NAME: Declan Bateson DATE OF BIRTH: 2/10/71 HEIGHT: 5'10" WEIGHT: 11st 7lb CLUB: Ballinderry Shamrocks COUNTY: Derry HONOURS: County Derry Minor 1989; Ulster and All-Ireland Minor medals 1989 INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: October '91 versus Meath PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Student at Manchester University TOUGHEST OPPONENT: Fay Devlin FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Casement Park and Croke Park FAVOURITE POSITION: Corner Forward SPORTING AMBITION: To win an All-Ireland senior 1992 DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS: Soccer, basketball, golf BOYHOOD HEROES: Mike Sheehy, Jack O'Shea FAVOURITE PLAYER: Colm O'Rourke ANY GOOD SPORTING YARN: I'm nicknamed Giggsy as I supposedly resemble the Man. Utd. player BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: My father WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: Two referees, one in each half of the field DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: Not enough attention given to player's needs BEST GAME SEEN: Dublin versus Meath games 1991 PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Karl Diamond (Bellaghy), Barry McGonigle (Dungiven) HOPES FOR 1992: To win an Ulster senior and All-Ireland senior medals with Derry. To win the Derry Championship with my club Ballinderry DERRY MUST HAVE GONE FOOTBALL MADE SINCE THEIR BIG WINS OVER TYRONE AND DOWN. IS THE ENTIRE COUNTY BEHIND YOU: Yes, it's terrific the support we have now. I have never seen as many young boys with Derry jerseys on. The Derry supporters club has a big membership and they are selling a terrific amount of flags, hats and scarves. I hope this support will grow even further for our next game YOU ARE RELATED TO THE FAMOUS MCGUCKIAN FAMILY. HAD THE UNCLES A BIG INFLUENCE ON YOUR CAREER: Yes, the McGuckian brothers had a very big influence on my career. There is only six years in age difference, between myself and Terence and we used to kick a ball about a lot together when we were young. I currently play alongside terence for Ballinderry. James is the current Ballinderry coach and I have played for teams coached by my uncles Adrian and Patrick DESPITE BEING DERRY'S TOP-SCORER IN THE LEAGUE, YOU LOST YOUR PLACE IN THE LATER STAGES OF THE COMPETITION. WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED: Yes, I was very disappointed. I sustained a knee injury in an under 21 game against Tyrone and I missed the National League quarter final against Cavan, and I failed to regain it for the remainder of the National League TELL US ABOUT YOUR CLUB: We are a small club on the Derry/Tyrone border next to the shores of Lough Neagh. We are one of the oldest clubs in Derry. For such a small club we have a tremendous history of success. We won the Derry senior championship in 1928, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982. We won the Ulster Club Championship in 1982, beating Burren in the final. The club also has a great youth policy and we currently have the best teams at underage level, which was shown by two recent appearances in the All-Ireland Feile na Og final WORD HAS IT THAT BALLINDERRY IS ACTUALLY SITUATED IN TYRONE: The Ballinderry river separates the parish into Derry and Tyrone halves. The pitch itself is in Derry and the club has virtually always played in the Derry county. Although the majority of the players, including myself, actually live in the Tyrone side of the parish NAME ANY OTHER PAST-COUNTY PLAYERS WHO WORE THE BALLINDERRY COLOURS: Phil Stuart, Peter Smith, Micky, Adrian, Patrick, James and Terence McGuckian, Eamon Coleman and Marty Bradley THE DERRY-TYRONE RIVALRY MUST HAVE BEEN INTENSE AROUND YOUR AREA BEFORE THE BIG GAMES: Very much so. For weeks nothing was talked about locally other than Derry and Tyrone. Our neighbouring parish which includes the teams of Moortown and Ardboe had three players on the tyrone team who I knew very well. In fact, the player marking me, Fay Devlin, lives close to me than any of my colleagues on the Derry team DERRY WERE SUPER-CHARGED FOR THE DOWN GAME. COULD THEY RELAX A LITTLE BEFORE THE DONEGAL MATCH: No, not in the slightest. Donegal have consistently been one of the best counties in Ulster in recent years. This is their fourth Ulster Final in a row, so they are no strangers to Clones. Derry have failed to beat Donegal in the last 20 years of Ulster Championship football. Therefore, we have our work cut out and we would need to perform at our best to have a chance to win DERRY, AT THE MOMENT, HAVE A TREMENDOUS PANEL OF PLAYERS. FOR INSTANCE, JOE BROLLY AND EAMONN BURNS COULD BE COMPETING FOR YOUR PLACE. DOES THIS STRENGTH IN DEPTH KEEP ALL THE PLAYERS ON THEIR TOES: It does, believe me. The competition for places, especially in the forwards is intense. Most counties would give them their right arm for players like Joe Brolly, Eamonn Burns, Collie McGurk, Eugene Heaney to mention but a few. You have to be at your best in every game, because you know there is a man on the bench who could do your job every bit as well TEAM MANAGER EAMONN COLEMAN HAS DONE A GREAT JOB WITH DERRY. IS HE THE MAN TO LEAD DERRY TO ALL-IRELAND GLORY: I certainly hope and believe so. Eamonn has assembled together a tremendously talented panel. He has given us belief in ourselves that we can win national honours and he has already led us to the National League and an Ulster final place. As for All-Ireland glory, we will just take each game as it comes WHAT IS HE LIKE AS A MANAGER: He is a brilliant motivator and his man management is second to none. He knows how to get the best from his players, and he has given us a tremendous sense of self-belief YOUR VIEWS ABOUT DONEGAL: As I said earlier, Donegal have a tremendous record in recent years. They have an excellent manager in Brian McEniff and they will be very well prepared for the Ulster Final. They have super players in Tony Boyle, Declan Bonner, Martin and James McHugh and they play a lovely brand of football. We will be showing them the utmost respect IT WOULD BE A WRENCH FOR DERRY TO COME SO FAR AND YET FAIL AT THE DONEGAL HURDLE. CAN YOU SURMOUNT THIS FENCE ON SUNDAY: All finals are so-so and this one is no different. It will be down to the team that performs on the day. This Derry side is very talented and very capable but the only prediction I will make is that every Derry player will be giving 100% Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 10th July 1992 Vol 2 No 63 Tweet

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