Watch: 1995 Naomh Conaill/Ardara saga revisited 30 years on from infamous finale

It’s 30 years since one of Donegal’s greatest and most controversial football sagas played out as Naomh Conaill and Ardara gifted us a four-game SFC marathon.

It was a quartet of championship clashes that resulted in drawn home and away first round encounters, while a third play-off in Fintra also finished all square.

The replay there would see matters again deadlocked at full-time - forcing matters to extra-time. In the end, it took an enthralling 268 minutes to separate the rivalling parishes as Naomh Conaill finally emerged victorious (see below for Donegal Democrat match reports from all four games).

Given all that went before, it was the last 7 minutes and 25 seconds, tied onto the end of normal time in that decisive fourth clash, that caused all hell to break loose at the gates of McDevitt Park in Fintra.

Most great epics deserve one final act and referee at the time Mick McGrath, rightly or wrongly, depending on which side of the fence you sat, believed this one also needed an encore.

Three decades on, it's perhaps finally safe to sit down and reflect on the sheer drama of it all. 

Below, Naomh Conaill's Brendan 'Bradas' O'Donnell and Johnny McLoone, alongside Ardara's Patrick 'Larry' Gallagher and Conal Doherty, help peel the scab back on all the drama and controversy 

The first contest in Pearse Memorial Park ended 0-14 to 1-11 

The second round encounter at Davy Brennan Memorial Park also ended deadlocked at 0-10 each 

 The first play-off encounter held in Fintra was another epic affair that again ended in stalemate 

In front of a huge crowd, the fourth clash was full of controversy and drama and, after normal time, matters were again level. Extra-time finally seen the pendulum swing Naomh Conaill's way but Ardara were far from happy. The Democrat explains... 

......