Life is a ball for Dessie Loughrey!

Dessie Loughrey has spent most of his life on a football pitch in one form or another and has plenty of stories to tell.

From being a marked man as he tortured teams with his skill and electric pace - legendary journalist Malcolm Brodie once dubbed him as the fastest thing on two legs - to almost missing a top-flight game he was due to referee at!

What’s harder - being a footballer, a referee or a photographer?

Definitely being a footballer. There are more downs involved with football. One of the worst was back in 1989. I was in the Ballymena team and playing well, but we were set to play Ballyclare in the Irish Cup. The pitch was really heavy and Alex McKee decided to leave me out of the game as he didn’t want me getting injured. Unfortunately though I ended up being out of the team for a while as the guys won and went on a great run before going on to lift the Cup and I missed out playing in the final.

It was tough in those early days. I used to go up to Ballymena on a Monday and Thursday night for training. I either had to thumb a lift or go on the bus for two hours. I would have got to Ballymena about 6pm and walked the streets until it was time to go to training. On Saturdays I ended up getting the bus to Coleraine about 8.30am, getting breakfast before thumbing a lift to Ballymena, somenights I didn’t get home until 11pm. All that for £15 per week!

Those were the sacrifices you had to make and the dedication you had to show, and I would do it all again.

Best manager you worked with?

Without doubt Alex McKee, in fact I would say he is the best manager Ballymena has had. He brought me to the club and we had a good run winning the Irish Cup and finishing second or third in the league. He was a gentleman, a player’s manager. I played under nine or ten managers and probably Jim Hagan is the only one to run him close.

Is there anyone you played against who never gave you a kick of the ball?

I don’t think there were too many if I’m being honest. I had some great battles with Alan Dornan and Gregg Davidson down the years.

You had to be up for the battle back then as those boys were tough characters. They would have tried to have beat you before you even stepped on to the pitch! It always gave me a boost though when I heard opposition managers talking about me.

I remember Marty Quinn saying that if you stopped me you stopped Ballymena, and David Jeffrey said they would have tried to stop me playing at all costs.

Was it a tough decision to leave Ballymena United for rivals Coleraine?

I know a few Ballymena fans would have probably questioned me when I left there to join Coleraine, but it probably wasn’t the worst decision for me. I had been at Ballymena for ten years, and the club was in a bit of a transition period. I was also fed up travelling. A few clubs were at me to come and join them, but I spoke with Kenny Shiels and asked me to come and give it a go.

No matter where or when I was playing I would always give 100 per cent, even if it was out in the backyard! Unfortunately Coleraine never really saw the best of me. The first season was okay, but I picked up a bad injury in the second season. The people were really good to me at Coleraine, but if I’m being honest it probably didn’t feel right playing there. Ballymena definitely got my best years.

Best player you played with and played against?

The best player I played with was John Garrett at Ballymena. He was consistently good, a great professional and leader, always gave 100 per cent, and was a gentleman on and off the pitch. Phil Byrne was very underrated and a great lad. The best player I played against was probably Alan Dornan. He would have tried to have kicked you from the first minute to the last, we had some great battles though and some great banter.

Glenn Dunlop was also another great player. I remember playing against the Crues one day and he was beating the life out of me, but I started to wind him up and his game went to pot! Mark Glendinning was another top player. It was a different era back then.

Who did you enjoy scoring against the most?

Linfield, without a doubt! I loved games against the Blues and I scored a lot of goals against them, but I took a lot of stick from their fans too. It was that bad at times the rest of my team wouldn’t warm up with me! I remember scoring against them once and running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of them. T

hey had the last laugh one day though as I got on the train in Bellarena to travel up to a game and run into a crowd of Linfield fans. Things were starting to look a bit hairy and my kit bag with my boots ended up being thrown out the window of the train! Thankfully I knew the conductor and he ushered me away. I had to sit with the train driver before being escorted off at Coleraine.

Thankfully I get on well with the Linfield fans now and I’m always given a warm welcome when I go up to Windsor. When I look back I realise they were giving me stick because I was playing well. If I hadn’t been they wouldn’t have been bothered.

Best goal you scored?

It was against Carrick Rangers. I picked up the ball in my own 18-yard box and set off on a run. I must have beat about six or seven players, who were all sliding in to try and stop me. I always remember one guy shouting “Keep him on his right!”. But I cut inside and curled it home with my left foot. The only disappointing thing was the TV cameras weren’t there! I can remember it vividly though, in fact I have a good memory of all the goals I scored.

When you look back at your playing career do you have any regrets?

My biggest regret is not getting on in the Irish Cup final back in 1989. That was my first year at the club, I had joined from Roe Valley after scoring 46 goals. Alex McKee took a chance on me, I remember my first game was against Coleraine and I ended up getting Man of the Match in the Saturday Night. Two weeks before the final I got a bad knock, and back in those days there was only two subs and I was one of them. It killed me not getting on. I ended up giving my medal away to a Ballymena fan. To me memories are more important than medals.

How do you rate the standard of league now?

Back when I was playing when you played Glentoran there could have been six internationals on the pitch, you wouldn’t get anywhere near that now. I would class myself as a natural footballer. I always had a ball at my feet growing no matter where I went. We grew up playing on the street. I always thought the Belfast players were brilliant because they all grew up learning how to play on the streets, and being able to dribble with the ball with both feet. In our day we were encouraged to run at men and beat them, which created excitement.

Nowadays it’s all about possession and it would bore you to tears. I just feel footballers now are manufactured and kids are coached to death. To be honest, if I wasn’t working at games taking pictures I wouldn’t be at it. I would rather watch rugby.

Have you ever got lost going to a ground to referee?

For some reason I always seemed to get lost going to Mourneview Park. I was down to referee Glenavon v Portadown, it was an evening kick-off and Davy Walker, who was travelling with me, was fourth official. I think it was one of his first senior games.

Anyway I said to the lads we would be okay as I had the Sat Nav plugged in. But for some reason it took us the wrong way and at 7.20pm we were lost with the game due to start at 7.45pm! We managed to get some directions, the Sat Nav was fired out the window and we eventually got to the ground five minutes before kick-off!

It turned out to be a brilliant game and I thought I personally had a great game, but I was marked down by the assessor for being late which annoyed me.

Why did you stop being a referee?

My mum was diagnosed with cancer and I had to take her for her treatment, so I felt I couldn’t devote my time to it. I have always given 100 per cent when I do anything, and once that is not possible then I don’t see the point in doing it.

I was growing frustrated with some of the rules as well though. I was okay to referee the likes of Linfield and Glentoran when they played in a league game, but I couldn’t referee them if they played in an Irish Cup final as I wasn’t a Fifa referee. For me that was a stupid rule.

One funny story was we were given heart monitor watches as part of the fitness regime and all the data was downloaded every so often. I got a call from them one day and they said I needed to go and see the doctor as my data had shown up a heart murmur. The thing is I had given the monitor to my wife to wear some of the time and it was her data that was showing the murmur! I had to let them know, but I suppose the positive side of it was she got diagnosed.

What are your views on how the season should be concluded this year?

It’s a hard one as this virus is bad and it’s having a serious impact on everything. I would love to see the league finished as it has been one of the best in years. I feel sorry for clubs still having to pay players when there’s no income. I don’t know how they will decide things like who plays in Europe if it doesn’t get finished.

For me they should probably follow what happens with the Premier League. If they can play behind closed doors maybe they should, but if no more games are played then I don’t think teams should be given titles.

Do you enjoy being a photographer?

I really enjoy doing it. I’ve been used to working under pressure my whole life. It gives me great satisfaction getting a great pic. Only change I would make is getting clubs to put numbers on the front of the kits as well as the back. It would certainly help us trying to process pictures!

What your favourite picture that you’ve taken?

It has to be the one I took of Michael O’Neill and Steven Davis walking off the pitch at Windsor Park (below). That picture tells the story. I also got a good one of Niall McGinn scoring for Northern Ireland. I had sat in a different place to 90 per cent of the other photographers that night, and when he scored he turned and ran straight down the barrel of my lens. I could have kissed him!

It’s all about getting that back page pic. There’s nothing as frustrating as thinking you have a great pic only for it to be slightly out of focus or for someone to step into the frame at the last minute.

Where does your nickname ‘Chicken’ come from?

My legs have always been like knitting needles, matchsticks with hair! But my thighs were big so they looked like chicken drumsticks!

Also when I was young I fell and broke my leg disco dancing in the living room, shortly after I broke my other ankle, so I had two casts on, and people said I was walking like a chicken so between those two things the name just stuck.