In the moments after Derry defeated Down in the 1993 Ulster quarter-final, a baby step in the county winning its first ever All-Ireland title, Tony Scullion met supporters on the pitch at Páirc Esler.
Scullion was already a two-time All-Star at that stage and would go on to win two more. He'd been Man of the Match when Derry won the Ulster title six years previous.
During the final game of that season's National League - the era when it was played pre and post the New Year - Scullion had broken his ankle against Louth.
He had a cast taken off two weeks before the game against Down. Derry manager Eamonn Coleman quizzed his star man marker, the one who often put the squeeze on the opposition's most potent forward, about his fitness.
Scullion's desire to play for Derry meant he was never going to give anything other than an affirmative nod about his physical state even though it was too soon for him to line out. He was tasked with marking Mickey Linden.
15 January 2024; Former Derry footballer Tony Scullion attends the launch of TG4's award-winning Laochra Gael series at the Light House Cinema in Dublin as the Gaelic sport biography series returns for another season. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
"I did a quick turn and by the time I got to the ball my legs were starting to feel like jelly," Scullion recalled in his episode of TG4's Laochra Gael series which aired this week.
"I went down to pick the ball up and I fell on my mouth and nose. Mickey Linden came in, picked it up and kicked it over the bar. I says, 'This is not good'."
Coleman called Scullion ashore just 10 minutes into the game. Supporters called time on his career.
"Even though Derry had won in Newry, I felt I'd let the team down," Scullion said .
"That day after I was replaced after 10 minutes, there were people coming [up to me], who didn't mean any harm, they were shaking my hand saying 'Tony you had a great career. Fair play to you Tony, you'll always be remembered in Derry'. That hurt me.
"It made me so determined. I was never going to quit at that. Never was I going to be remembered for that. That can become public opinion. That can swell around the county, 'Tony, great fella, but the ankle finished him'.
"Eamonn and the management team backed me. Our next game was against Monaghan. Eamonn looked at me in the changing room and said, 'Boy, you have three weeks'.
"When it came to the Monaghan game, I was just so determined. That game was so important to me in every way because I had to go back out and prove myself again."
Scullion started against Monaghan as Derry won by eight points and he retained his spot of the Ulster final against the reigning All-Ireland champions Donegal.
On a day when St Tiernanch's Park was more puddle than pitch, Derry won 0-8 to 0-6. "You as well have worn slippers or had bare feet because there was no grip out there on the field," Scullion said.
Late in the game, Scullion pulled off a crucial block on Manus Boyle as he struck the ball towards the Derry goal. "I'm not sure if there's ever been a better block in Gaelic football," Scullion's teammate Enda Gormley says in the show. Just as he had been in 1987, Scullion was Man of the Match for Derry.
19 September 1993; Enda Gormley is congratulated by a supporter after victory over Cork, as manager Eamonn Coleman and players Tony Scullion and Anthony Tohill, right, await the presentation. All-Ireland Football Championship Final, Derry v Cork, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
In the build-up to the All-Ireland semi-final against Dublin, Coleman brought in a sports psychologist to work with the Derry players. It was a novel approach in those days.
"He never came near me or (Brian) McGilligan," Scullion said.
"I don't think the reception would have been great. He went to certain players, but did he come to me? No. I think he knew that he couldn't make any sense of me."
Scullion stuck to Dublin's Vinny Murphy "like a magnet" in the semi-final. Derry found themselves five points down at half-time but took over at midfield early in the second half. Johnny McGuirk kicked the winner to set up the first ever Cork vs Derry All-Ireland final. It was also Derry's first time in the final since 1958.
Derry won the final by three points, twice coming back from the setback of conceding goals to Cork.
"I just couldn't believe that this had happened to me. That coming on 32, I'd won the All-Ireland for Derry," said Scullion.
"I took the cup down 22 Carnamoney Lane and placed the Sam Maguire Cup on my father's knee.
"I'm proud of myself.
"I'm proud of what I've done because I know where I've come from. I always say that I come from the rushes. It took me a while to get out of the rushes but when I got out of it, I realised I could stand shoulder to shoulder with anybody."
