Wizard of Oz Marley on being back in the mix: 'I missed playing for Glenswilly'

Caoimhin Marley went that extra mile to line out for Glenswilly for the first time in two seasons in Saturday’s 2-12 to 1-14 win over Naomh Conaill.

The midfielder just landed back on Tuesday, having flown from Sydney, Australia, which has been home since late 2023, where he works as a psychiatric nurse. He’s willing to stick around for as long as Glenswilly are involved in the Donegal SFC, having admitted this time last year it was tough to watch on from afar.

In last year’s quarter-final, early goals from Daire Gallagher and Darren Curran laid the foundations for Dungloe to pip Glenswilly 2-8 to 0-13 - the same stage of the competition where they’d lost out, with Marley, to an Oisin Gallen-inspired MacCumhaill’s the year before.

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“The lads lost to Dungloe last year by a point and they did great then to make it as far as the final, but I was thinking in the back of my head, maybe with things so tight, I could have helped,” Marley said on Saturday. Who knows?”

Marley has been lining out in Sydney for Penrith Gaels in recent times, alongside Glenswilly clubmate Mark McAteer, Lorcan Connor from Downings and St Eunan’s captain Conor O’Donnell also did a stint there.

Marley gave Glenswilly manager Gary McDaid a shout and said he would be interested in getting his ducks in a row to fly home come August.

“I was training and playing football over there, doing bits on my own, but no matter what training you try to do, this here is championship,” Marley added. “The standard is good in Sydney and there are good players. I knew I’d probably be coming back since the start of the year - I was certainly thinking about it anyway. It’s nearly two years since I was here and I rang Gary and asked him he would be interested in playing me.

“I knew there was a serious amount of talent here. Most of those lads are 18 or 19 and they’re unbelievable. We had a couple of them in the seniors and I would’ve known a few from watching underage. They don’t shy away and that was a serious championship game there. Hopefully, we get a good run at it here. I knew coming back that I wouldn’t be walking straight into the team, with those boys flying.

Glenswilly were 2-12 to 0-9 in front against Martin Regan’s team on Saturday, although they were clinging on come referee Mark Dorrian’s final whistle. But hold on, they did, to defeat the Glenties-based team for the first time since the 2014 semi-final, something team and management can deposit in the bank of experience - all this before the return of Michael Murphy.

“Every time you play Naomh Conaill, it’s the same,” Marley said, with Naomh Conaill having come from nine down this season in Division 1 at Glenswilly to grab a draw. “It was great to hold on, but it’s only a group game. If we want to do anything this year, you’ll be meeting the likes of them again.

"Football has changed since I left. It's hard to keep hold of a lead with the two-poiners and Naomh Conaill have the likes of Odhrán Doherty, John O'Malley and Eoghan McGettigan, who can swing them over. It’s MacCumhaill’s next - and they’re the last team I played against when they beat us two years ago.”

Now 27, Marley still has the apartment in Sydney and joked that getting home got him “away from the slagging” as his girlfriend Meave is from Killarney and enjoyed Kerry’s victory over Donegal in the All-Ireland final.

“It was good craic till the game itself,” he said.

Marley will aim to get a solid week’s training under his belt now, as Glenswilly take on MacCumhaill’s this Sunday. He said getting the legs stretched last week and his 23 minutes off the bench was tough after such a long journey, having flown from Sydney via Doha and into Dublin.

“When you’re 6ft 4in, sitting on a plane for 22 hours isn’t easy on the legs and back,” he said. “I’m only getting over the stiffness now and the training loosened me out a bit. But it’s great to be back. There’s a buzz with the championship and I missed playing for Glenswilly.”