NAME: Brian McCormick DATE OF BIRTH: 28/1/72 HEIGHT: 6'2" WEIGHT: 13 st 10llb CLUB: Erin's Own, Lavey COUNTY: Derry HONOURS: 1 All-Ireland Club Championship, 2 Ulster Club Championships, 3 County Football Championships, 2 County Hurling Championships, 2 Hogan Cups, 1 Ulster Minor Football, 1 Ulster Minor Hurling INTER-COUNTY DEBUT: McKenna Cup v Tyrone PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Student, Queens University Belfast TOUGHEST OPPONENT: The next one FAVOURITE GROUNDS: Casement Park, Belfast; Croke Park FAVOURITE POSITION: Centre half forward SPORTING AMBITION: For the moment to help Lavey to a second All-Ireland club DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER SPORTS: Golf occasionally BOYHOOD HEROES: John Egan, Anthony McGurk FAVOURITE PLAYERS (CLUB AND COUNTY): Colm O'Rourke ANY GOOD SPORTING YARN: Colm McGurk claims he carries the Lavey forward line on his back (his shoulders are hardly broad enough for that) BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON CAREER: My father and Adrian McGuckin WAYS OF IMPROVING THE GAME: More contribution from umpires and linesmen DISLIKES ABOUT THE GAA: Lack of appreciation of other sports BEST GAME SEEN: Offaly v Kerry 1982 PLAYERS WITH A PROMISING FUTURE: Carl Diamond (Derry) HOPES FOR 1993: To be as successful as possible with the teams I am involved in ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO SUNDAY'S BIG GAME WITH O'DONOVAN ROSSA: Yes, this is the most important game we've had since Salthill in the 1991 final. With both teams playing an open brand of football, it should be a great game LAVEY, A SMALL COMMUNITY BUT A TERRIFIC RECORD IN THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP IN RECENT TIMES. WHAT'S YOUR SECRET: Lavey have many good individual players who pull together and play as a unit. Also, even though we are a relatively small parish, we have a huge and vociferous support which is a great advantage to the team YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH A DIFFICULT ULSTER CAMPAIGN, ONLY WINNING SOME MATCHES BY THE MINIMUM OF MARGINS: Throughout Ulster we played many good teams from Ramor United in the preliminary round, to Burren in the Ulster Final, but on the day we seem to have the ability to survive in tight situations. This is probably due to the fact that we don't panic, even when playing badly WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE CORK AND MUNSTER CHAMPIONS: We have watched a video of them playing in this year's Munster final, a game which they won quite easily in the end. They seem to play a good brand of attacking football in which possession of the ball is the key. Their players are comfortable on the ball and many of them can score both goals and points when they get the opportunity LAVEY HAVE HOME ADVANTAGE AS IN 1991, WHEN YOU BEAT THOMAS DAVIS OF DUBLIN IN THE SEMIS. IT WILL BE A BIG PLUS FACTOR TO YOU: Playing at home is an advantage in that we have played in Ballinascreen many times before, whereas Skibbereen have not. Even so, I feel the home advantage will not sway the result one way or the other. The outcome will be decided by which of the two teams wants to win the most. Both teams can play good football, so commitment and desire to win will be the major factors, not the fact that it is a home game for us DID YOU PLAY IN THE 1991 FINAL AGAINST SALTHILL: Yes, I lined out that day at centre half forward. It was the culmination of a great year in my first full season with the Lavey team YOU GOT ON THE SCORESHEET THAT DAY: I managed to score 1-6 (0-5 from frees) in the final against Salthill which I suppose was a bonus for me personally BRIAN MCCORMACK WAS LAVEY'S MAIN SCOREGETTER IN 1992: I'm not sure who Lavey's main scorer was in '92. That I am the team's freetaker, along with John McGurk, means that both John and I get to finish off the moves that the rest have contributed to. In fact, I would like to start to improve the numbers of scores that I am getting from play WHO ARE THE OTHER DERRY COUNTY PLAYERS INVOLVED WITH LAVEY: Lavey have five players involved with Derry at present - John and Colm McGurk, Seamus and Henry Downey and myself. Eleven in all of the Lavey players have represented Derry at senior level in either football or hurling HAVE YOU PLAYED SENIOR COUNTY FOOTBALL: Although this is my first full year on the county panel, I have played a few games for the Derry seniors in the past YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE AMBITIONS OF STAKING A PLACE ON THE COUNTY TEAM: Yes, it would be nice to get on the county team, as Derry have a fine team with great potential at the moment. But with so much competition for places, especially in the forwards, not even established players are sure of their place. All I can do is try my best and hopefully be successful IN RECENT YEARS, LAVEY AND DUNGIVEN, THE DERRY CHAMPS OF 1991, HAVE ESTABLISHED A GREAT CLUB RIVALRY: Yes, both clubs have been vying for county honours over the last couple of seasons, with some great games being served up. In 1990 we beat Dungiven in the county semi final and managed to go on to win the All-Ireland. We lost in 91 to Dungiven, but in 92 manage to regain the title WHO WOULD BE THE OTHER TOP GUNS IN THE DERRY CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP: The other top teams in Derry over the past couple of seasons have been Ballinascreen, who reached both the '90 and '92 finals and Newbridge, the champions of '89 A NUMBER OF THE LAVEY PLAYERS ARE QUITE USEFUL HURLERS. DO YOU PLAY THE GAME: Yes, we have nine players who feature for both the Lavey senior football and hurling teams, including myself. Unfortunately, I missed the hurling championship this year, as I fractured my cheek-bone in the county football final against Ballinascreen YOU GO TO UNIVERSITY. DO YOU PLAY FOOTBALL THERE: I played full forward for the Queen's team which lost in the Sigerson Cup final by two points to UCG last year. Unfortunately, due to my commitments to Lavey, I simply haven't had the time to play this year LAVEY TO WIN SUNDAY'S GAME AND TO GO ON AND REGAIN THEIR ALL-IRELAND CLUB TITLE: As they say, we are taking one game at a time and we are thinking no further than Skibbereen on Sunday. It will be a good, closely fought game with the winning margin being no more than one or two points. As I've said before, it will be the team who wants the victory more that'll be in the All-Ireland Final on St. Patricks Day Taken from Hogan Stand magazine 19th February 1993 Vol 3 No 7 Tweet

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