Experienced Frontman Ger Houlihan Out to down the champions Like most of the players involved in last year's Armagh-Down Ulster Championship dog-fight, Ger Houlihan doesn't care much for resurrecting the nitty-gritty 70 minute details. Like all the Armagh players, his mature recollections of the Newry affair tend to focus in on the immediate sense of dejection: part-shame, part-despair, which filled the away team's dressing room. The Pearse Og stalwart goes along with the theory that Down's victory was carved from one of the worst championship games ever played in Ulster. He'll not begin to argue to the contrary. "It was a terrible game. Both sets of forwards had really stinking games that day and I know, for my part, I certainly left my shooting boots behind me", the 27 year old former Colleges star confided to the Hogan Stand this week. Houlihan's admission of guilt is typical of the player. Honest, workmanlike and unselfish. Just the type of player to unsettle any acclaimed defence, even one as cock-a-hoop as that pertaining to current All Ireland champions Down. That victory by Down became the first in a series of wins by the Mourne men which have since been well documented. Houlihan views Down's supreme success in 1991 with envy rather than with any irrational jealousy. Ger Houlihan didn't get where he is today in the sporting sphere by carrying chips on his broad shoulders. As a member of great Pearse Og teams since he was fifteen a key member of winning Jordanstown teams and a double McKenna Cup winner with the Orchard county, the Armagh city native has every reason to be well balanced, devoid of chips on either shoulder. A product of Armagh Christian Brothers School with whom, alongside Colin Harney, he won an All Ireland 'B' winners medal in 1982, Ger Houlihan first came to prominence in the gaelic football world as goalkeeper. Perhaps strange to relate now, but hardly that surprising when one considers his pedigree. An examination of the Houlihan family G.A.A. tradition unearths a rare sprinkling of distinguished county service from the confines of the same household. Ger's father Joe was no mean performer between the sticks for the Orchard County. His consistency in goal in the 1961 Ulster minor football championship played a large part in his county's capture of the title before disappointment followed, alas, in defeat to Cork. In addition, Ger's great-uncle Joe represented his province in the 1936 Railway Cup. An attendant at the Orchard Leisure centre in Armagh city a career in attack always seemed like a natural progression for the skillful McLarnon Cup winning medalist. A substitute goalkeeper on the Armagh minor team that opened against Derry in the Ulster championship final in 1981, curiously enough that same day was to launch his outfield career with his native county. To the surprise of the multitude gathered and bedecked in Armagh regalia, the Pearse Og younger was drafted in early in the game to man the centre-half forward berth. Despite his inventive play and that exhibited also by clubmates Paul Doyle and Colin Harney, Houlihan's first taste of the big time as an attacker proved to be a chastening experience. The joy of watching clubmate Brian Hughes later star for Armagh seniors in their subsequent duel with Down was hardly compensation in Armagh's double-final blow for the then fifteen year old starlet. Better times were around the corner though. Two Sigerson Cup winning-medals and another two Ryan Cup medals were collected in a team that was a veritable who's who of Ulster's youthful best. It marked a gradual maturity in the footballing sense for Ger Houlihan. Alongside Derry pair Dermot McNicholl and Enda Gormley in Jordanstown's half-forward line, the eldest son of the former Maria O'Rourke, (Markethill), thrived in the classy company, an inter-county senior debut beckoned. A Combined Colleges and Combined Universities place would soon be swapped for a lead role in an Armagh senior squad under reconstruction by team manager Father Sean Hegarty. A National League tie against Offaly blooded the six foot plus swift attacker. Clubmates Hughes and Sean Devin helped ease him into the big time league but the youngest of the Pearse Og Bridage was a quick learner. His apprenticeship on the inter-county stage helped his game on the domestic stage too. He was a tour de force on the Pearse Og side that captured the Armagh county league title and the Centenary competition back in 1984, under the guidance of Peadar Gallagher, a teacher invited by the Pearse Og club to spearhead the Armagh city club's revival. Beaten in the '84 county championship semi final, Ger & Co. succeeded, under the tutorship of Brother Ennis, in going the full distance and convincingly winning the county title in '85. It was an achievement that was repeated again three years later when the side, boasted by the burgeoning talent of such as Paul Grimley, matured into the top side in the Orchard county. A latter-day semi professional soccer player with Ards in the Irish League, his rise and rise among the crème de la crème of Armagh's elite wasn't without it's disappointments however, as he admits himself. "Granted I've been fortunate enough to win two McKenna Cup medals but all told I've lost out in four Ulster finals: three senior and one minor. It's about time that sequence was ended". He's had his fair share of injuries over the years too. A badly broken leg suffered in a match against Monaghan in 1988 still haunts him. He refuses to accept suggestions from some quarters, however, that he has lost a certain degree of his valuable innate speed off the mark. "Sure, the injury effected my range of movement, the pin the surgeons inserted can cause that but I've regained my confidence completely and I've no trouble with it since", the wing three quarter declared. In fact Ger believes that he has recovered a lot of the form he displayed when observers revelled at his exploits for Pearse Og on their way to the county championship title in 1990. Sadly the Armagh flyer was unable to play any part in his club's Ulster club final appearance in 1988 because of that self same leg injury, a memory which still rankles with him, even now, four years later. A member of the Ulster Railway Cup squad beaten by Leinster in 1987, further representative honours were to bestowed on the influential attacker a short time after that when he figured on the compromise Rules team which "did battle" with the men from the antipodes - "it was right up my street". One of only a few stylists in the game up north who can comfortably "mix it" if required, Ger doesn't believe mouth guards or any other borrowed protection will be needed for Sunday's mammoth clash at the Athletic Grounds. "Down don't like to be overly physical, to my mind it doesn't suit their style of football nor do they promote it. Their type of football centres around good distribution, clever passing movements and running off the ball. It's a brand of football that suits my game as well and it's one I admire", Ger explained. If, as observers expect, Ger is picked on the wing alongside Neil Smyth and Barry McCabe in the half forward line to face Down, it'll mark a major change in fortunes for the Pearse Og star on the inter county front. Fact is, the experienced frontman was left out in the cold by manager Jim McCorry and his assistant John Morrison for the duration of the Orchard county's post Christmas National League campaign. Looking back on his omission, hurricane Houlinhan may have been sore about it at the time but, in hindsight, he firmly believes the team bosses made the right decision. "I must admit that looking back on my contributions after the winter, I was only going through the motions. There's no doubt my enforced rest was needed at the time. Since I rejoined the panel in April, I feel myself that my form has improved dramatically. I reckon I'm a lot sharper than I was before I was dropped", the 13 _ stone gentle giant acknowledge. Recently challenge matches against Wexford, Offaly and Monaghan have shown him up to good effect, backing up his own theory that his fitness and appetite are as good now as they've ever been. He nevertheless disagrees with the belief, suggested by some, that Sunday's opener represents a do or die occasion for the McCorry bunch. "The team management, have been gearing us towards long-term goals and objectives. A lot of team rebuilding has been going on over the last year or so and it would be definitely reckon it would", remarked the Pearse Og stalwart whose younger brother Paul and sisters Karen and Shauna will be among the Houlihan family contingent captivated by the razzmatazz expected at this weekends match. Ger's family and relatives will be ringside alright, not to add extra bite to his kickouts though. The Houlihan family have a track record in the goalkeeping stakes going back five generations. On Sunday however, the household's newest star will have his sights set on carving not only a new niche out for his family's memorabilia file but one also for his beloved Pearse Og club. A win over Down would certainly be a major watershed for all concerned. Taken from Hogan Stand Magazine. 05/06/92 Written by Kevin Carney. Tweet

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