One Donegal player is guaranteed an early touch of the ball in the All-Ireland

Getting an early touch of the ball is something every player hopes for in a big match to help them to relax, shake off any early jitters and quickly get into the rhythm of the game.

One Buncrana player is guaranteed an early touch of the ball in Sunday’s All-Ireland final - but it’s not Caolan McGonagle we’re talking about.

Ten-year-old Cormac McConnell has been handed a very special role at Croke Park: he’ll present the match ball to referee Brendan Cawley ahead of throw-in.
Cormac, who is the son of David and Aisling McConnell, won’t of course be the only Buncrana man taking to the Croke Park turf on Sunday and following in the footsteps of Ryan Bradley and Darach O'Connor.

Caolan McGonagle has been named amongst the Donegal substitutes by manager Jim McGuinness, and having made a big impact on his return from injury during the semi-final win over Meath, the towering centre half back is a dead cert to play at some stage during the final.

Read more: Donegal squad named for Sunday's All-Ireland senior football final

Cormac is a fan of his clubmate Caolan but the Scoil Íosagáin pupil, who plays for the Buncrana under-10 footballers, names Finnbarr Roarty as his favourite player.

Young McConnell will get the opportunity to watch the game from a seat in the stand and will be keeping a close eye on referee Brendan Cawley over the 70 minutes.

One of the tasks the All-Ireland final referee has is to present the match ball to the winning team captain.

While Cormac McConnell will have the honour of presenting Brendan Cawley with the match ball beforehand, he and all of Donegal will be hoping the O’Neills size five is delivered by the referee back into the hands of Patrick McBrearty come 5.30pm on Sunday.