the next round, OK?

That would've been the house I grew up in.

Summers here were the best days of my life.

We'd play football from morning to night and if you get bored,

we would have went out and we would have got

pieces of wood and metal and old net

and we would have made football nets.

This is where it all started.

When Jamie Clarke was old enough, he honed a reputation

as one of the most talented players of his generation

on the local Gaelic pitch.

This is just a diary thing, or your own personal sort of thing.

I would record, you know, my scores from different zones.

I would take certain shots

depending on what I need worked on the most.

Then I just have sort of little mottoes and all,

just different little quotes and that.

It kind of keeps me grounded as well and grateful at the same time.

"A person who does many things differently

"and often independently makes perhaps the biggest difference

"of the highest significance

"and the greatest excellence in everyone's life."

I suppose, for me, it's about leaving a legacy

and, you know, trying to be as best as I can be.

Hi, Kevvy.

But Gaelic football is an amateur game,

so it has to fit in around day jobs and family life.

-CHILD:

-'Good morning!'

-Good morning! How are you?

'Good.'

What's the craic today?

'Good.'

Are you being a good girl?

'Good.

'We have to go to get our breakfast.'

You're going to get your breakfast? Right, sure, hey, I'll talk to you,

I'll give you a buzz later on, all right?

'Yeah, bye-bye.'

Paul Hearty, at the age of 36,

has been Crossmaglen's goalkeeper for two decades.

He splits his time between playing and working as a milkman.

Croke.

I drive past it every day. I love my football.

That's where I want my ashes spread!

The dream is, St Paddy's Day I'll come back here.

You can always dream.

'Sport has really put the town on the map'

in a totally different context, which is...

which is great for the area, great for the club

and great for the people in the town,

that they can associate themselves

with something else other than what did go on before.

The first hints that Crossmaglen was to become a place apart

came in the early 1920s when a border was drawn across Ireland.

The town teetered just one mile north of the new frontier.

A no-man's-land of sorts.

I didn't really feel I was from the north or the south.

I knew what my address was to write it down on a piece of paper,

but when I wrote my address down, I just wrote "Ireland".

That's the way it was.

We were a little island cocooned in the middle of the whole thing.

But when Northern Ireland erupted into violence,

the arrival of the army in the 1970s changed everything.

A new base in the largely Catholic town was resented.

The atmosphere in the village itself is not a particularly pleasant one.

It's not so much that the people are hostile,

it's just that they totally ignore you.

We try very hard to talk to the locals,

but they just give us very little response.

If you're very lucky,

you might manage to get a "good morning" out of them occasionally.

The simple question from a young lad was,

"What are you doing? What are they doing here?"

Do you know what I mean?

That was the one thing that we could never understand.

I mean, you can see where the barracks is now.

That sprawled right over to the football field,

lookout posts on every road as you come into the town.

We maybe didn't feel safe to be close by them,

maybe you're in a car behind a police car,

you kept a distance for maybe the potential for booby traps

and things to be there.

If there was an army checkpoint on the way down,

they would just step in front of you and you have to step past them

and, you know, it was just antagonising people

and that's why we didn't say hello,

just wasn't... it wasn't the done thing.

Security forces stationed in the town

were a constant target for the IRA.

Throughout the conflict,

nearly 200 were killed or injured in the area.

Crossmaglen gained a reputation as the heart of bandit country.

We are approaching Crossmaglen now,

just about a mile north of the border.

This is, without doubt, the worst area

in the whole of Northern Ireland.

It's been responsible for one in six of all the security forces killed

in the present campaign in Northern Ireland.

It just happens that everybody who lives in this particular area

is violently pro-the IRA.

And therefore...it's always been a stronghold of Republican feeling

and I think has now identified itself more closely with the cause

or the struggle or whatever,

the terrorist campaign, than any other particular area.

Some assumption to make,

for somebody flying a helicopter over your town, like.

There was never any pressure to join the IRA.

I know for certain I was never asked.

Too busy playing football, too busy getting educated,

too busy trying to get on with life.

Scared shitless of it, to be honest.

It's life or death.

-Yeah - if you joined?

-Hm.

-Yeah...

You run the risk, don't you?

Real Irish people would die for Ireland, surely,

but not in those circumstances -

not just to take a gun and shoot another man.

That's nothing to do with All-Irelands or anything else.

The violence just did nothing for me, because of me own son.

Thomas was the oldest boy and the apple of his father's eye.

He hadn't much interest in school,

but he learned Irish and he was brilliant,

and he got a scholarship to go to the Gaeltacht,

to the Irish college.

He was 16-and-a-half and he never came home.

He was only there a week

and he was drowned there.

On the Sunday, before -

he died on the Tuesday -

well, on that Sunday,

there was a soldier blown up down at the corner there,

there was a bomb on a bicycle.

His mother's door got a knock that Sunday.

My door got a knock.

It was the same grief and the same hardship

and, just...you know,

the trauma of it all,

and, um...losing your son.

-OVER PA:

-Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.

"No-one can come to the Father except through me..."

Sometimes I wonder, like,

"What would you be doing without the GA?"

I don't know what I'd be doing.

If I hadn't it to look forward to,

I'd just...would have nothing to look forward to.

I mightn't be here at all.

Through bereavements and sad times and that,

it got people back out.

I think that's what the GAA is about.

It's that important.

Life or death.

Just have him there, because he's with me every day.

Well, you see, the children coming in now

know it's Uncle Thomas, you see, just let you keep his name alive,

you know, as best you can.

DISTANT APPLAUSE

Crossmaglen have made it through

to the Armagh County final.

We let it all out today now, boys. We use our heads, boys.

Let's play football, let's get the ball in.

If you're not having an effect on the game, boys,

go and fucking have one!

If we have to get their respect,

we put our hand down their throat and we pull it out.

THEY YELL

OK...

Let's keep it here.

Michael, try and keep a bit of shape, come on.

We should be destroying this team, boys, but we're not.

All we want, boys, is score after score after score.

CROWD CHEERS

CHEERING CONTINUES

John and Oisin's half-time team talk pays dividends.

WHISTLE BLOWS, CROWD CHEERS

Crossmaglen have won the Armagh Championship.

The next challenge is Ulster.

MUSIC: Love Man by Otis Redding

# I'm a love man

# They call me the love man... #

Love me job.

Do you want to know what is the very best thing?

Seeing a few lovely ladies throughout the day.

We just love winning.

You know, if you're not going to go to the top,

and be the best team in Ireland,

there really isn't no point to it at all, you know?

It's all or nothing.

For John and Oisin in particular, like.

For them two men alone, I'd love to win an All-Ireland,

cos I think if there's anybody ever deserved it, as managers,

it's definitely them two.

There is a saying we have, where we come from,

that you'd go through a wall for someone.

Well, them two guys, I'd go through a wall for them two.

Another one done. That's us for today.

Back up to sunny Crossmaglen...

..where it's probably going to be lashing rain.

HE CALLS TO THE COWS

I grew up admiring Oisin and watching him play football

and...wanting to kick a football like him.

I used to love watching John McT,

swinging points from 50 yards out with his left boot.

When you're growing up,

watching all the boys and looking up to them,

when you follow in their footsteps, it means everything.

HE CALLS

Have to win.

Afraid of losing. Fear losing.

It's the first round of the Ulster Championship.

This is us on a whole new level, now, boys.

The country is watching us today.

That should fill your heart full of joy, boys.

Because we are the best around, boys.

that's what we are going to show today.

You're going to be challenged, today.

Not from Omagh. From me. From Oisin.

And from every man around this circle, lads.

-Are we up to the challenge?

-ALL:

-Yes!

THEY YELL

-COMMENTATOR:

-..the referee says no, play will continue.

The ball is there to be won.

Crossmaglen fires in front, so too does McAnally.

It's in the hands of the Cross man.

Here they come again, Omagh, one point ahead,

-who could create a massive upset.

-WHISTLE BLOWS

Ronan O'Neill, he will shoot. This could seal it.

It goes...over the bar.

Ronan O'Neill has scored four points today,

that one with his left foot.

A majestic effort.

Brannigan looks at the watch. Brannigan calls for the ball.

-WHISTLE BLOWS

-It's all over.

And Omagh, incredibly,

have defeated Crossmaglen.

Quite a magnificent second-half performance.

You could argue that Crossmaglen

were the architects of their own downfall

by having two men sent off, but taking nothing away...

Today, boys, we are failures.

We said at the start of this whole journey, boys,

there will be only one team that will beat us,

and that would be ourselves.

And that's the pill we have to swallow today.

We were beaten because we lost to ourselves.

It's a bittersweet pill, that.

We have a lot to learn. And it's sickening.

It's sickening.

A huge disappointment.

Not because we were beaten,

but the manner in which we were beaten.

They eroded our discipline, like nothing...ever before.

If you asked the fellas, probably, if they were honest,

it's probably still raw with them, you know?

You know, you think it gets easier every time.

It actually gets worse every time you get beat.

It's not a nice place to be.

You're letting yourself down. You're letting your family down.

You're letting the community down.

It's more than football, that. More than football.

It's just a bond we have with each other and...

Yeah, a band of brothers, we call each other.

You make lifelong friends through the football

and that is a huge part of it, as well, you know?

"What is the meaning of life?", people sometimes ask.

Living it to the best of your ability, I think.

You can only live life as it comes in front of you, as you see it.

You should just try and take it on the chin and move forward.

You have to want to win and be hungry to win.

I think that's more important than anything.

I know that our boys have that belief.

Why not go and do it right, fucking win something,

and get these boys to achieve what previous generations have achieved?

For years, we used the Troubles as the old crutch.

"This is why we are not doing well."

All of a sudden, we started to use it

as a...siege mentality, if you like.

Despite what was going on,

we were still going to be successful on the football field.

We didn't want anybody telling us

we couldn't do this, or couldn't do that.

Some people might say there's an arrogance about us.

But it's not. It's the fact that we...

You tell us we can't do something, of course we are going to do it.

If you tell us we can't win,

of course we are going to prove you wrong.

As players, Oisin and John helped Crossmaglen

win its first All-Ireland club Championship.

CHEERING

Since 1996, the club has also won

an unprecedented 18 out of 19 County Championships,

ten Ulster club trophies,

and five more All-Ireland finals.

# Championees...! #

To achieve something that brought complete joy to Crossmaglen

and to the whole of Ulster

was a sight to behold.

We did that with a bunch of fellows from a five-mile radius

who were best friends right through.

Wasn't it great to stick two fingers up

and say, "Regardless what you do,

"you can land your helicopters here,

"you can build your barracks on top of us,

"you can stop us, throw our clothes out in the street,

"throw our bags out, you can chase people going to training,

"you can try and intimidate us, but fuck yous -

"we are going to win an All-Ireland anyway."

As they prepare for their second season as managers,

Oisin and John are more determined than ever

to build on the town's sporting legacy.

The simple things, time after time after time.

It's May,

and the 2015 season is underway.

There are a few boys playing in different positions

than they're used to. Suck it up, boys. So what?

You could be there for the rest of the year.

How do we enjoy the game, boys?

By doing the right things, boys, and by winning the game.

Come on, Stephen!

Move it, Mickey, move it!

Clown, ye...

Take it over, Jamie, take it over the bar!

Crossmaglen are through to the second round

of the Armagh Championship.

But John and Oisin have asked the team to stay behind.

John Murtagh, Danny and Gavin,

do you know why you weren't playing today?

The boys weren't playing today

because they were drinking at the wedding.

At the start of the season,

the managers imposed an alcohol ban nine days before every game.

They have discovered three players flouted it before today's match.

There's no integrity in this room. None.

And anybody who thinks

that they going to suck the energy out of this group,

or take away anything from this group, they're gone.

I had an addiction, boys,

and I went to a treatment centre in Galway.

I spent three months there.

I met a nun on the way into the ward and she said two things.

"Be positive and stick with the winners."

Stay away from negativity.

14 years of age, I started gambling.

I did a simple bet on the Grand National

and fell in love with it.

It just spiralled out of control from there.

The best way I can describe it

is when you see people strung out on drugs.

You see very vivid images on TV

of people who are strung out on drugs...heroin or whatever.

They do anything to get the next hit.

For me, that next hit was just putting on a bet.

And...when I got that bet on, I felt relief.

I was financially bankrupt, emotionally bankrupt,

no self-respect, no self-esteem, no integrity.

All those things - it takes all those things away from you.

I seriously considered suicide.

And I didn't know what way I could get out of the trouble I was in.

When I think back on days like that,

I'm so glad I spent the next ten weeks in Galway,

sticking with the winners and being positive.

Unless we are willing to knuckle down and really do that, boys...

..we're just going the same place we're going last year.

It is up to you to see whether we can change that or not.

John?

Throughout the conflict,

Crossmaglen's resolve was tested by the army,

who commandeered part of the club's pitch to extend their base.

They took over the club.

They were in the surrounding area

and up tight nearly to the goals, and all that.

It was just the occupation of our ground.

Low-flying helicopters coming in,

when you're trying to play a game or trying to train.

I remember there was once they landed on the pitch.

Training had to be stopped.

You just have to dig deep and push on.

People often associate the resilience

and never-say-die attitude of Crossmaglen,

they attribute that to the Troubles, you know?

And...that might well be the case.

We knew that the Troubles were there

and we were affected on many, many's a day by the Troubles.

But we chose to ignore that as best we could.

But for some, the scars of the past continue to leave their mark.

I don't know whether it's the Troubles

or whatever in the past, you know, it definitely has affected people.

There are over 15 pubs in Cross.

It's a huge part of this town and it's a cultural thing, you know?

To go...to go to the pub or whatever

and being part of that, sort of, whole alcohol circle

and being part of that environment.

Um...

You know, it's...

..not easy, you know?

Crossmaglen is just weeks away

from the second round of the County Championship.

But Jamie has started to question his future with the team.

I just feel like there is a lot more than to me

than, you know, living in a rural town.

It's not that I can't fit in here.

It's probably that I don't want to.

Like, ultimately, the only reason I am here is because of football.

I don't enjoy it as much

because of the pressures of having to win all the time

and wanting to just win for the sake of winning

and so nobody else can win and, you know,

it's not about having fun and enjoying the game any more.

'I suppose, when you think about it, you know...

'..the commitment and the effort required, it is pretty crazy.'

Now, do you want something to eat?

-CHILD COOS

-Do you want a pancake?

It's something that you have battles with yourself, in your own head.

"Why am I going out here again? Why am I doing this?"

'The football has taken a front seat of my life for so long, now,'

and it's coming to the point where other things

are getting to be more important than football.

You know, you're trying to balance everything,

it's hard for me to still do it.

You still want to do it, obviously, but...

Your actions now reflect on other people in your life -

your family obviously, your kids.

'It's probably a hindrance, the family life,

'if you know what I mean?'

Here comes the army, now. Will, what's the crack?

-How did you get on?

-OK.

There are nights where it just gets on my nerves.

He could be in to work at five o'clock, get his dinner,

pack his bag and away he goes.

-My goodness, you're filthy.

-I know.

The dinner plate will still be sitting on the table, you know.

The children will be going mad, I'd have to get them ready for bed,

get them settled, you know, and he'll just walk out the door.

I'm like, "This has to stop", you know? It has to stop.

But then, you know, their daddy is this man, he's the goalkeeper,

and it's something to look up to and something to be proud of.

It's a good thing. It's not a bad thing.

It can be lonesome, you know what I mean?

It can be lonesome.

I've still to come to terms with it,

that this will probably be my last season,

but I think it is coming down to that point where...

..you know, it would be indulgent of me, probably, to play...

..much longer.

Jamie has decided to bow out of the team.

You know, I don't think I want it enough

and I just want to be true to myself and...you know, give it 100%,

and I just don't think I'm...

I want other things.

Get whatever you need out of your system.

You know we are here for you. All right?

-OK.

-Cheers, John. Thank you.

-McGrath.

-How are you?

-Not too bad.

The people of Cross are trying to balance this thing of being

the first person ever to leave Cross in the middle of a Championship,

and that sounds silly, doesn't it?

You know, but if it's the first time it's ever happened,

he's set a precedent, so that in itself is new,

and that's a big talking point.

It's not easy for us, me, looking at Jamie,

at the talent he has and what he could give to us.

But it's his life, at the end of the day.

You know, there's a lot more to life

than kicking a ball over a bar, you know?

Our season hangs on this.

That's an obvious thing to say, but if we're beaten, we're gone.

This is the biggest game of our season.

With Jamie gone, the team is under more pressure than ever.

Not having Jamie on our team

makes us vulnerable in many ways, you know?

John Murtagh is now critical to the forward line.

OK, boys, going to name the team, all right?

Paul Hearty in goals, Paul McKeown, Aiden Rushe. Midfield is David.

Mickey Mac, Stephen Kernan, Tony Kernan,

Kyle Carragher, Kyle Brennan

and Cunns in the corner, OK?

That's the way we're starting, boys.

John isn't named in the starting line-up.

What he doesn't know he that he's being penalised

for flouting the alcohol ban a second time.

You tell us.

-You're telling lies, though.

-I'm not.

-You are telling lies.

-Who said...?

-The person who was drinking with you.

You're going to stand here

and look me in the eye and tell me you weren't drinking?

I wasn't drinking.

Three weeks ago, lads, we said we needed to improve.

For three weeks, we've worked on everything.

There's no mistakes today. We're a better side.

The way to prove it, lads, is in the first ten minutes.

We want to hit this ground hard.

There's two types of teams in the world.

An honest team and the rest.

We're an honest team, we get out here with an honesty, hard work.

15 battles to be won. We'll win them all!

THEY YELL

HE YELLS

Not happening out there. It's just not happening, OK?

We're playing hard, boys, we are playing hard.

Now, we need to play hard and smart.

After half-time, John is brought on as a substitute.

-WOMAN:

-That's the boy!

John helps Crossmaglen win the semifinal.

That was a real battle, boys, a real battle.

And we came out on top, because that's what we do best.

I don't know about yous, but I'm happy, boys.

I'm fucking happy. Don't look it, but I am, I'm happy.

Live by myself. I love it. It's nice and quiet.

Thank God - if I had too many distractions, it'd be...

It's a bad thing.

With time to reflect, John wishes he hadn't lied to his managers.

It happened so quick. It was so...

It was just like an immediate answer, you know,

just to try and do anything to get playing.

And then whenever I got home and got a chance to take it all in,

it really didn't sit well with me that I did lie to two team-mates,

and I was sick about it, to be honest with you.

I rang Oisin the next day and apologised to him and...

..and said, look, I was going to fight twice as hard then

to get back in again.

And that's just what I've done since.

Nothing else is more important to me than football -

not work,

not this house...

Not getting married and settling down, you know,

none of them things comes in the equation,

only football, only that team.

Six, seven, eight...

Seven, eight, nine...

This is the team that's starting, boys because we're going to

need every single man if we're all going to get across the line.

Paul Hearty in goals, Fiddler,

Aidan Rushe, Paul McKeown,

Paul Hughes, Fish, James Morgan,

Johnny and Dave, Mickey Mac,

Stephen Kernan, Tony Kernan,

Kyle Carragher, Rico,

and John Murtagh.

These boys don't know yet, boys,

that it doesn't matter if we start well or not

cos we're relentless, boys, relentless!

We don't stop, boys, from the first minute to the last.

THEY ALL SHOUT

They love it, smack in the face!

CHEERING

Come on, Cross! Come on, Cross!

Good man, Ollie.

Crossmaglen are the Armagh champions for the 19th time in 20 years.

# Oh-way, oh-way, hey, hey... #

Next, they take on Ulster.

# Championees... #

Last year's crushing defeat in round one will be

at the forefront of their minds.

Catch them!

Oisin has been contacted by a former soldier

once stationed at Crossmaglen who is now involved in reconciliation work.

Oisin has agreed to meet him.

This sign was one of the first things we saw.

I think it perfectly exemplifies the attitude soldiers used

to deal with any given situations,

dark humour, dark humour and a kind of fatalistic humour.

"Don't worry, be happy, welcome XMG."

WHISTLE BLOWS

I would have been fearful of the club because in my head

the Gaelic club is where all the local volunteers

in the local IRA active service unit

would sit and come up with their plans to hit the army patrols,

of which I'm a member.

It was a general attitude amongst the soldiers that

Gaelic, ie nationalist, ie Republican, equals our enemy.

As far as I was concerned, you were the enemy.

You were, I suppose, invading.

We used to have no ball catcher at the back

and we used to kick the ball and the ball used to go into the barracks.

Sometimes, depending on who was in there, would kick it back

and sometimes they wouldn't, you know?

And sometimes they'd burst it and throw it back that way.

-That's true.

-Yeah, yeah.

I didn't do it. I know of people...

-You sure?

-I didn't! I didn't.

-THEY LAUGH

It was...

Most of the time when I saw the pitch was coming across in a Lynx.

Yeah.

Did you resent the fact that you ended up here?

I kind of resent that

very little regard was given to us soldiers as individuals.

They could afford to lose a few of us without worrying about too much

adverse publicity and that seemed a wanton risk of soldiers' lives.

There was cost for, or potential cost, or a cost for all of us...

-For everybody.

-..that, a cost that didn't have to be expended.

'It was a watershed moment. from a personal point of view'

I'd didn't think I'd be shaking hands with a British Army officer,

and it's something that proves how much everybody has moved on.

-NEWSREADER:

-Army engineers moved in to Crossmaglen this morning

and began dismantling the observation post

which has monitored all movement in the village square since 1976.

With the ceasefire in place,

the army began to move out of Crossmaglen.

The land commandeered nearly a quarter of a century earlier

was eventually handed back to the club.

We're here tonight witnessing a splendid development

and the facility here at the disposal of people

will make this place, great and all as it is already,

a better place for everyone to live in.

APPLAUSE

It's the first round of the 2015 Ulster Championship.

Today is the day we get our redemption, lads!

At this stage last year, Crossmaglen were knocked out.

CHEERING

-COMMENTATOR:

-50 minutes gone in the second half, Mark,

and it's Crossmaglen one goal and 12 points, Cargin nine points.

Come on, Cargin!

-No!

-Relax, Kenny! Relax! Relax!

CHEERING

That's brilliant, lads. That gets us the next round.

We're going out into a cauldron of pressure, lads,

that we've created for ourselves because we thrive in that cauldron.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Cool heads, keep our composure, lads, and let's execute it.

We fight to the death.

Yeah!

Crossmaglen are through to the Ulster club final.

And this time, they have a secret weapon.

The prodigal son has returned to Cross.

There was a part of me that has unfinished business, you know.

I feel like I owe the team one more great moment.

I feel that Crossmaglen has made me the person who I am.

Ultimately, if I'm in New York next year,

and we've won an All-Ireland with Cross, I'll be happy.

When you're talking to Jim, it's hard not to say no to him, like,

you could not say no to him,

but he'll have to come in and fight for a space,

he wouldn't be walking straight back onto the team, not at the minute.

But put it this way, we're better with him than without him.

We're here on merit, boys. But we haven't won anything yet.

There's only one team that can beat us, boys,

and you're looking at them.

Pressure, boys, harder!

Get in there! You're pathetic!

CHEERING

Fuck did that happen?

WHISTLE BLOWS

Ref! Ref, allow! Allow! Allow!

Can we get an assessment of where we are with injuries? Aaron Kernan?

-I'm all right.

-Tony Kernan?

-All right.

-Stephen Kernan?

-Yeah, I'm OK.

-Johnny?

-OK.

-James?

-Yeah.

Right, OK. We need a lot of movement in there, lads,

and when we get opportunities, we need to kick them over the bar. OK?

Good advice for half-time.

Normal time ends in a draw.

During extra time, Jamie Clarke leads the way.

-Take them on, Jamie!

-Go on!

Go on, Jamie!

CHEERING

Crossmaglen are Ulster champions.

They're through to the All-Ireland semifinal.

THEY CHEER

-Are we going to win this year?

-I don't know. Probably, yeah.

-We have to be confident, don't you?

-Yeah.

Going into a match, you have to be confident.

Since we started winning, we started to realise

what success did for everybody else.

It shapes our lives in a way.

It's also a little bit more sweet when you're Ulster champions,

and you're preparing to go ahead and win an All-Ireland.

-Are you going, Jenny?

-No, I'm not able to go but I'll watch it on TV.

Oh, you'll watch it on the TV?

-How am I going to get off?

-Ach, you'll have to.

-I can't believe this is happening.

-..Rangers, Crossmaglen.

Well, I can't wait. Up the Rangers!

SHE LAUGHS

We have no reason to do anything stupid today, boys.

We are as honest as we can be.

If we bring our A game, boys, they might as well jump on the bus now.

CROWD SINGS NATIONAL ANTHEM IN IRISH

# Thar toinn do rainig chugainn... #

We're inspiring people all around the country.

We can fucking inspire the next generation, boys.

But see this generation here, boys, we have a big stamp to leave.

# Ba bhuachach ar sinsir romhainn... #

Nothing that they throw at us is good enough to beat us, boys.

Nothing!

WHISTLE BLOWS

When we hit that field today, boys,

we are a different animal than we've ever been.

In 20 years, we're a different animal than we've ever been before.

CHEERING

Move it up, that's it.

Kick a point, kick a point.

THEY CHEER

Come on, come on!

-COMMENTATOR:

-Crossmaglen have really started this game at a huge pace,

at 100mph, and been the dominant force here.

-Come on, Cross!

-Come on, come on!

-Come on again, Johnny!

-Go on, Jamie, that's it.

-Go on, Jamie!

-In again, come on there!

Yes!

-COMMENTATOR:

-The angle is really, really tight,

but that's a magnificent point white from Jamie Clarke.

It's 8-4, Crossmaglen Rangers lead.

It wouldn't take an experienced analyst to say, lads,

we completely dominated that half.

But you wouldn't think that from the scoreboard, sure you wouldn't?

Cut the mistakes down. We've done enough mistakes, OK?

We have to keep our composure, boys. They're going to come at us hard.

See these first five minutes?

We do the exact same thing that we did first half. That clear?

THEY SHOUT

Five minutes, lads.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Right on cue as the second half gets under way,

and again it's Jamie Clarke gets the kick in!

Oh, saved on the crossbar by Rory Byrne.

That's a great point, or is it?

Yes, it is.

Go on, boys!

Just two points between the teams, and it is another score,

making it now 8-7. Game on here.

Yes, certainly a comeback here by Castlebar.

Castlebar have started very, very strongly,

and their running forward is the key.

Warm up, come on.

Good lie!

Two-and-a-half minutes to go.

The sides are level at 12 points apiece.

Ball played down along the sideline.

HEARTBEAT POUNDS

CHEERING

Over. It's over.

Crossmaglen have been defeated by a single point.

-COMMENTATORS:

-Castlebar are going through to the All-Ireland final.

-Crossmaglen will be hugely disappointed.

-What a game.

What a finish. What an end.

We wanted us the title, lads,

and we did our best in the All-Ireland semifinal

and it wasn't... It wasn't to be on the day.

We got knocked to the floor and we got back up after.

It made us bigger and better men.

So well done, lads,

and it's been a privilege working with you the last two years.

There's one saying that springs to mind today

and that's dying with our boots on,

and that's what we did, boys, we died with our boots on.

Until the boys became successful,

we were known as the town the army took over,

and now we're known for the successful town that we are.

It gives people in the town hope.

It gives them something outside of the norm,

something special that nobody else can recreate.

Without Crossmaglen Rangers,

our community wouldn't be as strong as they are.

That constant striving for being the best will never stop.