Dean Mc Nally Tackles The Nang Construction Q and A

Tuesday 26.05.2020

 

1.Earliest GAA memory.

Eating Ham sandwiches out of the boot of a car up at Clones with the sun shining.

2. Was your family a traditional GAA family?

Both sides of my family have strong GAA roots, with Daddy’s side of the house all playing for Kildress and all of Mummy’s brothers being Pomeroy men. Mummy herself never really had any interest in GAA but Daddy still follow’s Kildress. My Granda Francie was a loyal Rock man to the end, so it’s easy to see how local derby games were always very interesting in our house.

3. The best GAA venue you have been to?

Can it be anything other than Croke Park? With the work going on at our new Community Hub at the moment, Kildress ought to be a very close runner for this soon too.

4. School participation and/or success.

Never really had a huge interest in School football. As much as I loved playing football for Kildress, the thought of staying on at school after 3.30pm to train never really did appeal to me. Plus with both my parents working it was almost impossible to get a lift home from Dungannon in the evenings.

5. Club/ County role models that you looked up to as a youth

Personally all my role models have come from within my own Club, I grew up watching the likes of Fran Loughran, Martin Grimes, Sean and Dessie Tracey (To name a few) all playing for Kildress in some of their best days, pushing the best teams in Tyrone for points. It’s been a dream playing alongside some of these men in recent years.

6. Other sports that you played or had an interest in.

I Enjoyed playing an occasional bit of badminton and volleyball.

7. Most difficult opponent you have faced in club football and why?

Very difficult to name just the one. The likes of Darren McCurry or Niall Gavin have all been big challenges to mark. Smaller and faster players can be difficult to manage in the full forward line, they’re both very agile on the pitch, and even more accurate with both feet. Needless to say I’m never done chasing the heels of Philip Lennon or Matty McGuigan at my own Club training sessions, they deserve a mention too.

8. Best player you have ever seen play Gaelic football

I used to love watching Ciarán McDonald play, his left foot was special. I find Diarmuid Connolly brilliant to watch playing, he’s a class act.

9. Are you a fan of the recent rule changes?

To be honest it feels like that long from I’ve played football that I’d need to go away and read up on the rule changes again

10. The best GAA match that you ever saw.

2003 All Ireland Final

11. Are you a fan of academies/development squads? Why

Development squads are important, it can help improve players and build relationships with players from other clubs. However this can’t be at the expense of the Club. It is the Club that has developed and coached these players from they were young, the loyalty of playing must revert back to the Club.

12. Your own involvement around the club.

I love to dedicate as much free time as I can to my Club. As well as playing on the Senior team, I’m a committee member, Club player’s representative, and I try to help out with coaching when I can. I hope that in the future when my footballing days are getting less that I can dedicate more time to the running of the Club, but at the moment my full focus is on the pitch

13. How important is the GAA in your community?

The importance of GAA within Kildress community is stronger now than it ever was, and has continued to grow in recent years in my opinion. Last year we hosted an extremely successful draw raising over 500K for our new Community Hub, which is set to be the pillar of everything we do in the future. One year later we find ourselves in these unprecedented times of isolation, and the GAA have stepped up in our community with numerous initiatives including developing a “Kildress Crisis Team”, responding to anyone who needs assistance while isolation restrictions remain in place. We have a dedicated group of ladies called “Sew It Seams” who are making vital scrubs for frontline workers, and most recently we had over 200 volunteers who came together for our Community Clean Up Project which was a great success.

We have a lot of dedicated people that want to do better for Kildress Community, and the GAA is at the heart of this.

14. Favourite county jersey (not Tyrone)

Dublin

15. Are you a fan of penalties to decide the outcome of championship games?

Not really. I like to have some control of the outcome of any game, and my name is definitely not on the list of top 5 players to take a penalty in our team. It’s likely not even in the top 10.