BY THE SLEDGER
columnists@gaeliclife.com
There are few things in life more nerve-wracking than the days leading up to a game with your deadliest rivals.
Yes, exams bring a certain amount of stress; the hours before a first date can cause trepidation; and the morning of your wedding brings a few butterflies. But nothing makes you feel quite as queasy as a derby.
Local rivalry is the very essence of Gaelic games, and is part of what makes all sports great,
but the build-up to such an encounter is about as enjoyable as a fortnight in the Helmand province.
It's even worse if it's a championship, lose-and-you're-out game.
There's nothing like beating the team you 'hate' the most; however there's also no feeling as bad as losing to them.
On Wednesday one of the great GAA derbies takes place when Queen's University Belfast face University of Ulster Jordanstown in the quarter-finals of the Sigerson Cup.
It may not have the notoriety of Kerry v Cork, Dublin v Meath, Galway v Mayo or Tyrone v Derry, but it is no less intense and is arguably much fiercer.
The rivalry is unique because often players from the opposing sides share houses, share drinks and (sometimes) share girlfriends.
Friendships forged in the heat of MacRory battle count for nothing for 60 minutes when you're wearing different shirts at university, and club and county loyalties are cast aside for one afternoon.
Games between the two seats of learning, especially in the prestigious environment of Sigerson, are rarely anything other than fascinating, and are occasionally classics.
There is usually a bit of shadow boxing between the sides in the university league competition, the Ryan Cup, with both weakened by absentees due to club commitments. But come championship, there are no excuses.
Despite the laws of probability and the amount of teams involved, Queen's and the Poly have met surprisingly often at the business end of varsity's blue riband football tournament since Jordanstown were allowed to enter in 1985.
In 1990, better known now for the infamous Trinity boathouse row (pun intended), the Malone Road men beat UUJ in the last eight en route to lifting their first Sigerson since 1982, and no doubt that made the success all the sweeter.
But Jordanstown returned the favour the following year, defeating holders QUB on their home patch of the Dub at the same stage, and went on to keep the trophy in Ulster.
That 1991 match was a dour affair, with only 13 scores in the entire match, but it was a typical, uncompromising Sigerson slog: Lots of physicality, the odd dunt off the ball, and as was typical of the competition, some lesser lights outperforming better-known counterparts.
The Sledger's abiding memory of that encounter has nothing to do with football, but rather the sweetest uppercut ever seen outside the ring, with a player felled spectacularly. With referee none the wiser, and as the perpetrator jogged away along the sideline, one spectator cried out: 'I saw what you did, you dirty bastard, I saw what you did'; 'F**k up or you'll get the same' was the reply, which was as much out of character for the player as the punch itself.
He was apologetic after the match, but it highlights the intensity this game arouses, when friendships count for nothing in the heat of battle.
Two years later the Poly hosted the competition, and two talented sides met in the last four.
UUJ, with the likes of Tyrone's Mattie McGleenan, Ciaran McBride, Ronan McGarrity, and Jody Gormley, Fermanagh's Mark Gallagher and Brian Carty, Armagh's Gareth O'Neill, Down's Gary Mason and Derry's Karl Diamond lost to a star-studded QUB squad which included Armagh's Kieran McGeeney, Cathal O'Rourke and Andy McCann, Derry's Anthony Tohill and Eamonn Burns, Down's James McCartan, and Fermanagh's Paul Brewster and Paddy McGuinness.
That semi was the de facto final, as Queen's easily beat a Peter Canavan-inspired St Mary's in the decider.
Five years later the teams met once again in the semi-finals, in a ploughed field in Tralee, and once again there was an abundance of talent in both squads.
In conditions that looked more like a re-enactment of the Battle of the Somme, a Jordanstown line-up containing John and Tony McEntee, Derry's Sean Marty Lockhart, and Fermanagh's Raymie Johnston and Kieran Donnelly were too good for a Queen's panel powered by the likes of Armagh's Aidan O'Rourke, Enda McNulty, Justin McNulty and Diarmaid Marsden, Tyrone's Cormac McAnallen, Ciaran Gourley and Collie Holmes, Fermanagh's Tom Brewster, Donegal's Paddy Campbell, and Down's Simon Poland and Alan Molloy.
But the hosts IT Tralee All-Stars survived a last-gasp goal chance to win their second Sigerson Cup, and it was to be another seven years before the Belfast rivals met again.
Since 2005, Queen's and the Poly have meet every year in the latter stages of Sigerson, with UUJ losing on every occasion: A semi-final in Dundalk, another in DCU in 2006, and last year's epic final at the Dub all went QUB's way.
Motivation won't be lacking, with Queen's out to defend an unbeaten record at the Dub as well as aiming to retain the trophy, something they've never done, while the Poly have only to think of last year's extra-time loss in the decider when they seemed to have the game won in normal time.
Sigerson is a wonderful competition, which means as much to its participants as any Anglo-Celt or Sam Maguire Cup. Do yourself a favour and take the time off to go and watch what could be one of the games of the year.
