John Gerard McGettigan
Interview By Bartley Ramsay

Only three players can boast of a long association with Finn Harps, Jim Sheridan captain of the Cup winning side in 1974, Con McLaughlin the only Donegal man to score over a hundred goals in the League of Ireland and the man whom we honour here today John Gerard McGettigan. In his own words he would like to be remembered as “a person who gave good service to the club and for helping them into the Premier Division where they belong. I was never tempted to leave the club despite being based in Wicklow Town as I enjoyed playing with Harps and as each summer passed I thought the following season would bring promotion.” Further he added “and besides no other team asked me to join them!”

John G. started playing football like most other boys of his era kicking a ball around with some friends from the age of six or seven. He started playing organised football thanks to the likes of Paddy McBride in Milford about two years later. He played all his underage football for Milford United, which was a very successful side under the tutelage of Fr Michael Herrity. In tandem with that he also starred in his school side Loreto, in Milford reaching the Ulster Schools Final in 1984 which also was his Leaving Certificate year.

At this stage he was also training with the Finn Harps side. The invitation to join Harps was extended by then manager Patsy McGowan after John G had been involved in a youth tournament in Coleraine. Patsy was part of the management set up and liked what he saw. Indeed a youthful McGettigan appeared in the squad photo for Harps back in 1983, however, it wasn’t until the following season that he was to make his bow as a Senior player. In the 1984/85 season he found his appearances restricted and was loaned out to Milford United to play in the Donegal Premier League where they finished runners up.

The following season, despite being at Thomond College, in Limerick he was involved in the panel for the entire season. It was during this season that he won his two youth caps both played in Tolka Park, the first in a six-three win over Northern Ireland and the second in a two-nil win against Iceland. Names of note from that international panel were the Dolan brothers Pat and Eamonn, Gary Kelly and Declan Bonner, who also had spells with Harps when his GAA career allowed it. Liam Tuohy was the manager but Noel O’Reilly and Brian Kerr were also in the background.

John Gerard made the tough decision at the end of the season to leave Harps as he was finding it difficult to travel to and from Harps matches from Limerick and ended up joining Newcastlewest then plying their trade in the First Division along with Harps. However, his memories of his time with the Co. Limerick club revolve around the team bus “which was a converted prison bus, complete with bullet proof windows”, this he says with a laugh “was to protect them from rowdy opposition fans.”

Numbered among them could have been a number of the Harps faithful after a match in February 1987 when Harps lodged protest about the eligibility of John Gerard. It was alleged that he appeared against Harps reserve side for Milford United earlier in the season. However, the FAI threw out Harps protest when it was found that Newcastlewest had correctly signed him. Further representative honours came his way when the Irish Universities capped him while at Thomond.

He stayed for three seasons, while he completed his studies then returned to Harps in 1989. At that stage he had a choice of two teaching jobs. One in Athlone which offered around twenty hours a week, and the other in Wicklow offering around fifteen hours a week, both of which were part time. There was no choice in the one he would pick. Derek Wilkinson the then Harps Chairman lived just up the road in Bray and that swung the decision in favour of the Wicklow School. The two of them became travelling partners on the long haul up to Donegal. He had joined a young school and knew that it was going to grow anyway and that a full time position would eventually come in the school. He and the family are perfectly happy in Wicklow Town, and there are no immediate plans to return to Donegal.

Throughout Harps long sojourn in the First Division, the name of John Gerard McGettigan remained a constant on the teamsheet. It was fitting then that in the Play Off matches in the 1993/94 season against Cobh Ramblers the name of McGettigan appeared as the scorer of Harps solitary goal. Harps manager was again Patsy McGowan and the Ballybofey man gets the nod as the best manager that he has played under. When one considers that only three managers have not had John Gerard available to them, namely Eunan Blake, Chris Rutherford and current incumbent Gavin Dykes it speaks volumes for McGowan. Indeed John G goes on to comment “Several people influenced my career but none more so than Patsy, he introduced me to senior football and gave me a lot of advice when I was younger. Every manager has his faults and Patsy is no exception, but he is the best I have played under.”

While he regards winning promotion with Harps as the highlight of his career in the 1995/96 season it also turned out to be a good season personally for the Milford man. He played on the National League Division One side that played the English Semi-Professional side at Kidderminster. Team-mate Jonathan Speak played alongside him while Lee Hughes who is now at West Brom played for the opposition. At the end of the season he was selected on the National League First Divison side.

He remembers a goal against Kilkenny City (he thinks it was the 1994/95 season) as the best goal he scored. He recalls “I picked the ball up on the half-way line, went on a mazy run and scored from about twenty yards out.” He is however, reticent about the best players he has played with saying “I have played with and against too many good players to narrow it down to just a few.”

When asked as to whether or not he missed being involved with Finn Harps he states “To be honest, I haven’t missed it yet. I now have a lot more of time to spend with my family and do other things.” The family consists of his wife Nicola, another Donegal native, and their three children, Niamh who is five, Kieran four and Rioghna who is just 18 months. He says it is hard to tell if Kieran will follow in his father’s footsteps as he prefers to play with his Nintendo as opposed to a football.

He has no regrets deciding to retire from the National League scene and is hoping to turn out for local club Arklow Town in the Leinster Senior League provided the niggling injuries he has picked up since having his knee operated on clear up. At the time of writing he is still seeing the specialist. He finds it easy to travel down the road to training in Arklow, which is only twenty minutes away. The match now only takes up Sunday afternoon instead of all weekend. It is the best pitch in Leinster Senior League with fine facilities to back it up.

While he would like to earn some of the money in the game nowadays he feels that the demands made by managers on players are increasing. He feels that some of the money being paid to players is ridiculous and sees the top Dublin clubs as the main culprits and feels that Harps could suffer in trying to compete with them. He would like to see more young players brought through by Harps trying to offset the need to buy players, he also feels there is enough talent in Donegal to support the local side. All in all something akin to his own humble beginnings with Harps.