This is the biggest occasion in Na Rossa’s history - John McDyre

For John McDyre, Saturday's Ulster JFC opener with Fermanagh's Lisnaskea is a chance to make up for years of many disappointments.

And the Na Rossa midfielder adds that one of the reasons for the club’s remarkable journey, from obscurity to Ulster, has been the size of their squad.

From a situation where they were struggling to field a team a few years ago, and a situation where Declan Bonner had to step in between the posts to join his two sons Christian and Cillian on the team, they now have enough bodies to have a competitive in-house game.

“We have a big panel now and when you win you attract more players and we now have around 30 players and more which is a big panel,” said McDyre, who was speaking at Monday night’s Ulster club championships press launch at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh.

But while emigration has hit Na Rossa heavily, some of those same emigrants are still making huge sacrifices to continue playing with the club even though they now reside London.

“Sean McMonagle, Denis and Brian O’Donnell, Brian and John Paul Breslin; they are all in England during the week but they come home every weekend to play. That is a massive commitment.

“They have their own training programmes, which our coach gives them and they come back for all the matches.”

When asked how Na Rossa managed to survive, McDyre credits those who took up the mantle of management in the past few years.

“We were almost gone but people like Cormac McHugh and Joe Gallagher managed us for a few years and now we have Declan Bonner this year and we are stepping up again”.

Na Rossa have also managed to enlist the services of former Naomh Conaill SFC winner Johnny Bonner as well as ex-Dungloe and Donegal legend Adrian Sweeney.

The vastly experienced Bonner has been in the black and white colours of Na Rossa for a few years now while Sweeney joined up this year.

“Johnny has had a massive impact. He has a wealth of experience and knows how to win with Naomh Conaill. A guy like that brings great leadership and we have learned so much just by listening to him and how he goes about his game.

“Adrian Sweeney is a legend of the game - a former All-Star. He’s been a huge impact sub and gives us something extra when we need it. We are very lucky to have both of them.”

He added: “We have other older stalwarts like Donal Trimble, John Paul McCready, John Paul McHugh and John Paul Breslin and, only for them, we probably would not have survived as a club.

“But then we have younger guys like Jason Breslin, Jason Hanlon, Conan Boyle and Jordan Gillespie for the future. That is what you need as we do not get that many coming through each year and that is why it is great to have them.

“But we need to keep them. Emigration is still there and it will always be a threat. So the more success we have the better chance we might have of fending off that”.

The past few weeks have certainly been days to savour for Na Rossa and the locality in and around Gweebarra and Leitir areas.

And for McDyre, he is not too far away as he is employed by KN in Letterkenny where he has loads of local stars for company.

“I’m in the office and Adam McHugh, Aidan McHugh, Gerard Breslin and Aidan McCahill are all working there too, its like a real family.

“And there are a few of the Glenties boys there also like Ethan O’Donnell, Anthony Thompson and Kevin McGettigan. We carpool now and again and the craic is always great. Football is usually the main topic of conversation.

“They have a huge Ulster campaign coming up as well so it’s just great to be looking forward to the same thing”.

When asked what winning the Junior county title meant to Na Rossa, he said: “Everything, it meant absolutely everything.

“We did not have much success over many years so we really enjoyed it for a few days and it is very important to celebrate with your people.

“But we are now focussed on Lisnaskea. We don’t know if we will ever get this chance again so we are going all out to try and win it. This is the biggest game in the history of the club, it’s mad really.

“I saw Jamie Clarke of Crossmaglen Rangers and Armagh walking in there, Maghera and Kilcoo and it is such a privilege to be here and representing our county.”