Anton Tohill getting Ahead of the Game

By John Harrington

Anton Tohill’s long awaited senior championship debut for Derry could come on Saturday against Armagh.

The son of Oak Leaf county legend Anthony, from a young age he was predicted to follow in his father’s footsteps but life has meant the path to this moment has been a winding one.

His outstanding athletic as well as footballing ability meant he spent three years with Collingwood in the AFL before returning home to pursue a medical degree in Queens.

He was immediately brought back into the Derry panel under Rory Gallagher but decided to step away from it to get himself back up to speed by playing regular club football with Swatragh.

Brought back in by Paddy Tally this year he quickly made himself a fixture in the team during the League before an injury in the final match of the campaign ruled him out of their Ulster SFC opener against Donegal.

“At the start of the second-half I went to flick a kick-out on and unfortunately got a fist straight through the back of my hand and I knew it was broke straight away but had to play the rest of the game out because I knew I wouldn't get much football played for a few weeks after it,” says Tohill.

“The adrenalin and the desire not to let your team-mates down keeps you going. If you can give enough of yourself that you're able to compete and help your team then you're not going to stop.

“It's never something you want to happen to you, though. I was getting good game time, I started all the League games, and was looking forward to having a run in the Ulster Championship.

“It would have been brilliant to start my first championship game for Derry but these things happen to the best of us and I count myself fortunate that will allow me to get a bit of football played before the end of the year.”

It was bad timing, but Tohill isn’t the type to feel too sorry for himself.

Still only 25, he’s already experienced a lot in sport, and his time in Australia made him mentally as well as physically stronger.

“I suppose the resilience aspect…you hear the word thrown about a bit, about the importance of trying to build resilience, but nothing quite shapes you like going away from home, as far away as you can, to play a sport you've never played before at the top level straight away,” he says.

“You're going in and you're immediately the worst on the list, the worst at the game, and you're having to really build yourself up block by block. That realisation and that humbling experience can really allow you to build that resilience and the appetite for improving and showing people what you're capable of and bringing that to the fore.

“It was probably something similar when I came back to play Gaelic here. When I came home from Australia I was obviously very raw in Gaelic and had to take a bit of time away from the top level to try to build myself back up so I could contribute at county level which is a real privilege.

“I've had to build that realisation that it's not always going to be easy at the start but if you keep at it then things will look after themselves.”

Tohill’s life experience and his open nature has made him a hugely popular facilitator with the Movember ‘Ahead of the Game’ mental health literacy programme which highlights the importance of building mental fitness to deal with the challenges life and sport can throw at anyone.

Delivered through local GAA clubs and facilitated by GPA members who are current and former players, Ahead of the Game has reached almost 9,500 young players, parents, and coaches in all 32 counties and teaches participants to understand mental health, build resilience, and support one another both on and off the pitch.

“It's something that I'm very, very fortunate to have had the opportunity to do and I enjoy every single session,” says Tohill.

“I got involved in August of 2023 and have been doing it since then. I've been around a number of clubs all round Ulster trying to spread some of the knowledge and strategies that we can to improve peoples' mental heath literacy.

“We've had some wonderful sessions where people have been really vulnerable and open in the session and we're very well coached and trained in how we deliver them. We got loads of good instruction in that and it is a very encouraging environment for people to chat in.

“Some of the revelations have been fantastic and have really fostered a great sense of community, camaraderie, and teamwork among people. It's fantastic. That goes for both young people and older people as well.

“In the adult session people get loads of joy out of that because they don't get exposed to mental health or any conversation around mental health throughout their life until something like that.”

Tohill is a natural communicator who draws on his own life experiences to connect with both the young people and adults who attend the Movember ‘Ahead of the Game’ sessions.

He’s partly motivated by the regret that he wasn’t armed with some of the information he’s now imparting when he was younger himself.

“We introduce ourselves at the start and talk about who we are and why we're there. I'm a fourth year medical student at Queens in Belfast and I've really seen the full stress that mental health and mental illness puts on the healthcare system, both north and south of the border.

“Also personally I've had a couple of experiences with people in my life I've been around who have taken their own life through suicide. Whenever you have people like that gone you're always questioning could you have done more.

“I'm not saying if I had of had the programme I would have been able to stop that, but it's always something that you reflect on, that you could have had more of a conversation with people.

“One that springs to mind the most was Red Óg Murphy from Sligo who took his life three years ago. He was out in Melbourne at the same time as me and I would have spent a good bit of time with him there when he was there in his first year.

“As time passes you fall out of touch a wee bit with people and you're always thinking that if you had training like you have now and were exposed to what I do know now about the importance of keeping in touch with people and those connections you have in life it would have made it a lot easier for me to keep in touch with Red Óg and ask how he was getting on.”

Tohill’s desire to better himself is evident on the pitch as well as off it. He effectively had to re-learn how to play Gaelic football when he returned from Australia and is now excited by the challenge of proving himself at the very highest level of a sport again.

“I'm probably a bit different in so far as I missed out on a few years of development early as an adult when I was in Australia,” he admits.

“I was coming back into an elite environment because we're very ambitious and have made no bones about being ambitious when we won Ulster in 2022.

“When I took a step away from the county panel it was just to try to play a bit more football. I had only played seven and a half games of Gaelic football in around four and a half years.

“So whenever you're not playing that much I felt like I needed to go and work on my craft a bit and actually get a wee bit of game-sense back and improve my skills and improve my ability to play ultimately with a view to coming back and playing at county level.

“Now you're back it's a privilege as everyone who plays county football or hurling will say. It's a privilege to represent where you come from and I'm loving being back and challenging myself to try to get better as a player and as a team-mate and to be able to contribute more and more every time I go out on the pitch.”

The impact of the new FRC rule enhancements means that Tohill’s contribution could be an invaluable one in the All-Ireland series for Derry.

During the Allianz Football League 47% of kick-outs went beyond the 65m line and 67% of kick-outs were contested so having big ball winners in the middle third is now crucial.

Standing 6’7’’ in his socks, Tohill is made for that aerial battle zone and could be a vital piece in the jigsaw that team manager Paddy Tally is trying to put together.

They’ve had seven weeks to prepare for Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC group phase clash with Armagh, and the noises coming out of the camp have been positive.

Tohill sees no reason why they can’t have a big say in the destination of the Sam Maguire Cup this year.

“We'd be really bullish about our ability and what we think we're capable of. I think whenever we've everyone out an we're going at full tilt we're really confident that our style of football can be successful at the top level.

“I think Armagh showed everyone last year what can be achieved. They were written off almost after coming out of Division Two and not being able to win that to then going on to win the Sam Maguire.

“There's absolutely no reason why we can't be there ourselves. That's the ultimate goal for myself and the playing group. It's something we're all very excited to achieve but there's a lot of work to do before then.”

For more information on the Movember 'Ahead of the Game' mental health literacy programme, go HERE.