The tight knit community spirit in the Madden dressing room has helped guide them to the final, says joint manager Mark Harte. The Raparees contest their first county final since 1998 this weekend.
They take on Cullyhanna and both clubs are aiming to get their names on the Gerry Fagan Cup for the first time ever. There’s a lot of close relationships in the Madden team, between brothers, cousins and best friends.
There’s the Sheridan siblings, Joe and Jamie. The Grimley brothers Niall and Liam Grimley. Conor and Eoin Grimley too. Caolan and Shea Vallely. Ciaran and Donal Rafferty. The Sheridan’s and the Grimley’s are cousins as well.
Becoming brothers
“I think that helps. I suppose those patterns and those relationships help when you bring it onto the field,” said Harte. “It’s like every team, you’ve got to become brothers once you cross the white line. That’s exactly what they’ve done.
“Yes there are certain names that jump out when you think of Madden. But every one of those players gives it all that they have week in and week out at training. That’s all we can ask of them. That they max out and they maxed out in the semi-final and it was just about enough.”
Harte, who manages the team with Adrian O’Donnell, has an extensive managerial CV at this stage. He led Roslea to a SFC triumph in Fermanagh in 2014. He guided Pomeroy to an Ulster IFC title in 2016 and won a Tyrone county title with his home club Errigal Ciaran in 2022.
Looking back on the semi-final victory over defending champions Clann Eireann, Harte was relieved to get over the line. “When you’re on the other side of the line there’s only so much you can do,” he said after their three point win.
You’ve got to hand over your trust in the players and trust that what we’ve worked on comes to fruition in the game. To be fair their was a lot of pressure on. There was a lot of high balls going in and chances for Clann Eireann.
“Some of them went over the bar and they got it right back and then we managed to scramble and stop a few goal chances. We probably just about deserved to get over the line. It’s good to be there but we certainly have work to do.”