Fictional Donegal footballer will be the centrepiece of new GAA feature

A fictional Donegal footballer will feature in a new GAA venture that tests Irish identity and amateur tradition.

The story centres on Sean Óg Doherty, a legendary Donegal footballer who takes money from American sports marketing titan Mike Riley to join a London exile team in a controversial push for the All-Ireland title. Amid the clash of ambition and tradition, Doherty confronts redemption through a family connection to the Croke Park tragedy of November 21, 1920.

Donal O'Neill, co-founder of the Gaelic Players Association and director of multiple high-rated documentaries, including First Do No Pharm, announced his feature fiction directorial debut: Jones' Road, a 1995-set period sports drama that intertwines a fictional professional Gaelic football experiment with the legacy of Bloody Sunday 1920, is currently in pre-production.

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"As a young girl, my grandmother Ellen McKnight (née Brady) from Leitrim was on Jones' Road when the shots rang out in 1920," O'Neill said. "She carried that memory her entire life. Jones' Road opens with a reminder of Bloody Sunday and closes with its echo - exploring what we choose to remember, what we refuse to forget, and the enduring cost of challenging the status quo."

O'Neill's perspective draws from his time at IMG under legendary agent Mark McCormack in the mid-1990s - the exact era depicted - where global sport professionalised rapidly, even as the GAA held firm to amateurism. Before co-founding the GPA in 1999, he witnessed those transformative conversations firsthand.

"Those IMG discussions on player value, commercial rights, and what athletes truly deserved were worlds apart from the GAA's reality," O'Neill explained. "That authentic tension infuses the script with the chaos of change."

O'Neill brings more than a decade of acclaimed documentary work, including the viral Cereal Killers, Run on Fat: Cereal Killers 2, The Big Fat Fix, Extra Time: Know Your Score, and *First Do No Pharm. Double All-Ireland winner James McCartan, part of the Down teams in 1991 and 1994, joins as Gaelic football consultant for period accuracy.

O'Neill's GAA roots run deep: Hogan Cup winner with St Colman's, son of Down All-Ireland winner Kevin O'Neill, nephew of Team of the Millennium member Seán O'Neill, and former Irish track and field international.

"This isn't just a sports film," O'Neill said. "It's about a country wrestling with its past while racing toward a global future. The GAA has always embodied culture, identity, and memory - Jones' Road asks what happens when those forces collide with money, ambition, and the weight of history. I lived that collision."

Production will develop with partners in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, featuring one-third Irish-language dialogue. Pre-production is underway, with casting announcements forthcoming.

A former Irish international athlete, Hogan Cup winner, and member of a storied Down GAA family, O'Neill brings unmatched authenticity to Irish sports narratives. Jones' Road marks his feature fiction directorial debut.