Donegal Town's O’Donnell Abú ringing loud in the heart of Meath

Do you remember the time when the O’Donnell Abú jingle was the alarm clock for getting out of bed at 7 a.m.? This week the O’Donnell roar will be rising and not just in Donegal, but also in the heart of Meath.

The O’Donnell clan from Donegal Town (and can be traced back to Ardara) have a significant presence in Meath with three from the family of Frank and Vera now domiciled in the Royal County.

Paul O’Donnell is now 28 years in Meath and in his first few years there won two senior club championships with Skryne and he is well placed to provide the Royal viewpoint.

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“I’m here longer than I was at home,” says Paul, who has sisters in Boardsmill and Dunshaughlin.

“We usually plan together in getting to matches, the logistics and that. So it’s great to have half the family down here.”

Paul has plenty of experience of Meath football, having played there at the top level with Skryne in the late 1990s and early noughties.

“I was lucky enough to win a couple of senior championships with Skryne. I was very lucky at that stage, you had Mick O’Dowd, John McDermott, Trevor Giles. We had fantastic players. But it was a great time.

“Even at that time Meath were also going well in 1999, to a lesser extent in 2001. They were the end of the highs for Meath football at that stage.

“And they really have been starved ever since and they are a football mad county. They are hopping out of the ground here at the minute. 

“Since then they have never made the breakthrough. Neither at championship level or league level to get back to Division 1, they have fallen short or have been unlucky. And then with Dublin dominating Leinster in the championship they just never really pushed on.

“They are delighted with this year. When you get a year when you beat Dublin, you beat Kerry and you beat last year’s All-Ireland finalists (Galway). Everyone is comparing this team potentially to the ‘96 team, which was a young hungry team that burst through and had nothing to fear and went on and won the All-Ireland. 

“That’s what they’re hoping for anyway.”

O’Donnell says there were a number of factors while Meath have been in the doldrums in recent times.

“Maybe Meath were slower to adapt from a long ball game to a shorter game; maybe in the background they were slower to get up with academies and coaching structures. Even at county board level. But now they do have good academies in place at intercounty minor and U-20 level.

“There is no doubt about it, Robbie Brennan has done a great job with them this year.”

The present Meath squad is regarded as being very young. “Especially in the forward line. They have a very young half-forward and full-forward line. That’s the way people are talking about them; they are not afraid of anyone and full of running,” said O’Donnell, who feels winning the tight quarter-final against Galway has given them a level of confidence. “Because they fell away against Louth.”

The fan base is also gaining momentum as Paul says one of his friends has organised an 80 seater bus for the last two matches.

“He has another one booked for the semi-final and it sold out in an hour.

“It has really caught the imagination. They have been crying out for it for a long time. It is a novel pairing and it should be an interesting game,” says O’Donnell, especially around the middle of the field where he feels Meath have been strong this year.

As for loyalty, there is only one jersey being worn by O’Donnell.

“There is a Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, who is quoted as saying ‘The streets and fields where you grow up, there you will live and there you will die’.

“And that’s the way it is and there’s no doubt about it.

“In a way because I have been here that long there’s an element where I am torn. Eoin Harkin, who would be a panellist for Meath, I would have taught him at primary school and I would have coached him at adult level. So I’m delighted to see them doing so well. But at the end of the day when you are pushed up against the wall and have to make a decision we’ll all be shouting for Donegal.

“My son, who would have come to Donegal games with me, is Meath first. But I’m happy with that as long as he still comes to some of the Donegal games. It’s been of benefit to them to have had Donegal as a second county.

“It’s been unbelievable. I suppose the younger people of Donegal presume that this has always been the way. But I remember travelling to Ulster finals and getting beat out the game and the nearly tag. They have given us 10 or 15 years of unbelievable days out.”

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O’Donnell has an even closer link to the Donegal scene through his cousin, Kieran Espey, who is part of the backroom team.

“You hear of all the work that goes into any team now. It’s a credit to them. They are just great representatives for the county. Certainly outside the county you feel a level of confidence and pride. It’s amazing what sport does for people.

“There is definitely a level of respect there for Donegal football that wasn’t there before. And that has been hard earned.

“I’ll take a two point win in extra-time. There is a level of expectation there for Donegal that maybe isn’t there for Meath. Because we lost the semi-final last year and that hope that we can push on to a final and win.

Unfortunately for Paul, he had holidays booked from early in the year and will miss out on the game. “I will be watching from a pub in Norway, but I will be able to wind up the Meath ones this week.”