Yahoo News CJ McGourty opens up on how Eimir Martin friendship convinced him to become Fermanagh Ladies manager
CJ McGourty has spoken of his friendship with former Fermanagh star Eimir Martin and how she repeatedly told him he’d coach the Erne County one day.
A midwife from Lisnaskea, Eimir passed away last November aged just 35 after a prolonged battle with cancer. She was named Queen's University's Student Midwife of the Year in 2020.
Some seven months after losing his friend, the former Antrim and St Gall’s stalwart finds himself leading the Fermanagh Ladies into battle this weekend as they face Derry in Saturday’s Ulster Junior Final in Augher (2pm).
Explaining how he ended up taking on the role, McGourty, who also won a Nicky Rackard Cup with the Tyrone hurlers in 2022, explained: “I knew a few people who were on the Fermanagh committee and they’d asked if I’d be interested. I jumped at the chance to get back into the inter-county scene.
“One thing led to another and I found myself in a job fairly quickly. I don’t know if I ever planned to be a manager, but I have always had an interest in coaching and training a team. There was an opportunity with Fermanagh and they've a good group of players.
“I’d a friend who died around the same time, Eimir Martin. I was very close with her and things just seemed to be aligning at the same time.
“She was always on to me at college saying ‘you’ll coach Fermanagh some day’ - that always sat with me. That was probably a big factor in me taking in the job.”
McGourty won an All-Ireland club title with his native St Gall’s in 2010 alongside elder siblings Kevin and Kieran.
A mercurial talent, McGourty also represented the Antrim footballers and hurlers before transferring to Tyrone after moving to Ardboe, where he also coached underage teams alongside ex-Tyrone star Fay Devlin.
‘Win or learn’ has become a popular sporting and cultural phrase in recent times, but it is nonsense to McGourty. His mindset hasn’t changed since his playing day - it is all about wining.
“I’d say I’m not all that different. I couldn’t sleep after what happened against Carlow (losing the Division Four semi-final)," said McGourty.
“Sometimes it is an unhealthy thing in sport when you are driven to win. It is sometimes difficult coaching as you are trying to get players to think the way you are. It can sometimes take time if they don’t have the same footballing brain.
“I’m still passionate about trying to win football matches and win trophies - that’s still the same.
“It is all about winning in this game. We are in it to win. If you don’t win, that’s failure. There are times and scenarios when, if you don’t win, you might have brought a team from mid-table to the top. But, if you didn’t win, that’s still a failure to me.
“Whether that’s a failure to other people, who knows? I’m all about trying to win things and move a group forward. It is hard to accept losing, no matter if it is a League game, a training game or a League or All-Ireland final. It is all about winning.”
Fermanagh were beaten by McGourty’s native Antrim after an All-Ireland Junior final replay in 2022 and narrowly missed out on promotion when they were beaten by Carlow in the Division Four semi-final, 2-8 to 1-10, in March.
Regardless of how they fare against the Derry on Saturday, they’ll meet the Oak Leafers again in Group One of the All-Ireland series with Carlow also in the group.
“It has been a brilliant experience - they are a brilliant group of players. The girls are very easy to coach. Discipline-wise, they are excellent, attendance at training is good and they do all of the work outside of it," added McGourty.
“I’ve a good management team with me and I’m probably enjoying it so much because the people I have around me are so good at what they do.
“At this level, you’ve six or seven teams looking to get to the All-Ireland. We’ve the Ulster final against Derry to look forward to then the All-Ireland series starts in two weeks.
“Sligo are in our group and they are coming down from Division Three into the Junior Championship and Carlow, who beat us in the League semi-final by a point, are in our group.
“We’ll have a tough task to get to a semi-final, but the ultimate goal is to win an All-Ireland.”
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