One of the greatest games, atmosphere wise, we played in - Damian Diver

As the Donegal team and supporters head west to King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon on Sunday to take on Mayo in the final group game of the All-Ireland Series, there are similarities to an All-Ireland quarter-final replay in 2003 when Donegal were made travel to McHale Park, Castlebar to meet Galway in a replay.

The previous year Donegal had lost out to Dublin in a quarter-final replay and a lack of discipline saw Mickey Moran walk away. Back into the fray came Brian McEniff to manage the county for a 5th time but it didn’t go well in the league, winning just one game and being relegated.

The Ulster championship wasn’t any better, losing to Fermanagh in Enniskillen, but then came a run in the back door which saw them reach the All-Ireland semi-final. After a close encounter in Croke Park it finished Donegal 0-14, Galway 1-11.

There was outrage when the replay was fixed for McHale Park, Castlebar but one of the senior players at the time, Damian Diver, says it was one of the greatest games he ever played in.

“We drew in Croke Park and the replay was the following week and we were made to travel down to Castlebar.

“Gee, the crowd that turned out for that game was unbelievable. It was probably one of the greatest games, atmosphere wise, we ever played in. It was phenomenal the crowds that turned out.

“I remember going in on the bus to Castlebar and away out on both sides of the road was lined with Donegal cars.

“The crowd out on the pitch after the game, it was serious,” says Diver.

There was a sense of grievance that the game was fixed so close to Galway but that was also a motivating factor.

“The wee sense of grievance drove the players on that day; I don’t know if the crowd turned up because of that. But definitely on the field, it was something in the back of our heads anyway. It was probably mentioned a few times.”

It is estimated that of the 30,000 crowd that turned up that day, 20,000 of them were from Donegal.

The game itself was again close although Donegal did go in at half-time 0-9 to 0-6 in front. There was always a Galway goal threat until the very end.

“Shane Carr took a ball off the line to win it. It was a cracker of a game too. Did Ja Fallon get sent off?”

In the end Donegal won 0-14 to 0-11 and went on to play Armagh in the All-Ireland semi-final in Croke Park, losing out by 1-9 to 2-10.

“The All-Ireland semi-final against Armagh was a close game also. We had Ray (Raymond Sweeney) sent off but they should have had a man sent off that day too. Barry Monaghan was hit in the middle of the field (and nothing done about it).

“Brian McEniff was back that year and we lost the first round in Ulster to Fermanagh. But then we beat Longford, Sligo and then Tipperary in Croke Park. We beat Down to get to the quarter-final and drew with Galway in Croke Park 0-14 to 1-11.

“We were actually relegated that year. I think we won one game, beating Roscommon in the last game of the league,” said Diver.

MOTIVATION

Now Donegal head west again on Sunday to play Mayo in their backyard in Roscommon and Diver is expecting that the fixing of the game at a venue so close to Mayo will be again used as motivation.

“I would expect it anyway. If I was there I would be using it anyway.”

Diver feels Donegal are in a good place and if they can get something from the game they will finish second in their group.

“Finishing second gives you a home preliminary quarter-final and that will be the target for Donegal this weekend.

“It won’t be easy as Mayo have their bad game out of the way against Cavan and they came good against Tyrone. They are on the pig’s back too,” says Diver.

READ NEXT: Goalkeeper Danny Rodgers drafted into Donegal panel for Mayo game

The inconsistency of the championship is something Diver touches on with very few teams putting results together.

“That seems to be common enough. There are not many teams that are putting back to back performances together. By the looks of it Armagh and Kerry are the only teams doing that. For Armagh, that’s three games in-a-row now because they played well in the Ulster final too, even though they were beaten.”

Donegal rebounded well with a big win against Cavan after having their poor performance against Tyrone.

“That’s right. That’s what you would be hoping for anyway. It’s not easy to maintain that level all the time. In our time we had every four weeks really. I wouldn’t mind but the games are harder now; training is harder, the hits are harder and the game is a lot faster too.

“It’s now that you need more recovery time,” said Diver, who said he didn’t see that change any time soon.