15 July 2009
The last two months have been hectic for Portglenone’s Niall McKeever, and the towering twenty-year-old can barely believe it is all happening.
Growing up playing Gaelic football in Antrim the best most young men who are selected for the county team can really expect is a run in Division 4 of the national Football League, the lower tier of football in the country. However things have taken off in a big way this season as Antrim have not only gained promotion out of the basement division, but have also won their way through to the final of the Ulster Senior Football Championship, a feat not accomplished by an Antrim team since 1970.
All this should be enough for any twenty-year-old to take in, but on top of it all Niall has landed himself a professional contract with Australian Rules team Brisbane Lions and in November he will leave Portglenone and Antrim behind and head ‘down under’ to start a new career with oval ball.
His 6’ 5’’ frame and high fielding ability attracted the attention of Aussie Rules scouts and after two trials, one in Mayo and the other in Dublin, he was contacted by the Lions club and offered a contract, which he duly accepted.
ON HOLD
However all that is on hold as Niall and his Antrim team-mates prepare for the biggest day in their football lives, Sunday’s clash with All Ireland champions Tyrone in Clones before an expected crowd of 35,000.
Such an occasion was far from Niall’s thoughts when the ‘Saffrons’ started their league campaign with a draw against Wicklow back in February. Niall was sidelined through injury back then but as the season progressed he won his place back on the team, which was beginning to string a consistent run together under the leadership of new manager Liam Bradley.
They went through the remaining nine games of the league without dropping another point, and despite the fact that they lost to Sligo in the final their main goal for season, promotion to Division 3, had already been achieved.
GOOD PROGRESS
For most Antrim fans that league run would have been viewed as good progress, and it is fair to say that the majority would have regarded the season a success on that achievement alone. When they were drawn away to Division One side Donegal in the opening round of the Ulster Championship most would have settled for a decent showing, and defeat by a few points, considering that the county had only won two championship matches in Ulster in the past decade.
However on June 14th in Ballybofey, Antrim caused the biggest upset in the Ulster Championship for years when they beat they beat the home side by a single point in a game in which Tomas McCann’s sixtieth minute goal was to prove decisive.
Despite that win they were still 5/1 outsiders going into the semi-final two weeks later against Cavan, but on a fine summer evening in Clones, before a crowd of 16,500, Antrim footballers showed that the win over Donegal was no fluke as they beat Cavan convincingly to book a final slot against Tyrone.
Niall McKeever was one of the stars of that famous win, with his brilliant high fielding giving the Saffrons a decided edge in the vital midfield area, and so on Sunday next he will line out against what many experts feel is the best Gaelic football team in Ireland over the past decade.
EARLY DAYS
Niall had played Gaelic football since his days in St Mary’s Primary School in Portglenone, his height giving him an advantage even in those early days. He went on to attend St Mary’s Grammar School in Magherafelt where Gaelic football was again the major sport and his climb up the football ladder continued when he moved to the University of Ulster in Jordanstown where he was to line out alongside many of his current county colleagues, as well as top names from other counties throughout Ulster.
At seventeen he was selected for the Antrim minor team and in 2006 he played in the Ulster final against Donegal in Croke Park. Defeat was to be his lot that day as a top class Donegal side claimed victory, but Niall will be hoping that his first appearance in a senior decider on Sunday will end on a higher note, and that Antrim can bridge a 58 year gap and claim their first Ulster crown since 1951.
