If they gave degrees for sheer passion, courage and determination then charismatic Fermanagh senior hurling team manager Joe Baldwin would have First Class honours.

For three weeks after suffering a “shocking stroke” he was back on the sideline to watch his boys give Leitrim a 1-26 to 1-05 hammering in the opening round of the NHL Division 3B in Ballinamore last Saturday.

By any standards that is phenomenal and just shows his great love for the game of hurling which he lyrically and beautifully describes as a “gift from the gods".

But there is another boy that is forever in Joe’s big heart as he lost his lovely son Conál to a rare heart condition called myocarditis on Christmas Eve 2012.

His stroke has brought back those memories of his gifted son who was a great hurler and whose young life ended so tragically.

For death and memories are the dark angels of Christmas.

Speaking about his stroke to The Impartial Reporter, Joe said it was like the wheels of his life had stopped turning.

“I can’t remember the exact day it happened, but I think it was on a Wednesday three weeks ago that it happened.

“I was working in Portstewart, and I was actually standing talking to two colleagues about hurling at the time.

“I just felt my voice beginning to slur and I could not really make sense of what I was saying, and I looked at the two boys and one of them knew that something was not quite right.

“And then I got a pins and needles sensation on the right side of my face which went sort of numb and it carried on down to my right arm.

“I knew myself that I was possibly having a TIA or a mini-stroke and I knew it could lead to a full stroke.

“So, one of them brought me back to the house here where I live in Coleraine and my partner Frances is a nurse in the hospital and she phoned the GP and he said to bypass him and go straight to the Causeway Hospital.

“It is only two miles from where we live.”

Joe underwent a series of tests and he felt “quite ill.”

“My vision wasn’t great, and a CT scan confirmed that I had a clot on my brain, and I had a stroke.

Joe was kept in for three days and tests are ongoing and he wanted to know where it came from and what were the chances of it recurring.

“I have to pay tribute to the Causeway Hospital and the medical stroke team on the ward who were absolutely brilliant.

“I was sent to Antrim Hospital for an MRI scan, and it actually came back clear on the Friday.

“My blood pressure and cholesterol were high, but my diet is good now but in years leading up to it my diet would not have been the best.”

“I was allowed to go home but it was a huge shock.

“I found it very strange, but the hurling is even more important to me now.

“I have been involved in hurling and camogie since 2009 in Down and my father captained Kilkeel to a county Intermediate hurling title back in 1981 and have been involved with a lot of teams in different counties.

“It’s a five-hour return drive from Coleraine to Fermanagh and maybe four hours at training and that is nine hours extra on your day.

“Maybe I have to take a look at things but in terms of hurling I think back to Christmas Eve in 2012 when I lost my lovely son Conál.

“That was a massive blow and he was only 12 and it was from a condition called myocarditis but we did not know this and he was a gifted hurler and footballer as you would have seen.

“He actually won the U-14 Féile skills at eleven years of age.

“Conál travelled with me to all the teams I took in Queen’s and Antrim and Down the whole time.

“This stroke has brought it all back and he never leaves my thoughts.”

Conál’s death was a crossroads in Joe’s life.

“I could have done two things.

“I could have walked away from hurling completely and never go near it but at that time I was actually making hurls.

“So hurling was more than a way of life for me - hurling was my life.

“I was living in Kilkeel then and my late father Pat, who came from County Waterford captained Kilkeel to a Down Intermediate championship title back in 1981 and I was the mascot, so hurling was very much in my blood.

“Conál is always with me but after his death winning became really important to me and I wanted to win as I was almost trying to prove something to Conál.

“I went to Crosserlough in Cavan, and we won a county senior league and championship title and a JHC title in Camogie.

“And then I took Ballela hurlers and we won a JHC and league double and I ended up going to Cloughmills last year and winning a JHC and the Feis while I was still managing Fermanagh.”

Joe has been with Fermanagh for five years and he has a special grá for the players and the county.

“It’s like anything, in business or anything, and it is about people.

“The players are just immense and if I asked them to go into the sea and swim to Scotland I know they would do it for me.

“You are smitten by the players, their sheer dedication and commitment to hurling draws you in and their belief is first class.

“Now we are a very small county, but we don’t use that as something to beat us up.

“Last year we were so unlucky not to retain Nicky Rackard status.

“We won a Lory Meagher Cup in 2021 and the NHL and this is what is driving us again trying to get success and to get Fermanagh to the next level.

“And I can’t thank Brian Armitage, Tom Boyle and Sean Burns enough for their great support of hurling and I am very aware that there is a massive drive through the Shane Mulholland Foundation in Fermanagh to promote underage hurling and we are conscious that what we are doing at senior level.

"We hope that we will inspire future generations to have the county picking from around half a dozen clubs instead of two.”

Baldwin knows he has quite a youthful side on his hands and is encouraged at the emergence of Belleek players like Odhran Johnston who played midfield last week, Ultan O’Reilly and Thomas Burns to boost the squad.

Significantly, Sean Corrigan is back from his travels and the gifted Tom Keenan is back from injury to boost their efforts.

“Three of the subs we brought on on Saturday were JP McGarry, Brian Teehan, a Tipperary native and Danny Teague, so we are growing in strength in depth all the time.

“Francis McBrien is injured at present and we hope he is back soon and Aidan Flanagan, who was young player of the year last year has yet to feature.

“There is serious hunger and ambition in the squad and it is worth every mile you drive up and down the road.”

And Joe has beefed up the backroom team.

“I have brought in a coach from Roscommon called Daithi Hand and Peter Galvin who are ex-county managers in their own right.

“And they have given a phenomenal lift and we have a new S& C coach from Loughgiel called Aaron Smylie and Seamus Breslin from Dublin and a sports psychologist called Annie Higgins from Rostrevor and Ollie McShea is looking after the logistics and the kit and it is a really good team.

“It took a while to put them together.”

Fermanagh had a good win over a Leitrim team that Joe feels had not the same amount of work as Fermanagh.

“We had a good pre-season with a few good wins over Cavan and QUB and we beat a Derry U20 side.”

But while it is a long road ahead, Joe says Fermanagh are already targeting winning the Division 3B NHL and regaining the Lory Meagher Cup.

“We want to hold both cups by the end of June and that is no secret.

“It is about winning, and I have a good track record of winning, so we know what it is to win and we have the heartache of just losing out last year.

“But any manager would say the same. We are getting there and we have a new hurler from Galway called Tommy Duane, who is playing with Lisbellaw and played at centre forward against Leitrim and he is a big strong mobile guy.

“It’s all moving in the right way.”

And, clearly, the hurling is helping him.

“I tell the boys every day to put a hurl in their hands as often as they can for as long as they can.

“I believe that hurling is the fastest and greatest field game in the world, and it is a gift from the gods and we are lucky to have it in Ireland.

“It is very much part of my DNA and part of Conál’s DNA and it was handed down from my father to me and to Conál and I am trying to bring that to the lads in Fermanagh.

“Hurling is very much a way of life and for all my family.”

It sure is Joe!